The Blue Nile biography
The Blue Nile are an adult alternative/pop band from Glasgow.
The band was formed in 1981 when Paul Buchanan (born 16 April 1956, Edinburgh) and his friend, Robert Bell, met Paul Joseph Moore after graduating from the University of Glasgow in the late 1970s. Although their individual degrees did not reflect their future career wishes (English Literature, Electronic Engineering and Mathematics, respectively), their mutual friendship grew out of their shared interest in music, and they began writing and recording together.
Bell and Buchanan were previously the key members of the band Night by Night, who had a small but enthusiastic following in the Glasgow area; they had made demos of songs like "Rio" and "Stay", but were not commercial enough at the time to secure a recording contract.
They formed their own label, Peppermint Records, and released their first single, "I Love This Life", which was later picked up and issued by RSO Records. Soon afterwards, RSO was absorbed into Polygram, and The Blue Nile's first single disappeared from view. The trio kept writing and recording over the next couple of years, including a couple of tracks that would later surface on their debut album.
When local hi-fi manufacturer Linn Electronics heard their music, through friend and recording engineer Calum Malcolm, the company offered the band money to record a track that would showcase the sonic range of the company's high-end audio equipment. Linn was so pleased with the result, they formed their own record label in order to release The Blue Nile's debut, A Walk Across the Rooftops, in 1983. Buchanan later commented that during that time Linn was not really a record company, and The Blue Nile was not really a band. Although it received positive reviews, it sold modestly.
1984 saw a greater exposure for the band throughout Europe with the videos for their two singles "Stay" and "Tinseltown in the Rain" often shown on the video channel Music Box.
After a prolonged delay in which an entire album's worth of work was scrapped, The Blue Nile released Hats in 1989 to rave reviews, including a rare five-star rating from Q magazine. The album was recorded in the same studio as much of their previous work, Castlesound in Pencaitland, East Lothian. The album explores the highs and lows of romantic love. At the time, Hats reached #12 on the UK Albums Chart and slipped into the Billboard 200 in the United States. All three singles from the album reached the UK Singles Top 75.
Rickie Lee Jones, a fan of the band, selected The Blue Nile as her opening act for her 1990 tour. She would later record a duet with them, a cover version of the band's own "Easter Parade", which was featured as a B-side to the single "Headlights on the Parade". She also sang live with the band on the Channel 4 programme Halfway To Paradise, performing her song "Flying Cowboys".
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