1985–1986: Formation While still in his teens, Nick Van Eede (born Nicholas Eede) recorded a few UK solo singles in the late 1970s. Later, he was in the band the Drivers, Having assembled the band, they invited representatives from various labels to a London recording studio to showcase the crew, and they were later signed by Siren Records, which was part of
Virgin Records.
1986–1988: Broadcast and breakthrough Their debut studio album,
Broadcast, was released on
Virgin Records in 1986. The song "(I Just) Died in Your Arms" was mixed in London at Utopia Studios by
Tim Palmer. Although Virgin Records was already a major label in the
UK, their debut song, "
(I Just) Died in Your Arms", provided the first US hit for Virgin as a fully-fledged label. This song release quickly helped the band gain popularity. 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 No. 1 in the major US market, as well as smaller markets such as
Canada and
Norway, with their debut single. Their most popular
single was a multiformat success in the US, where it also reached number four on the
Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks chart, No. 24 on the
Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks chart and—in an extended remix version—No. 37 on the
Hot Dance/Club Play chart. The song peaked at No. 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 No. 2 in
Sweden and
Ireland, and No. 9 in
Austria. Keyboardist Tony Moore joined in 1986 and was a touring member of the band through 1988. The choice for a 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 No. 31. Their choice for follow-up single in the US 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 No. 38 and hitting No. 29 on the Mainstream Rock chart in the US, No. 47 in Canada and No. 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 US Top 10 on the Hot 100, peaking at No. 9, and was their first major hit on the US Adult Contemporary chart, where it peaked at No. 2. This success prompted a UK re-release, and this time it spent five weeks in the UK Singles Chart Top 40, peaking at No. 24. The song failed to chart throughout most of Europe, but it peaked at No. 8 in Canada. Despite an unflattering review by
Rolling Stone magazine, Cutting Crew received a
Grammy nomination as the
Best New Artist of 1987.
1988–1990: The Scattering Disputes with management led to a long recording hiatus, which stalled the band's career momentum. Cutting Crew's second studio album,
The Scattering, was finally 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 sizeable US Adult Contemporary hit with "Everything but My Pride." That song peaked at No. 4 and stayed in the top 50 for 22 weeks. It climbed to No. 72 on the Canadian pop charts, though it failed to hit the US Hot 100. The prophetically named "The Last Thing" scaled the AC charts as high as No. 17 in early 1990 and went to No. 90 on the Canadian chart, and has been their final chart hit to date. Although a music video for the title track did air briefly in the UK and North America,
The Scattering failed to chart.
1991–1992: Compus Mentus Recorded at The Mill Studios in
Cookham, Berkshire on the Thames and produced by Chris Neil. Farley and Beedle left the group in 1991 with no replacement, leaving only Eede and MacMichael in the group. Neither the single nor the album itself charted. Within weeks of its release, Virgin Records was bought by
EMI.
1993–2005: Break-up and MacMichael's death The band broke up in 1993; shortly after the release of their
Compus Mentus studio album. After the break-up, MacMichael joined forces with
Robert Plant of
Led Zeppelin and played on his solo studio album
Fate of Nations. On 31 December 2002, MacMichael died of
lung cancer this time crediting the work to Cutting Crew. through In Red Flynn label, via
Cherry Red Records. It features "Till the Money Run$ Out", which was released as the first single on 4 September 2015. The band line-up included guitarists Gareth Moulton and Joolz Dunkley, bassist Nick Kay, keyboardist Jono Harrison, drummer
Martyn Barker and the Blackjack Horns. The band embarked on a UK tour shortly after its release. Although they did not have any new releases for 2019, a press release made by January of the following year announced the release for their second official worldwide compilation album titled
Ransomed Healed Restored Forgiven, featuring nine songs from their past catalogue reworked as orchestral renditions, as well as other versions. Soon afterwards, the release date was announced on 27 March 2020 by Van Eede in a short video through the Cutting Crew official
Facebook page. On the same day, they released the lead single for this project, an eight-track digital EP of their signature song "
(I Just) Died in Your Arms", which also received a physical release, as well as a brand new video for the song uploaded on
YouTube. The album was released on 24 April 2020, through August Day label, on digital platforms such as
Spotify and
Apple Music. But due to logistics limitations during the
COVID-19 pandemic, its physical release was delayed until 8 May 2020. and
Forbes. This greatest hits album has since spawned two more singles, the orchestral version of the
Broadcast single "One for the Mockingbird", and the orchestral version of
The Scattering single "Everything but My Pride". On 5 August 2020, it was announced a
vinyl limited edition, with only 300 copies pressed, would be available for purchase solely through
DTC, making this the first vinyl edition of one of the band's releases since
The Scattering. but, after the sanitary measures regarding COVID-19 pandemic still happening, the joint tour was postponed to the first half of the following year. Cutting Crew's setlist for this tour featured several cuts from
Ransomed. After concluding touring the UK, Cutting Crew started their 35th Anniversary Tour in Germany. ==Members==