IT IS NOT AN 80s REVIVAL THING, IT IS THREE WORKING ARTISTS
A CONVERSATION WITH NEVILLE KEIGHLEY OF BELOUIS SOME
In 1985, a new artist, Belouis Some made his debut with the album Some People. In fact, however, for the first album, Belouis Some was a band, formed by Neville Keighley, who had been performing since 1981, when his debut single βLose It To Youβ was released under the name Nevil Rowe. By 1985, however, the stage was set for him to make it very big with two big hits from his debut album, βSome Peopleβ and βImaginationβ. In 1986, he contributed the classic and club hit βRound And Roundβ to the Pretty In Pink Soundtrack.
By 1987, when his second album Belouis Some was released, the band was gone and Some was a solo artist with name. Although his second album did not replicate the success of Some People, it featured some very well-known guests and was a critical success. It would be a few years, until 1993, when his third and final album was released, Living Your Life.
Belouis Some left the music industry for a number of years, but he is making his welcomed return in North America in 2024 for the Live Today, Love Tomorrow with The Alarm and Gene Loves Jezebel, which will touch down in Toronto on May 13, 2024.Β I recently had the chance to talk to him, via Zoom, about his career and the upcoming tour.
βI stepped out of music for a long time, not because I wanted to, but I didnβt feel I could make everything work. And rather than being a sad musician or a sad artist, you have to get on with life. The worst thing would have been just poking it, so I stayed away from it. Then I got a call asking if I wanted to do summer festivals. You know, when it is a retro thing in the UK, it took off much earlier than in the States. But now it is kicking off big time. But they asked me to do some summer festivals, and I did them in 2019. Then I rang my agent I hadnβt seen for 30 years, and said βhi!ββ laughed Belouis. βI asked him if there was any chance . . . then COVID came β¦ but here I am. I am very happy on this tour, because it is not an 80s revival thing, it is three working artists.β
Belouis Some refrains from looking at this as a retro show, but rather a current tour. βI would like to be considered contemporary,β he said. βMaybe not contemporary, but in the 1980s, we were very much then and now people. I donβt want to be a caricature of myself.β
Belouis Some is very thoughtful and honest about his career. He is very honest and open about the music industry and the impact it had on him. By his third album, Living Your Life, things had changed for him. βIt was an album that was hard to make. I had gone from someone simply adoring me to having to fight to have the album made. I went in with Geoff [Dugmore] and Nigel [Butler] and I hadnβt made a record in London for eight or nine years. Bit by bit it came together. There were some great people on it, like Karl [Hyde, of Underworld fame]. The songs had all been written, and the album just got lost and I thought there were some great songs on it. I really like that album and I want it to come out again. But, I donβt own it, soβ¦every couple of years I ask if they will release it again.β
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Although he may be best known for βSome Peopleβ or βRound, Roundβ, Some was always very serious about his music. βI worked really hard on them, I believed in them very much. Even though I had white hair, and a βpretty boyβ, I was pretty true to my cause and I believed in what I was doing. The record company, particularly in England, had a real problem with me. It was very fashion dominated. I had a name they didnβt understand. I was English but I made my records in America. I was a solo artist, which was difficult in those days, unless you were singing folk songs. I wasnβt political and rammed it down peopleβs throats. A lot of the trendy bands were very political, I wasnβt. The English press just didnβt get on with me. Then I got the Queen tour [he opened for Queen in 1986] which really upset them. βWhy are you on Queenβs tour?β Everything I did wound the English establishment up, so that made it hard for me but I didnβt give a toss, but it made marketing me very difficult. I wasnβt going to do…it wasnβt easy faking it, I couldnβt do it.β
There was some confusion at the time. Is Belouis Some a band or person? Well, both. It did start as a band, but he adopted the name as a solo artist. But the band was never a real band. βIn the 1980s, I was a solo artist when it wasnβt fashionable to be a solo artist. So, I had to put on gigs as a band, but I didnβt want to call myself the so and soβs, you know? I wanted to have a name that was ambiguous. It was really difficult. I spent months, and I remember, that I was stuck. My new band is coming on and I didnβt have a name. It was down to the last day when they had to print the posters. I said, βI will be Belouis Something bandβ and it never got any further, and it is as simple as that.β
Going on tour and getting ready is realizing that a lot of his music has stood the test of time, and can still be heard on radio and attracting another new audience. βThat was the most amazing thing when I went away. My children, I have young children, didnβt even know I was a singer. My big hit in Europe and England is βImaginationβ. Any artist who tells you they are making music to throw it away is lying. I believed these songs were going to last forever. I thought that half the songs on the first album were masterpieces. I liked them.β
Some is eager to get back on the road and perform live. βI am so happy going out on the road. I am really excited about my band, all great American musicians. I am going to try to make the songs come alive in a way they didnβt come alive in the 1980s on stage. Technology has moved on, and I can do things I couldnβt do to recreate the songs. I have a great live band and I hope the songs sound amazing, the way they are supposed to. I have discovered things about the tracks that have been mixed out, when the mixes were done, and I have brought them back in. I think the songs are going to come alive, and by the time I get to you guys in Toronto, I think it is going to be stormy.β
And he is healthy and ready for the lengthy tour.
βLook, in the 1980s, I smoked 40 cigarettes a day, drunk every night, right? Things you can do, but now I donβt drink very much, and I certainly donβt smoke. I decided three or four years ago to lose 40 pounds in weight. I go to the gym every day. The ones who have survived are different people than we were. I remember the fun we had, but we are all pretty fit now. If we are going to go on stage in our 60s and show off and strut our stuff, we better be fit.β
βIβm hoping this is the beginning of me coming on tour and playing in the US and Canada a lot. Because, I have put a lot of work into this and Iβm ready and my mind is ready to do this.β
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