A Flock Of Seagulls

Emerging from Liverpool, England, this electro-pop outfit of the new wave era first achieved striking commercial breakthroughs across the United States and only later cultivated a substantial audience back home. The founding quartet consisted of Mike Score, born 5 November 1957 and handling keyboards plus vocals, his brother Ali Score on drum machine and vocals, guitarist Paul Reynolds born 4 August 1962, and bassist Frank Maudsley born 10 November 1959. After releasing a daring EP through Bill Nelson’s Cocteau imprint, the group delivered their 1982 full-length debut A Flock Of Seagulls, a prime specimen of futurist pop that featured standout cuts such as the hit single “I Ran (So Far Away),” which climbed into the US Top 10 during July of that year. Former hairdresser Mike Score endured repeated press barbs aimed at his “silly haircut,” a none-too-natural blond style he let drape across his keyboards. Although Listen offered yet another set of catchy material, the band struggled to secure enduring domestic support despite the success of “Wishing (If I Had A Photograph Of You),” which peaked at number 10 in November 1982.

Once Paul Reynolds exited following the release of The Story Of A Young Heart, both that album and the subsequent Dream Come True, recorded as a trio, fell well short of earlier standards, prompting the group’s dissolution. In 1989 Mike Score assembled a fresh incarnation that toured the United States and issued the single “Magic,” an attribute the project conspicuously lacked before it too disbanded. He returned in 1995 with The Light At The End Of The World and kept the A Flock Of Seagulls name alive into the new millennium. The original members reconvened in November 2003 for the VH1 program Bands Reunited; after additional concerts in 2004 the other three withdrew from music, leaving Mike Score to continue performing under the band’s banner with yet another lineup.