Godley & Creme

One half of the hugely successful British rock band 10cc, Kevin Godley and Lol Crème subsequently forged a successful career as a duo and went on to become renowned as state of the art video makers. Both from Prestwich, near Manchester in the north of England, they met in the late 1950s and went on to play in various bands together and released their first single Seeing Things Green in 1967 under the name Yellow Bellow Room Boom. They teamed up with Eric Stewart - formerly with The Mindbenders - and formed Hotlegs, who had a small hit in 1970 with Neanderthal Man. By 1972 they'd recruited Graham Gouldman and changed their name to 10cc, going on to have a series of major hits, notably the 1975 smash I'm Not In Love. After four albums Godley & Creme parted ways with 10cc and concentrated on the invention of a new electronic device - The Gizmo - attached to the bridge of an electric guitar to produce different sound effects. Their experiments eventually resulted in the 1977 triple concept album Consequences, which featured guest appearances by jazz singer Sarah Vaughan and British comedian Peter Cook. Other experimental albums followed, including L. Freeze Frame and Ismism and they achieved a cult following through tracks like I Pity Inanimate Objects, Snack Attack and An Englishman In New York, though their biggest hits were Under Your Thumb, Wedding Bells and Cry. By the mid-1980s they were pursuing a more electronic direction and also gained attention as innovative video makers and became much in demand to make videos for other groups, The Police, Duran Duran and Frankie Goes To Hollywood among them. In 1988 they released another concept album Goodbye Blue Sky and then rejoined the re-formed 10cc. Crème also went on to work with Art Of Noise while Godley teamed up with Graham Gouldman again in GG06 and developed a new music platform for the iPad.