|
Godley & Creme is a duo of musicians and music video directors. Kevin Godley (born October 7, 1945 in Manchester, England) is a singer, songwriter, drummer and percussionist. Lol Crème, (born September 19, 1947 in Manchester), is a singer, guitarist and keyboardist. They became friends while attending art school together.
They began their music career in the trio Hotlegs (with Eric Stewart), which evolved into 10cc with the addition of Graham Gouldman in 1972. Both bands achieved some chart success, with 10CC enjoying some strong chart placings, most notably with their 1974 single "I'm Not In Love", which has snce become a staple of "golden oldies" radio stations.
Godley & Creme left 10cc in 1976 after their fourth LP, How Dare You?, to work on a device they called "the Gizmo", which attached to the bridge of a guitar to create a wide variety of sonic textures. It was featured heavily on their poorly received concept album Consequences. Released in 1977, it was savaged by critics but has since accrued a cult following; it features a guest vocal by Sarah Vaughan and an extended comedy performance by Peter Cook.
They gradually regained critical favour with a trio of innovative albums in the late Seventies and early Eighties -- L, 'Ismism" and 'Freeze Frame. This last LP included several songs that gained airplay on alternative radio in many countries, notably "Snack Attack", "I Pity Inanimate Objects" and "Englishman In New York" (no connection to the Sting song of the same name), which was accompanied by an innovative music video. They made the UK Top Ten with the single "Under My Thumb" in 1981.
However, they achieved ther greatest success as the innovative directors of more than fifty music videos in the early 1980s. They created memorable videos for The Police ("Every Breath You Take", "Synchronicity II", "Wrapped Around Your Finger"), Duran Duran ("Girls On Film", "A View To A Kill"), Herbie Hancock ("Rockit"), Frankie Goes to Hollywood ("Relax", "Two Tribes"), among many others, up to the 1996 single fom The Beatles ("Real Love"). The groundbreaking and very popular video for their own 1985 single "Cry" featured one of the first morphing effects, to sequentially blend faces of different ages and races into each other.
After several years of music video production, Crème joined the Art of Noise in 1998.
Discography
- Consequences - Mercury/Phonogram (1977)
- L - Mercury/Polydor (1978)
- Freeze Frame - Polydor (1979)
- Ismism / Snack Attack - Polydor/Mirage (1981)
- Birds of Prey - Polydor (1983)
- The History Mix Vol. 1 - Polydor (1985)
- Goodbye Blue Sky - Polydor (1988)
External links
|
