Fiat Lux

Hailing from Britain, the new wave trio Fiat Lux secured several U.K. chart entries before fading from the popular music scene. The group assembled in Yorkshire, England during 1982, featuring vocalist Steve Wright, Ian Nelson on saxophone and keyboards, and Dave Crickmore on guitars and keyboards. Wright and Crickmore had previously studied drama together at college. Following graduation, Wright entered the Yorkshire Actors theatre company, where he encountered musician Bill Nelson, formerly the guitarist of Be Bop Deluxe. Wright passed along a demo tape recorded with Crickmore. Impressed by the material, Nelson handled production and arrangement duties for the track “Feels Like Winter Again,” which appeared on his Cocteau Records label. In April 1982, Bill Nelson’s brother Ian Nelson joined the Fiat Lux lineup. The band adopted the name Fiat Lux, the Latin translation for the Biblical quotation “Let There Be Light.” “Feels Like Winter Again” marked their initial radio breakthrough. During 1984 the haunting ballad “Secrets” invited comparisons to Depeche Mode’s moody synth-pop and emerged as Fiat Lux’s best-known recording. Their incorporation of cello within “Secrets” expanded the stylistic boundaries of synth-pop. Nevertheless, the group never issued a full-length album, restricting their releases to several singles on Polydor. Fiat Lux disbanded in 1985.