Hey, how you doing, sorry you couldn’t get through, if you leave your name and your number, Curiosity will get back to you!
For a brief time in the late 1980’s British group Curiosity Killed The Cat notched up chart hits all over the world. They returned in the early 90’s reduced to just Curiosity but still managed a top five hit. The band were made up of singer Ben Volpeliere-Pierrot (born 1965), guitarist Julian Brookhouse (born 1963), keyboard player Nick Thorp (born 1964) and drummer Mig Drummond (born 1964). The group debuted in 1986 with the song “Misfit” which, erm, missed the charts completely. More successful was their second release “Down To Earth” which rocketed to No.3 in the UK and No.5 in Ireland as well as charting in many other parts of the world.
Their first single of 1987 was “Ordinary Day” which reached No.11 in the UK and No.13 in Ireland and preceded their debut album “Keep Your Distance” in April that year. The album would top the UK chart receiving a Platinum certification after a re-release of “Misfit” would take the song to No.7 in the UK and then No.42 in America, where the album would make it to No.55. A fourth single “Free” would reach No.56 later in 1987.
After touring and taking a break, CKTC were back in 1989 with “Name And Number” which made it to No.14 in the UK and become a minor hit across Europe. Their second album “Getahead” would only chart at No.29 in the UK and following the failure of the second single “First Place”, the band were dropped by their label Mercury Records. “Name And Number” would have a more successful fling two years later when it was sampled for De La Soul’s 1991 release “Ring Ring Ring (Ha Ha Hey)” which reached No.10 in the UK and No.16 in the US!
Undeterred, and with one member less, they remerged in 1992 under the shortened name of Curiosity with a cover version of Johnny Bristol’s 1974 US and UK top ten hit “Hang On In There Baby” which reached No.3 in the UK, equalling their singles chart high of “Down To Earth”, as well as becoming a sizeable hit across Europe. It was the first track to be lifted from a third album “Back To Front”, which sadly along with three other singles, did nothing. The group finally disbanded soon after, although a greatest hits came out in 1996 which seems to of been completely missed by all.
Mig and Nick went on to form their own record company which was later bought by Eidos, Julian would score films and TV shows and Ben…well Ben still thinks it’s 1986! He regularly pops up at 80’s music festivals and get-togethers performing on his own but still using the Curiosity Killed The Cat brand (and I’m sure that hat is stapled to his head!).
Stay in touch with Ben and recall the days of Curiosity through the official FACEBOOK page
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