Cutting Crew biography
The Cutting Crew is a rock band formed in England in 1985. The group is best known for their number-one hit, "(I Just) Died in Your Arms".
Career
1985-1986: Formation
Vocalist Nick Van Eede founded the group along with Canadian guitarist Kevin MacMichael in 1985, and the two made demos that led to a recording contract, before bassist Colin Farley and drummer Martin Beadle joined in 1986.
1986-1988: Broadcast and breakthrough
Their first album,
Broadcast, was released on Virgin Records in 1986. Although Virgin Records was already a major label in the UK, their debut sing, "(I Just) Died in Your Arms", provided the first U.S. hit for Virgin as a full-fledged label. Virgin flew the band to New York City for initial recordings of the album, then to Australia to shoot music videos. The unknown band shot to #1 in the major US market, as well as smaller markets such as Canada and Norway, with their debut single. Their most popular single, it was a multiformat success in the US, where it also reached number four on the Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks chart, #24 on the Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks chart and -in an extended remix version- #37 on the Hot Dance/Club Play chart. The song peaked at #4 in another major market, the UK Singles Chart, as well as becoming a hit in the smaller Switzerland and South Africa markets. It went to #2 in Sweden and Ireland, and #9 in Austria.
The choice for follow-up single in the UK had been "I've Been In Love Before", but that song spent only three weeks in the UK Top 40, peaking at #31. Their choice for follow-up single in the U.S. was their third UK release, "One For The Mockingbird", but the song was a relative commercial disappointment on both sides of the Atlantic, just cracking the Top 40 of the Hot 100 at #38 and hitting #29 on the Mainstream Rock chart in the U.S., #47 in Canada and #52 in the UK Singles Chart.
The band took a chance on "I've Been in Love Before" again, this time with greater success. The song became Cutting Crew's second U.S. Top 10 on the Hot 100, peaking at #9, and was their first major hit on the U.S. Adult Contemporary chart, where it peaked at #4. This success prompted a UK re-release, and this time it spent five weeks in the UK Singles Chart Top 40, peaking at #24. The song failed to chart throughout most of Europe, but it peaked at #8 in Canada. Despite an unflattering review by Rolling Stone magazine, the band received a Grammy nomination as the Best New Artist of 1987.
1988-1990: The Scattering
The Scattering was released in early 1989. Its lead single, "(Between a) Rock and a Hard Place", (CA 54, UK 66, U.S. 77) failed to reach the Top 40. Van Eede's vocal style, however, did score a sizable U.S. Adult Contemporary hit with "Everything But My Pride." That song peaked at #4 and stayed in the top 50 for 22 weeks. It climbed to #72 on the Canadian pop charts, though it failed to hit the U.S. Hot 100. The prophetically named "The Last Thing" scaled the AC charts as high as #17 in early 1990 and went to #90 on the Canadian chart, and has been their final chart hit to date. Although a video for the title track did air briefly in the UK and North America, "The Scattering" failed to chart.
Biography from 
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