Dexys Midnight Runners

Although they released only a handful of albums infused with soul and Celtic folk, the band Dexys Midnight Runners—led by multi-instrumentalist and singer Kevin Rowland—nevertheless achieved success with the songs “Geno” and “Come On Eileen” and reunited under the name Dexys. Emerging from a previous punk band called The Killjoys, the group notably includes founders Kevin Rowland (vocals, guitar, piano, bass) and Kevin “Al” Archer (guitarist until 1981), Helen O’Hara (violin, backing vocals), and a brass section featuring Jim Patterson (trombone). The band, formed in Birmingham in 1978, developed a style rooted in Northern Soul—a genre that had its heyday in the late 1960s throughout the United Kingdom—and recorded a debut album in that spirit, Searching for the Young Soul Rebels (1980), which immediately reached No. 6 on the sales charts thanks to its singles “Stance Dance” (No. 40) and, most notably, the No. 1 hit “Geno”, a tribute to singer Geno Washington, a member of the Ram Jam Band. The following year, the band underwent a major overhaul led by its frontman and lost five members, including co-founder Al Archer. A new lineup, including backing vocalists, recorded under the guidance of the producer duo Clive Langer and Alan Winstanley—who had already proven their worth with Madness’s success—the album Too-Rye-Ay (1982), which became an international hit. Peaking at No. 2 in the UK and No. 14 in the U.S., the Celtic-inspired album is best known for featuring the major hit “ “Come On Eileen”, a folk ballad that reached No. 1 on both sides of the Atlantic, in Australia, and in several European countries (No. 5 in France), as well as “Jackie Wilson Said” (No. 5 in the UK), a cover of Van Morrison’s song. New tensions arose, and the constant turnover of backing musicians continued ahead of a U.S. tour. While opening for David Bowie in Paris in 1983, Kevin Rowland made a sarcastic remark about the British star, and the concert was cut short by a power outage. The album Don’t Stand Me Down (1985), recorded by a quartet backed by a brass section, strings, and keyboards, did not achieve the expected results (No. 22 in the United Kingdom and a minor hit, “This Is What She’s Like”, which peaked at No. 78), despite favorable reviews that granted it cult status; it was reissued in two different versions in 1997 and 2002. In 1986, a previously unreleased track reached No. 13, “Because of You”. The band disbanded the following year, paving the way for Rowland’s solo career, but was reborn in 2003 with Mick Talbot (keyboards) and Neil Hubbard (guitar); the compilation Let’s Make This Precious: The Best of Dexys Midnight Runners included two new tracks. Under the name officially shortened to Dexys, the album One Day I’m Going to Soar (No. 13) was released in 2012, followed by the live recordings At the Royal Court (2012) and Nowhere Is Home (2014), then the studio album Let the Record Show: Dexys Do Irish and Country Soul (2016), on which only Rowland, O’Hara, and Patterson remain, backed by session musicians. Billed as the blueprint for the hit album Too-Rye-Ay, the reissue Too-Rye-Ay As It Could Have Sounded followed in 2022, but a motorcycle accident prevented Rowland and his band from celebrating its 40th anniversary on stage as planned.