Eurythmics

Eurythmics ranked among the standout pairs to surface during the opening years of the 1980s. While numerous British synth-pop acts from the same era dropped off the charts once new wave ebbed in 1984, Eurythmics sustained hit-making momentum through the decade’s final years, elevating technically polished, soul-oriented vocalist Annie Lennox to standalone prominence and positioning instrumentalist Dave Stewart as a capable and astute producer and songwriter. At the outset the duo funneled the cool, remote textures of electronic synthesizer music into tracks propelled by mechanical rhythms. Mid-decade singles such as “Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)” and “Here Comes the Rain Again” propelled the act to worldwide recognition, prompting Eurythmics to broaden their palette by exploring soul and R&B textures. Toward the close of the 1980s the pair struggled to breach the American Top 40, yet they retained strong footing in the United Kingdom. Entering the 1990s, Eurythmics entered a prolonged pause—both Lennox and Stewart embarked on solo paths—yet they reconvened from time to time for recordings or live appearances, among them the previously unreleased single “I’ve Got a Life,” issued in 2005 as part of their Ultimate Collection.

The roots of Eurythmics trace to the Tourists, a late-1970s British post-punk outfit assembled by Lennox and Stewart. The two first crossed paths in London while she attended the Royal Academy of Music. Stewart had just disbanded his folk-rock project Longdancer and was collaborating on material with guitarist Pete Coombes. Shortly after their introduction, Stewart and Lennox became both romantic and musical partners, launching a group called Catch alongside Coombes that swiftly matured into the Tourists by 1979. Although the band lasted only two years, the Tourists issued three moderately successful albums in England—The Tourists, Reality Effect, and Luminous Basement—while two singles, “I Only Want to Be with You” and “So Good to Be Back Home Again,” reached the domestic Top Ten.

By 1980 the romantic partnership between Lennox and Stewart had ended, and the Tourists disbanded with it. Nevertheless the pair elected to keep performing together, adopting the name Eurythmics and traveling to Germany to cut their first album. Backed by assorted members of Can and Blondie drummer Clem Burke, among additional contributors, the debut In the Garden appeared in 1981 to favorable notices but modest commercial returns. Stewart subsequently installed a home studio, where Eurythmics captured their second album, Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This), issued in January 1983.

“Love Is a Stranger” served as the third British single extracted from the album and secured modest chart placement by late 1982, just weeks ahead of the LP’s arrival. The title track emerged as a single in late January and surged to number two on the U.K. charts; soon afterward it ascended to number one in the States. “Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)” benefited substantially from its sleek, androgynous video, which garnered extensive rotation on MTV shortly after the network began shaping music-industry trends. Following that breakthrough, Eurythmics reissued “Love Is a Stranger,” which climbed into the U.K. Top Ten (number 23 U.S.). Touch, the duo’s third album, surfaced near the close of 1983 and sustained their run of hits through 1984, generating the successes “Who’s That Girl?” (number three, U.K.; number 21, U.S.), “Right by Your Side” (number ten, U.K.; number 29, U.S.), and “Here Comes the Rain Again” (number eight, U.K.; number four U.S.). At year’s end they unveiled the soundtrack for the cinematic version of 1984, their lowest-charting release despite the single “Sexcrime (Nineteen Eighty-Four)” reaching the U.K. Top Five.

Issued in May 1985, Eurythmics’ fourth non-soundtrack album, Be Yourself Tonight, adopted a more assertive, R&B-tinged approach and included a duet with Aretha Franklin, “Sisters Are Doin’ It for Themselves.” That collaboration ranked among three charting singles from the set, alongside “Would I Lie to You?” (number 17, U.K.; number one, Australia; number five, U.S.) and the melodic “There Must Be an Angel (Playing with My Heart)” (number one, U.K.; number 22, U.S.). Revenge, released the next year, extended the R&B and soul leanings of Be Yourself Tonight toward a harder-rocking resolution. Although the album reached number 12 in the U.S. and produced the number 14 hit “Missionary Man,” its overall sales fell short of those achieved by its predecessor. In the U.K. the group retained slightly greater traction—“Thorn in My Side” entered the Top Ten—yet signs of waning popularity were evident.

Fittingly for an act past its commercial peak, Eurythmics began exploring ancillary ventures. Throughout 1985 and 1986 Dave Stewart produced recordings for numerous leading artists, among them Bob Dylan, Daryl Hall, Tom Petty, and Mick Jagger. Annie Lennox launched a brief acting career with an appearance in Revolution. Eurythmics regrouped in 1987 to release Savage, which climbed to number seven in the U.K. yet landed just outside the U.S. Top 40. That same year Stewart married Siobhan Fahey, formerly of Bananarama and also featured in the “Who’s That Girl?” video; she would later join Shakespear’s Sister, a project produced by Stewart. In 1988 Lennox scored a hit duet with Al Green on “Put a Little Love in Your Heart,” drawn from the Scrooged soundtrack. The following year Eurythmics issued We Too Are One, which performed strongly in Britain by reaching number one but fared poorly in America, despite “Don’t Ask Me Why” becoming their first Top 40 single since “Missionary Man.”

Eurythmics entered a quiet hiatus beginning in 1990, issuing Greatest Hits the next year. Lennox inaugurated a thriving solo career in 1992 with Diva, an album that topped the U.K. chart and ultimately moved more than two million copies. Her follow-up, 1995’s Medusa, reached number one in Canada and the U.K. while peaking at number 11 in the States; Lennox received a Grammy for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance for its rendition of the Lover Speaks’ “No More ‘I Love Yous’.” Stewart persisted in producing records and composing film scores while forming the band Spiritual Cowboys. In 1995 he formally commenced a solo career with the release of Greetings from the Gutter. Lennox and Stewart revived Eurythmics in 1999, unveiling Peace, their first studio album in ten years. The set was warmly received, attaining number four in the U.K. and number 25 on the Billboard 200. With Lennox continuing to flourish as a solo artist—2003’s Bare reached the Top Five in the U.S., U.K., and Canada—Eurythmics resurfaced in 2005 with two previously unreleased tracks from the Peace sessions that appeared on that year’s Ultimate Collection. One of those tracks, “I’ve Got a Life,” was released as a single and peaked at number 14 in the U.K.

Although Eurythmics remained largely silent as a duo in subsequent years, Lennox earned a Grammy for her composition “Into the West” from the soundtrack to The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (Best Song Written for a Motion Picture, Television or Other Visual Media) and scored two further U.S./U.K. Top Ten albums with 2007’s Songs of Mass Destruction and 2014’s Nostalgia, a set of Great American Songbook covers. During the same period Stewart released four additional solo albums, including 2013’s Lucky Numbers, which featured collaborations with Martina McBride and Vanessa Amorosi, among others. In 2016 he produced Starlight, an album by New Zealand singer Jon Stevens that reached number 16 in Australia. The following year Lennox joined Ralph McTell on the charity single “Streets of London,” featuring Lennox and a choir. Her song “Requiem for a Private War,” written for the film A Private War concerning investigative journalist Marie Brenner, received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Original Song in 2019. When not promoting music, Lennox maintained visibility through activism, notably as founder of The Circle, a global NGO dedicated to gender equality. Eurythmics were inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2020 and received a nomination for the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2022.