David A. Stewart (b. 9 September 1952, Sunderland, Tyne and Wear, England) and Annie Lennox (b. 25 December 1954, Aberdeen, Scotland). The worldwide popularity and critical acclaim of one of pop music's leading duos came about by fastidious determination and Stewart's remarkably good ear in being able to write the perfect song for his musical partner Lennox. Both artists relied heavily on each other's considerable talent and, as former lovers, they knew better than most their strengths and weaknesses. Stewart met Lennox in London while he was still a member of the folk/rock band Longdancer. She was supplementing her income by waitressing while a student at the Royal College of Music. Together they formed the Tourists, a fondly remembered band that was able to fuse new wave energy with well-crafted pop songs.

Following the Tourists' split, with Lennox and Stewart now embroiled in their much-publicized doomed love affair, they formed the Eurythmics in 1980. The debut In The Garden was a rigidly electronic sounding album, very Germanic, haunting and cold. The record failed to sell. During one of the low points in their lives, having ended their four-year relationship, the duo persevered professionally and glanced the charts in November 1982 with the synthesizer-based "Love Is A Stranger". This gave them the confidence they needed, and the material on the subsequent Sweet Dreams (which climbed to number 3 in the albums chart) was superb, bringing deserved success. The album spawned a number of hits, all accompanied by an imaginative series of self-produced videos with the stunning Lennox in countless guises, showing incredible natural confidence in front of a camera. The spooky "Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of This)" narrowly missed the top of the UK chart in February 1983, but made the top spot in the US in May. It was followed in quick succession by a reissued "Love Is A Stranger" (UK number 6, April 1983) and "Who's That Girl?" (UK number 3, July 1983). Released in November 1983, the UK chart-topping Touch became a huge success, containing a varied mixture of brilliantly accessible pop music, including the celebratory "Right By Your Side" (UK number 10, November 1983) and "Here Comes The Rain Again" (UK number 8/US number 4, January 1984). A remixed mini-LP of four tracks from Touch followed before they embarked upon scoring the music for the movie 1984, starring John Hurt, which generated a UK number 4 hit in November 1984 with "Sexcrime (Nineteen Eighty Four)".

Their lacklustre work on the soundtrack was immediately remedied by the excellent Be Yourself Tonight, which featured another huge transatlantic single "Would I Lie To You?" (UK number 17, US number 5, April 1985). The album contained less synthesized pop and more rock music, with Stewart using guitar-based songs including a glorious soul duet with Aretha Franklin on "Sisters Are Doin' It For Themselves" and the earthy "Ball And Chain". During 1985 Lennox experienced serious throat problems, which forced the band to cancel their appearance at July's Live Aid charity concert. That same month, however, the duo enjoyed their sole UK chart-topper, the exuberant "There Must Be An Angel (Playing With My Heart)". Lennox made her big-screen debut in Revolution with Donald Sutherland and Al Pacino. Stewart, meanwhile, became one of the most sought-after record producers, working with Bob Dylan, Tom Petty, Feargal Sharkey, Daryl Hall (of Hall And Oates ), Bob Geldof and Mick Jagger. The following year another gem, Revenge, was released, which included the group's last UK Top 10 single "Thorn In My Side" (number 5, September 1986), "Missionary Man", and the comparatively lightweight "The Miracle Of Love". Savage in 1987 maintained the standard and featured one of Lennox's finest vocal performances with the R&B rocker "I Need A Man". In 1988, their performance at the televised Nelson Mandela Concert from Wembley was one of its highlights, and the acoustic "You Have Placed A Chill In My Heart" was a triumph. Later that year Lennox duetted with Al Green for a rousing and soulful version of Jackie DeShannon's "Put A Little Love In Your Heart". We Too Are One at the end of 1989 became their most successful album, staying at number 1 into 1990, but proved to be their last.

The Eurythmics gained a mass following during the 80s by the sheer quality of their songs and managed to stay favourites with the media. It helped that Lennox was one of the most visually striking female performers of her era, with a voice of rare quality. Following their split, Stewart stayed in the background, using his talent as a producer and songwriter, and releasing his own solo albums. In 1992, Lennox issued her successful solo debut, Diva, and consolidated her reputation with Medusa in 1995. She reunited with Stewart in June 1998 at a tribute concert for journalist Ruth Picardie, and again at the following year's BRIT awards where the duo were honoured for their "outstanding contribution" to British music. Buoyed by the successful reunion, Stewart and Lennox returned to the studio to record Peace. The ability to still be able to write well together after such a break was the most striking aspect of the album, especially in view of the duo's past romantic relationship. The most revealing lyrics are in "17 Again", Lennox sings; "you in all your jewellery, and my bleeding heart, who couldn"t be together, and who could not be apart'..


* Courtesy sonicnet.com

Annie Lennox ranks behind only Karen Carpenter as my favorite female vocalist. Her voice is sooo sweet.

I really enjoy Eurythmics and wanted to drum up a little discussion.

from: www.allmusic.com

Eurythmics were one of the most successful duos to emerge in the early '80s. Where most of their British synth-pop contemporaries disappeared from the charts as soon as new wave faded away in 1984, Eurythmics continued to have hits until the end of the decade, making vocalist Annie Lennox a star in her own right, as well as establishing intstrumentalist Dave Stewart as a successful, savvy producer and songwriter. Originally, the duo channelled the eerily detached sound of electronic synthesizer music into pop songs driven by robotic beats. By the mid-'80s, singles like "Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)" and "Here Comes the Rain Again" had made the group into international stars and the group had begun to experiment with their sound, delving into soul and R&B. As the decade wore on, the duo's popularity eroded somewhat — by the late '80s, they were having trouble cracking the Top 40 in America, although they stayed successful in the UK. During the early '90s, Eurythmics took an extended hiatus, as both Lennox and Stewart pursued solo careers.

The origins of Eurythmics lay in the Tourists, a British post-punk band of the late '70s formed by Lennox and Stewart. The pair met in London while she was studying at the Royal Academy of Music. Stewart had recently broken up his folk-rock group Longdancer and was writing songs with guitarist Pete Coombes. Immediately after meeting, Stewart and Lennox became lovers and musical partners, forming a group called Catch with Coombes, which quickly evolved into the Tourists in 1979. Though the band only was together for two years, the Tourists released three albums — The Tourists, Reality Effect, and Luminous Basement — which all were moderate hits in England; two of their singles, "I Only Want to Be with You" and "So Good to Be Back Home Again," became Top Ten hits.

During 1980, Lennox and Stewart's romantic relationship dissolved and, along with it, so did the Tourists. Though they were no longer lovers, Lennox and Stewart decided to continue performing together under the name Eurythmics and headed to Germany to record their debut album. Featuring support from various members of Can and Blondie's drummer Clem Burke, among others, the duo's debut In the Garden was released in 1981 to positive reviews, but weak sales. Following the failure of In the Garden, Stewart set up a home studio and Eurythmics recorded a second album, Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This), which was released in 1983.

"Love Is a Stranger" was the first British single pulled from the album and it became a minor hit in the fall of 1982, a few months before the LP appeared. The title track was released as a single in the spring, and it rocketed to number two on the U.K. charts; shortly afterward, it climbed to number one on the American charts. "Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)" was helped enormously by its stylish, androgynous video, which received heavy airplay from MTV, who had only recently become a major influence within the music industry. After "Sweet Dreams," Eurythmics re-released "Love Is a Stranger" reached the U.K. Top Ten (number 23 US), beginning a string of hit singles that ran for a year. Touch, the duo's third album, was released toward the end of 1983 and it continued their success throughout 1984, spawning the hits "Who's That Girl?" (number 3, U.K.; number 21, U.S.), "Right By Your Side" (number 10, U.K.; number 29, U.S.) and "Here Comes the Rain Again" (number 8, U.K.; number 4 U.S.). During the course of 1984, Annie Lennox's theatrical gender-bending was becoming increasingly notorious, which helped their record sales. At the end of the year, they released the soundtrack for the film adaption of 1984, which received poor reviews and sales, despite the Top 10 U.K. placing of its single, "Sexcrime (Nineteen Eighty-Four)."

Released in the spring of 1985, Eurythmics' fourth album, Be Yourself Tonight boasted a tougher, R&B-influenced sound and featured a duet with Aretha Franklin, "Sisters Are Doin' It for Themselves." The duet became one of three hit singles from the album, in addition to "Would I Lie to You?" (number 17, U.K.; number 5, U.S.) and "There Must Be an Angel (Playing with My Heart)" (number 1, U.K.; number 22, U.S.). Revenge, released the following year, followed the R&B and soul inclinations of Be Yourself Tonight to a harder-rocking conclusion. Though the album peaked at number 12 in the U.S. and spawned the number 14 hit "Missionary Man," its sales were noticebly weaker than its precessor. In the U.K., the group was slightly more popular — "Thorn In My Side" reached the Top Ten — but it was evident that the group was past the point of their peak popularity.

As appropriate for a group passing their commercial pinnacle, Eurythmics began branching out into other areas. During 1985 and 1986, Dave Stewart produced a number of superstars, including Bob Dylan, Daryl Hall, Tom Petty and Mick Jagger. Annie Lennox began a short-lived acting career, appearing in Revolution. Eurythmics reconvened in 1987 to release Savage, which was greeted with mixed reviews and weak sales. That same year, Stewart married Siobhan Fahey, a former member of Bananarama that had also appeared in the "Love Is a Stranger" video; she would later be a member of Shakespear's Sister, which was produced by Stewart. In 1988, Lennox had a hit duet with Al Green with "Put a Little Love in Your Heart," taken from the Scrooged soundtrack. The following year, Eurythmics released We Too Are One, which sold well in Britain, reaching number one, but poorly in America, despite "Don't Ask Me Why" becoming their first Top 40 hit since "Missonary Man." Furthermore, the reviews were decidedly mixed on the album.

Eurythmics quietly went on hiatus as of 1990, releasing Greatest Hits the following year. Lennox began a solo career in 1992, releasing Diva, an album that would eventually sell over two million copies. Stewart continued producing records and writing film soundtracks, as well as forming a band called Spiritual Cowboys. In 1995, he officially launched a solo career with the release of Greetings from the Gutter. Lennox and Stewart reformed Eurythmics in 1999, releasing Peace, their first new studio album in a decade.