Wang Chung

Wang Chung biography

Wang Chung are an English New Wave musical group formed in 1980. The name Wang Chung means "Yellow Bell" in Chinese (黃鐘 -- "Huáng Zhōng" in Pinyin) , and is the first note in the Chinese classical music scale.

The group found their greatest success in America, with five Top 40 hits in the US, all charting between 1983 and 1987, including "Dance Hall Days" (#16 In the summer of 1984), "Everybody Have Fun Tonight" (#2 in 1986) and "Let's Go!" (#9 in 1987).

Career

Pre-history: The Intellektuals and 57 Men (1978-79)

Jeremy Ryder, known professionally as "Jack Hues" (vocalist/guitarist) and Nick Feldman (bassist) would eventually form the core of Wang Chung. They first met when Hues answered Feldman's ad for a musicians in the classifieds section of the weekly British music magazine Melody Maker in 1977. They were joined by Paul Hammond (ex Atomic Rooster) on drums. In less than a year, that band split up. Hues and Feldman then joined up with future Wang Chung drummer Darren Costin, bassist Leigh Gorman, keyboardist Simon Campbell and vocalist Glenn Gregory, to form 57 Men. This band lasted for about 18 months before breaking up.

Gregory went on to become the vocalist for Heaven 17, and Gorman later played in Bow Wow Wow. Meanwhile Hues, Feldman and Costin stayed together and rechristened themselves Huang Chung. The name Huang Chung was claimed by the band to translate roughly as "perfect pitch" -- although later, on American Bandstand, they claimed it was the sound a guitar made.

The Huang Chung years (1980-82)

At the beginning of Huang Chung's career, all the members performed under pseudonyms. Jeremy Ryder was "Jack Hues", Nick Feldman was "Nick DeSpig", and Darren Costin was "Darren Darwin" (and later, just "Darwin"). "Jack Hues", incidentally, is a play on the French term "j'accuse".

The band was signed to 101 Records. The first Huang Chung release, "Baby I'm Hu-man", appeared on a 101 compilation album in 1980. Three live tracks were subsequently released on another 101 Records compilation in 1981.

Later in 1980, the independent record company Rewind Records signed the band up for a two-single deal. Huang Chung's debut single for Rewind Records was "Isn't It About Time We Were on TV". It was followed up by "Stand Still". Neither single charted, but the group had begun to attract the attention of Arista Records, who signed them to a two-album deal in early 1981.

Around this same time, the group expanded to a quartet, with the addition of sax player Dave Burnand. In keeping with the all-pseudonymous nature of the band, Burnand was known as "Hogg Robinson" for the first Arista single, and later, simply as "Hogg".

Under the direction of producer Rhett Davies, Huang Chung issued two singles on Arista in 1981, neither of which charted. A third single, produced by Roger Bechirian, appeared in early 1982. It too failed to chart.

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