Today (June 9, 2010) is the 56^th birthday of one of my favorite voices of 80s pop, Pete Byrne. He was the lead singer for the pop duo Naked Eyes (not to be confused with Pete Burns who was the androgynous lead singer of Dead or Alive). Naked Eyes was responsible for two of my favorites from the decade. Both songs come from the 1983 album Burning Bridges which surprisingly would only make it to #32 on the U.S. album charts. Unfortunately, the duo would break up shortly after their disappointing second album, Fuel for the Fire, was released in 1984.

The first song is actually a cover originally written by Burt Bacharach and Hal David in the early 60s. "Always Something There to Remind Me" became a minor hit in the U.S. for Lou Johnson in 1964, Sandie Shaw in 1964 (major hit in the UK staying at #1 for 3 weeks), then Dionne Warwick in 1967 and then R.B. Greaves in 1970. But it is the 1983 version by Naked Eyes that is by far my favorite. It would peak at #8 on the Billboard Hot 100 that year. This week's first Flashback Video is "Always Something There to Remind Me" by Naked Eyes...

Naked Eyes - Always Something There To Remind Me - Click here for another funny movie.

The second song is "Promises, Promises" which would reach #11 on the Billboard Hot 100 in October of 1983. It is coincidentally the same name of another song originally written in 1968 by Bacharach and David. Though Naked Eyes' first hit song was written by that duo, their second was not. Other than the title, the two songs are not related. This week's second Flashback Video is "Promises, Promises" by Naked Eyes...

Naked Eyes - Promises Promises - Awesome video clips here

I have always been a big fan of Pete Byrne's voice and both of those songs easily rank in my top 100 of the decade.

Byrne's partner, Rob Fisher, passed away in 1999. In 2007, Byrne reformed Naked Eyes and released Fumbling With The Covers, an album of acoustic hits including reworkings of "Promises, Promises", "When The Lights Go Out" and "Always Something There To Remind Me." Additionally in 2008, Naked Eyes completed a U.S. Summer Tour along with other 80s pop stars Belinda Carlisle, ABC and Human League. Last year, I found an acoustic version of "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus" by Byrne and included it on our Christmas mix CD that I put together annually to give selected friends and family. Currently, Byrne is working on Piccadilly, the new Naked Eyes album, due out this summer (2010).

That's all for another issue of Kickin' it Old School. Thanks for reading. If you are interested in reading any of my other 80s related issues, please click there for a summary of those. If you want to see the past issues of Flashback Videos, just type that into the Google Search Box at the top of the right hand column and it should give you a list of all of them. You can also always click on the Archives in the upper left hand column or use that Google Search Box to find any past issues or topics you may have missed. If you are a fan of Kickin' it, PLEASE CLICK ON THE FACEBOOK LOGO in the upper right hand column. This will take you to the Fan Page where I ask you to then click on the "Like" button. Even if you are not a Facebook member yet, please consider joining and registering as a fan at that page. You can also follow Old School on Twitter by clicking on the FOLLOW ME ON TWITTER LOGO also in the upper right hand column. This will take you the page and you can just click on the box that says "Follow". Even though the blog only updates a couple times a week, I try to send out daily 80s tweets. Let other 80s fans know about it as well! Peace and much love.