Biography
It required close to ten years of steady work before Nick Van Eede experienced sudden mainstream recognition. His soft vocal timbre and striking looks aligned perfectly with the preferences of teenage MTV audiences once Cutting Crew reached number one on the pop charts in 1987 with the hit single "I Just Died In Your Arms." Although he appeared to be a fresh face at the time, Eede had already launched his musical path in the late '70s performing alone. Equipped solely with a kazoo and an acoustic guitar, he joined Slade on tour dates in Poland and opened for acts including David Essex, Hot Chocolate, and Alan Price. In the early '80s he became a member of the Drivers. Kevin Scott MacMichael, later Cutting Crew's guitarist, played in Fast Forward, a band that frequently supported the Drivers on bills. After the Drivers disbanded, Eede and MacMichael chose to work together, assembling Cutting Crew in the mid-'80s alongside bassist Colin Farley and drummer Martin Beadle. With that lineup Eede completed three albums—Broadcast, The Scattering, and Compus Mentus—before the band dissolved in 1993. Broadcast alone achieved significant success in the United States. Long afterward Eede reassembled Cutting Crew with an entirely new roster and released the group's fourth studio album, Grinning Souls, in 2006.