Tears for Fears are a UK synth-pop band, formed by Roland Orzabal and Curt Smith. They topped the charts in 1989 with "Sowing the Seeds of Love".
After a stint in Graduate, a new wave/mod band who released one album Acting My Age, Orzabal and Smith branched out and became Tears for Fears. Their 1981 debut The Hurting, promoted by "Pale Shelter" and "Mad World" (a cover of which was taken to world-maddening ubiquity by Gary Jules in 2003), went to No.1 and spent more than a year in the UK charts.
"Shout", the first single from the next album, heralded the more sophisticated sound of Songs from the Big Chair, which made No. 2 and then spent a year in the charts. On the other side of the Atlantic, the album was No.1 for five weeks, which helped it on its way to multi-platinum sales. While the band were engaged in a world tour the 'second summer of love' was happening in the UK; their response was the Seeds of Love album in 1989.
The George Martin-style production, as heard on "Sowing the Seeds of Love" and "Woman in Chains", took the album to No.1, and on to multi-million sales worldwide. But the high production values had a high price-tag attached, and the band had to embark on another exhausting tour to claw back the costs of the album. The touring took its toll, and afterwards Smith and Orzabal split up.
Orzabal, as Tears for Fears, released Elemental. The album was a Top 10 in the UK and provided a Top 30 single with the soul-tinged "Break It Down Again". Smith, on his own soul trip, released three albums, one in his own name and two as Mayfield, but none were as successful as his ex-bandmate's solo release.
In 2000 the boys got back together and released Everybody Loves a Happy Ending. Considered to be a follow-on from the Beatles-esque Seeds of Love, it prompted one enthusiastic (if ill-informed) reviewer to write 'John Lennon and Paul McCartney are alive and well'. The album sold well and provided the band with their first UK single success for a decade, with "Closest Thing to Heaven".
