Dexys Mark I: 1978–1980 Foundation and first single Dexys Midnight Runners were founded in 1978 in
Birmingham, England, by
Kevin Rowland (vocals, guitar, at the time using the pseudonym Carlo Rolan) and
Kevin "Al" Archer (vocals, guitar). Both had been in the short-lived punk band
the Killjoys. Rowland had previously written a
Northern soul-style song that the two of them sang, "Tell Me When My Light Turns Green", which became the first Dexys "song". The band's name was derived from
Dexedrine, a brand of
dextroamphetamine used as a
recreational drug among Northern soul fans to give them energy to dance all night. By the middle of 1979, Bobby "Jnr" Ward had replaced Jay on drums. After a series of dates opening for
the Specials, who wore suits on stage, Rowland decided that his band needed its own distinct look. Borrowing from an outfit that Paterson had worn to rehearsals, "Dance Stance", which Rhodes produced, was released on Oddball Records, which Rhodes owned, and which was distributed by
EMI. Pete Saunders returned to the band temporarily, replacing Leek, to record their debut album. The same month, Rowland imposed a press embargo on the band; instead, Dexys would take out ads in the music papers explaining the band's position on various issues. Archer (and Leek) eventually formed
The Blue Ox Babes, while the other departing members—Blythe, Spooner, Williams, "Stoker", and Talbot—formed
The Bureau, which Wingfield continued to produce.
Dexys Mark II: 1981–1982 The Projected Passion Revue Rowland and Paterson first chose to write several new songs, so that Dexys could move forward from the split. Rowland was able to persuade them to remain in Dexys long enough to record the next album . Shortly thereafter, Speare also joined their planned departure. Rowland jokingly said of the new image: "These are my best clothes. Again it just feels right for the music. Everybody else is dressing up sort of straight-laced and pretty down-to-earth and we come in wearing these and it's like, y'know here we are, a bit of hoedowning is even possible". After the failure of this single, O'Hara said that the band believed that they immediately needed a hit single to survive. – where it peaked at #1 in April 1983 on the
Billboard Hot 100 chart. The third UK single from the album,
Van Morrison's "
Jackie Wilson Said (I'm in Heaven When You Smile)", also reached the top 5 in the UK singles chart. The horn section became known as the TKO Horns and continued working with
Too-Rye-Ay producers Langer and Winstanley, just as The Bureau and The Blue Ox Babes had continued working with Pete Wingfield. To replace them, Dexys added saxophonist
Nick Gatfield and used various session musicians, including Kevin Gilson (saxophone) and Mark Walters and
Spike Edney (trombone). Recording and mixing the new album took almost two years and spread across Switzerland, the U.K., and the U.S; In September 1985, Dexys released their first new album in three years, ''
Don't Stand Me Down''. The four remaining members were pictured on the album cover in the band's fourth look, an
Ivy League,
Brooks Brothers look, and he left the group after a short tour of France and the UK. The album's most controversial feature was its use of conversational dialogue in the songs; Rowland said, "The idea of a conversation in a song is interesting to me." Commenting on this, O'Hara said that "we had to keep going ahead with what we believed" despite the length of time that the production took. Most contemporaneous reviewers strongly disliked this latest incarnation of Dexys, comparing the new look to "double glazing salesmen" and condemning the album as "a mess" and "truly awful". Only a few reviewers were supportive; for example, writing in the
Melody Maker,
Colin Irwin described it as "quite the most challenging, absorbing, moving, uplifting and ultimately triumphant album of the year". Rowland at first refused to issue any singles from the album, comparing Dexys to bands like
Led Zeppelin that never released singles. Rowland said: "I'd been too confident, too arrogant. I thought everyone would hear our new music and go: 'Wow.'" Rowland then went on the dole; as he put it in 1999, "Insanity is no fun, mate. People try to romanticize the idea of the suffering artist. At my lowest ebbs there was no romance to it at all."
Dexys Mark IV: 2003–present Dexys reformed While recording two new songs, "Manhood" and "My Life in England" (both credited to Rowland, Paterson, and David Ditchfield) for a forthcoming Dexys greatest hits album, Rowland recruited Welsh classical violist (and studio musician) Lucy J. Morgan to play on the sessions along with original Dexys members Pete Williams as co-vocalist and "MD"
Mick Talbot on keyboards, plus Paul Taylor on trombone and
Neil Hubbard on guitar. With her addition, Rowland announced the reformation of Dexys in April 2003; he told Williams that his goal for the reformed band was to be true to the memory of Dexys but to "take it somewhere else". During a June 2005 interview on
BBC Radio 2, Kevin Rowland announced that Dexys were "back in the studio" and seeking a record deal for a new album. A new track, "It's OK Johanna", appeared on the band's MySpace site in 2007, and in January 2008, Rowland told
Uncut magazine further details about the album, saying in part: "I'm in the process of demo-ing the songs ... I don't know when it will be ready or who will play on the record. I want to get everything 100 percent right, and know that it's the best I can do and every note is there for a reason ... The only way I can be satisfied is to make the record I'm hearing in my head on my own terms." As Rowland repeatedly stated, "Dexys are not a revival band. They are going forward, not backward." Hyland was discovered at the last minute prior to recording, after what Rowland described as "about four years" of searching. All but one song were co-written by Rowland and Talbot, usually with other co-writers such as Paterson or
Glen Matlock; the album continued in the same style as ''Don't Stand Me Down'' (featuring spoken sections in the songs), which led the album to be described as "a concept album with an unreliable narrator". The first single from the album was "She Got a Wiggle", released 28 May 2012. They performed the song on
Later... with Jools Holland in May 2012. The group toured in September 2012 in the UK, performing their new album. Talbot left the group following this tour. In 2013, the band announced that they would play nine shows in London's West End at the Duke of York's Theatre, St Martins Lane between 15 and 27 April. These shows would become the basis for a documentary on the group entitled
Nowhere Is Home, directed by
Kieran Evans and
Paul Kelly.
Nowhere Is Home was issued in both triple-CD and double-DVD formats in October 2014 on Dexys' own label, Absolute Dexys. (Fahey's sister, actress Máire Fahey, had portrayed "Eileen" in the
music video and picture sleeve for "Come On Eileen" in 1982.)
Let the Record Show: Dexys Do Irish and Country Soul On St. Patrick's Day (Thursday, 17 March) 2016, Dexys announced the release of their fifth studio album,
Let the Record Show: Dexys Do Irish and Country Soul, which was subsequently released on 100%/
Warner Music on 3 June 2016. The album features interpretations of Irish folk standards plus songs written by contemporary musicians. The pre-release videos included on Dexys' Facebook page featured three band members: Rowland, Lucy Morgan, and Sean Read, whom Rowland described as the "nucleus" of the current version of Dexys. The album also includes guest violinist
Helen O'Hara, recording with the band for the first time in 30 years. Rowland said that the idea for the album dated back to 1984–85, at which time the album would have been called
Irish and featured only traditional Irish songs as interpreted by Dexys. According to Rowland, "the brief [has] expanded from solely consisting of Irish songs, to songs I've always loved and wanted to record", such as "
You Wear It Well", "
To Love Somebody", and "
Both Sides, Now". They also performed two songs on the ITV program
Weekend on 11 June. For these three performances, O'Hara temporarily rejoined Dexys in place of Morgan, who was unavailable.
Too-Rye-Ay As It Could Have Sounded and cancelled 2022 tour In September 2021, Dexys announced both an upcoming 40th-anniversary remix of
Too-Rye-Ay, to be done by Rowland, O'Hara, and longtime Dexys engineer Pete Schwier and tentatively entitled
Too-Rye-Ay As It Could Have Sounded, and a September/October 2022 tour to support the reissue. The publicity photo for the tour, which would have played the album in its entirety along with other Dexys material, shows, from left to right, Read, Rowland, O'Hara, and Paterson. Rowland stated, "There is no way on earth I would be doing this tour or even promoting a normal 40th anniversary re-issue, if it wasn't for the opportunity to remix it and present it how it could have sounded. This is like a new album for me." Although the tour would not move forward, the band promised material from the
Too-Rye-Ay As It Could Have Sounded project would be performed the next time they tour. The band lineup for
The Feminine Divine is Rowland, Paterson, Sean Read and Michael Timothy. The album was preceded by the singles and videos "I'm Going To Get Free", "Coming Home" and "My Submission". The album received 4-star reviews in
Uncut magazine,
Record Collector and
The Guardian amongst others, and entered the UK Official Albums Chart at number 6. The song "It's Alright Kevin (Manhood 2023)" is a re-recorded version of the song "Manhood" which was released before on the 2003 compilation album ''
Let's Make This Precious: The Best of Dexys Midnight Runners and on the live album At The Royal Court 2003''. Dexys toured
The Feminine Divine Live! across the UK and Ireland in September 2023. The show was divided into two halves with the first part featuring
The Feminine Divine album performed in its entirety in the order the tracks appear on the album. The second half saw Dexys play many of the songs that appeared on the
Too-Rye-Ay album: "Soon", "Plan B", "I'll Show You", "All In All (This One Last Wild Waltz)", "Until I Believe In My Soul", "
Come On Eileen", "Jackie Wilson Said (I'm In Heaven When You Smile)". Other songs performed in the second part of the show were "Geno", "Free", and "Carrickfergus". The band line up for these live shows was Kevin Rowland (vocals), Mike Timothy (keyboards) Sean Read (keyboards, saxophone), Claudia Chopek (violin), Alistair Whyte (trombone) and Tim Weller (drums). Dexys toured Europe in October. The tour was cancelled at the start of October 2023. On 20 April 2024, Record Store Day UK, Dexys released a special vinyl release of the song "Dance With Me", remixed by Manchester art-pop band
Dutch Uncles. On 22 March 2024 the band announced the release of 2CD/3LP live album
The Feminine Devine + Dexys Classics: Live!, featuring a full performance of
The Feminine Divine, as well as Dexys classics including "Come On Eileen", "Geno", "Jackie Wilson Said", "Plan B" and many more. It was released on 24 May, accompanied by the announcement of a series of UK festival shows, including an appearance at
Glastonbury. The setlist for the 2024 Festival Tour featured songs from each of the band's albums. The shows opened with "To Love Somebody" from 2016's
Let The Record Show and closed with "This Is What She's Like".
Mojo reviewed the Glastonbury show positively, saying "A slimmed down Dexys win out thanks to a magnificent turn from their leader." In March 2026 it was announced that the band had signed to Heavenly Recordings and would be heading out on a UK and Ireland tour for their first shows under the name Dexys Midnight Runners since 2003. ==Members==