WHERE ARE THEY NOW? Stephen ‘Tin Tin’ Duffy

Stephen Duffy has dabbled in many pools, but it is as ‘Tin Tin’ that was his icing on the cake!

Stephen Duffy (b.1960 in Birmingham), along with John Taylor and Nick Rhodes, was one of the founding members of the group Duran Duran, in 1978. But his time with the band was short and he did not stick around to see the global success that would befall them in the 1980’s. Instead, he founded a number of other groups that would result in a mixture of successes, most notable Tin Tin in 1982, who debuted that October with “Kiss Me” and followed up with “Hold It” in 1983. Both failed to make the UK top 40 and the group disbanded with no album having been recorded. Stephen went solo using the new stage name of Stephen ‘Tin Tin’ Duffy, just in case anyone had forgotten who he was, and would enjoy his greatest acclaim from there onwards.

A re-recording of “Kiss Me” formed his debut solo single and it went to No.4 in early 1985. The song would also chart top twenty across Europe. Many years later, former Take That star Robbie Williams would record a version of the song for his “Rudebox” album of 2006. More on that later… For Stephen, 1985 was his year and he followed this with “Icing On The Cake”, which reached No.14. Both tracks would feature on his first album, “The Ups And Downs”, that would break the UK top 40 and would include “Unkiss That Kiss” and “She Makes Me Quiver”, although both would not become big commercial hits. Stephen would continue using this ‘brand’ for the rest of the decade, although a follow up album “Because We Love You” (1986), failed to chart at all while the singles “I Love You” and “Something Special” followed suit.

At this time, Stephen also wrote and recorded under the name of ‘Dr. Calculus’ and The Lilac Time, a band that also featured his older brother Nick. They achieved five top 100 singles in the UK and have, to date, recorded no less than twelve studio albums, the most recent being “Dance Till All The Stars Come Down” in 2023! Stephen reverted to his usual name, Stephen Duffy, for more solo work into the early 1990’s, but returned as Stephen ‘Tin Tin’ Duffy in 1998 with the album “They Called Him Tin Tin”. All of these projects fell under the radar of the general public with only a select following taking interest. However, Stephen did return to the UK singles chart in 1996 with the song “Hanging Around” as part of the short-lived ‘supergroup’ Me Me Me, that included Alex James of Blur and Justin Welch of Elastica. The song made it to No.19, his first big hit since “Icing On The Cake”!

In the years since, he formed the band The Hawks, has continued to work with and be The Lilac Time, and most interestingly, having reconnected with Nick Rhodes, released some very early Duran Duran songs, re-recorded under the name of The Devils. The album, “Dark Circles”, was released in 2002. Stephen turned his hand to songwriting in 2004 when we wrote the song “Radio” for Robbie Williams. The track topped the UK singles chart and was a huge hit in more than twenty other countries. Such was its success, Robbie asked Stephen to work on and produce his next studio album and this he did. “Intensive Care” followed in 2005 and would be another number one best seller in multiple countries, selling over six million copies and included the hit singles “Tripping” and “Advertsing Space”.

Stephen continues to be multi-tasking in the music business, whether on his own for with the reformed Lilac Time or with The Hawks or on simply on his own and drawing from more than forty years of experience and success, but always out of the public eye, off stage and in the shadows, that’s where the icing on his cake sits and probably where he’d like it to remain!