Brother Beyond biography
Brother Beyond were a British boy band / pop group who had mainstream success in the late 1980s.
Biography
The group's first four singles, "I Should Have Lied", "How Many Times", "Chain-Gang Smile" (produced by Don Was from Was Not Was), and an early version of "Can You Keep a Secret?" (which was later remixed and hit the charts), were all written by band members Eg White (then substituted by live session drummer Steve Alexander), or David Ben White in collaboration with Carl Fysh, and performed together by the band, ideally led by vocalist Nathan Moore (though he never took part to the composition process on any songs, nor could play any instrument himself). None of these early singles, out between 1986 and 1988 ever troubled the UK Top 50, but they were instead minor chart entries, in the UK Top 75 Singles Chart.
When the songwriters and producers Mike Stock, Matt Aitken and Pete Waterman, known as Stock Aitken Waterman (SAW), auctioned off their services to charity, Brother Beyond and label EMI won the auction. The first song to be released from this session was "The Harder I Try", a Number 2 hit, that was only kept off the top by the million-seller "A Groovy Kind of Love", by Phil Collins, in July 1988. "The Harder I Try" samples the drum intro to The Isley Brothers' "This Old Heart of Mine", and indeed the song, as a whole, has a distinct Motown feel, as does its successor "He Ain't No Competition", getting to Number 6. The 12" version of the latter topped the Hi-NRG charts, in October 1988, where it stayed until it was knocked off by the Samantha Fox cover of "I Only Wanna Be with You", again produced by SAW. The following releases from the Get Even album failed to make the UK Top Ten: "Be My Twin", which got to Number 14, and "Can You Keep a Secret?", hitting Number 22. All these singles were taken from the two different editions of their first album Get Even.
After a brief hiatus, they returned with a brand new single, "Drive On", however this failed all expectations and peaked at #39 which hampered the chart position of its parent album, Trust. They then released a cover of the ballad by The Three Degrees, called "When Will I See You Again?", however this missed the Uk Top 40 altogether and peaked at #43. The final release from their 2nd album was the title track, "Trust", completely self-written, but bombed completely, peaking at #53.
After a year-long break, the band enjoyed some more success in the USA, with their very last tune, "The Girl I Used to Know", and a final UK chart-entry at Number 48, but no third follow-up album ever came out after this one single.
They released in fact only two albums, Get Even, in 1988, and Trust, in 1989, before disbanding, in 1991. In 2005, a collection was released, The Very Best of Brother Beyond, collecting all of the band's greatest hits, including the 1991 single, "The Girl I Used to Know", which was not previously available on any album.
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