Pete Wylie is an English singer-songwriter who began his artistic career in 1977 with Ian McCulloch (the same who some time later would become the leader of one of the most emblematic groups of the 1980s, namely Echo & The Bunnymen) and Julian Cope in a band called 'Crucial Three'. Group to say the least ephemeral since it will only last 2 months ...!
New association a few months later within a group called 'Mystery Girls', a group he formed with a certain Pete Burns (the same who some time later would become the leader of one of the most emblematic groups of the decade 80 namely Dead Or Alive) and once again Julian Cope. This group will not do better than the previous one ...
Then we find him just after in a group called this time 'The Spitfire Boys' with once again the same result as before. Then within 'The Nova Mob', then within 'Crash Course' with an almost identical result…
It was only from 1979 that things finally stabilized with the creation of the group 'Wah! Heat', a group with which he will produce two first singles that will finally make people talk about "Better scream" the same year and "Seven minutes to midnight...to be continued" the following year in 1980.
'Wah! Heat' becomes 'Wah!' quite simply in 1981 and released a first album "Nah = Poo - The art of bluff", album which will give the artist his first major success. Album which paradoxically will not produce any single classified.
Side singles, it is the year 1982 which will finally allow him to obtain a first title classified "The story of the blues (Part One)" and not the least since it will remain like the biggest success of all its singles discography. Title which will be released under the group name 'JF Wah!'...!
Other singles and albums would come out later with band names such as 'The Mighty Wah!' or 'Pete Wylie And The Oedipus Wrecks'. And it is precisely under this name that he will obtain a semblance of consecration with the enormous single "Sinful !", title which will be released in 1986 and which remains to this day one of his most emblematic titles ...
To discover or rediscover.
Discography (among others ...) :
Better scream (Wah! Heat) 1979
Seven minutes to midnight…to be continued (Wah! Heat) 1980
Forget the down (Wah!) 1981
Somesay (Wah!) 1981
Remember (Shambeko! Say Wah!) 1982
The story of the blues 1982
Hope (I Wish You'd Believe Me) 1983
Come Back (The Story of the Reds) 1984
Sinful ! 1986
Diamond girl 1986
If I love you 1987
Fourelevenfourtyfour 1987
Long tall scaly 1991
Loverboy 1998
Sing all the saddest songs 2000
Clips :
1979 ... the sound is trendy, as is the style, but that is not enough for the moment to make them emerge more than that. They will have to work again and again ...
1980 ... the change of decade will not see any major changes in their style and especially in terms of results in the Charts. We will therefore have to wait a little longer to see them take off ...
1981 ... it's just the inspiration which is still a little too average and which blocks them de facto in terms of recognition from the general public. Can and must do better !
1981 ... it is clear that it will not be for this year 1981. The problem is that the competition is seriously starting to take the lead and it is above all that which could quickly weaken them ...
1982 ... for now, the main problem is that they confuse speed and haste. A title like this which spins at the speed of light is not really the most suited to what the general public expects ...
1982 ... that's it, the group has finally found the style and the sound that goes well, it was high time. And the result in the Charts will be immediate with a first classified title which makes them pass from shadow to light in a shattering way. All good !
1983 ... the group now understood that overspeed was anything but productive. All they had to do was slow down the tempo a bit for the horizon to emerge as if by magic ...
1984 ... the group constantly changes its name and one can sincerely ask the question of why. For the visibility and the loyalty, that's not what we do best ...
1986 ... and paradoxically, it is under his name alone that he will achieve the greatest success of his entire career. It just goes to show that changing your name all the time will not have helped much, on the contrary ...
1986 ... we could have hoped that with the enormous success of the previous single, the singer's career was well and truly launched this time. Unfortunately, the bellows will fall back as quickly as it is mounted ...
1987 ... he will only have had one global success with 'Sinful' and will have to be content thereafter with a few medium-sized successes across the Channel. A real potential which will not have known how to explode as it should have ...
1987 ... the last major year. The adventure will certainly continue, but the artist will do more some figuration than anything else. Hard law of the trade ...
1991 ... after a few years of abstinence, he tries to come back and will try the transition to the 90s but the delay with the competition is now too important to fill and he will never come back in the race unfortunately ...
1998 ... he will again disappear from the radars for almost 7 years and here he is back in this year 1998 in a relative form. Relative form and above all insufficient in any case to change the course of its destiny, it is clear ...
2000 ... this time, mass is said. He will try once again to pass in force to the following decade but when it does not want any more, it does not want any more ...
Wiki :
Official Website :
Discography I :
Discography II :