Have you been thinking about Londonbeat? If you do, leave till after 9am, won’t you?!

Londonbeat are/were a joint British and American quartet of singers formed in 1988. The original line up consisted of Jimmy Chambers (born 1946), Jimmy Helms (born 1941), George Chandler and William Henshall. The group released their debut single “There’s A Beat Going On” in September 1988 which reached No.19 in The Netherlands and No.88 in the UK.

They followed this with the harmony ballad “9am (The Comfort Zone)” in December. It was this song that broke them in the UK, reaching No.19 on the Christmas week chart that year. Their debut album “Speak” had been released a few weeks earlier but failed to chart in any country, despite “9am” being a moderate hit in the UK.

Two further singles ere released in 1989, “Falling In Love Again” which reached No.11 in The Netherlands, and “It Takes Two Baby” which stopped just short of the UK top 40 at No.42.

But it was their second album “In The Blood” and its lead single “I’ve Been Thinking About You” in September 1990 that brought the group international success when it topped the US singles chart as well as in Australia, Germany, Sweden, The Netherlands and Switzerland. It peaked at No.2 in the UK.

“In The Blood” was a relatively sizable hit making No.21 in the US, No.34 in the UK and made the top 20 in most parts of Europe and in Australia. They followed the album with “A Better Love” that made No.18 in The States and No.23 in the UK and again charted top 20 across Europe.

Three further singles were released during 1991, “It’s In The Blood”, “This Is Your Life” and their version of Bob Marley’s “No Woman, No Cry” but all three failed to make the impact of “I’ve Been Thinking About You” and “A Better Love”.

Their third studio album “Harmony” followed in 1992 and included the hit “You Bring On The Sun” (UK No.27, NL No.5) as well as “That’s How I Feel About You” and “Love You Send Me Colours”.

Londonbeat continued to release studio albums in 1994, 2003 and 2004, with less success, however, in 1995 the foursome put forward their song “I’m Just Your Puppet On A (String)” for the UK entry in the Eurovision Song Contest. They were pitted against strong entries that year that included “One Gift Of Love” by Dear Jon and “I Need You” by Deuce, all of who lost out to the group Love City Groove with their self titled single that came tenth in the contest. Londonbeat’s song was released as a single and charted at No.55 in the UK.

Henshall left the band at the end of the 90’s and was replaced by Myles Kayne. Chandler too left the group soon after and was replaced by Marc Goldschmitz, together with producer Charles Pierre, continued to perform into the twenty first century. Goldschmitz left the group in 2004 with Helms, Chambers and Pierre working as a threesome. Londonbeat often perform at 80’s and 90’s revival shows and festivals, even though it’s members are now well into their 70’s!

Keep in touch with Londonbeat through their WEBSITE and their FACEBOOK page

Take a look at our other Where Are They Now? posts or find out more here.