The Tourists

Although the Tourists are now recalled almost exclusively as the group that preceded Eurythmics for Dave Stewart and Annie Lennox, the Scottish outfit originally functioned chiefly as a vehicle for singer, guitarist, and chief songwriter Peet Coombes. Coombes had already collaborated with Stewart in a folk duo during the early 1970s. When Stewart’s girlfriend Lennox joined on vocals and occasional keyboards, the resulting trio adopted the name Catch and issued the single “Black Blood” on the Logo label in 1977. After bassist Eddie Chin and drummer Jim Toomey came aboard, the band renamed itself the Tourists and delivered its debut album, The Tourists, in 1978. The follow-up, Reality Effect, appeared the next year and yielded a U.K. hit via a cover of Dusty Springfield’s “I Only Want to Be With You.” Luminous Basement, released in 1980, failed to extend that momentum; its shift toward electronic textures, unlike the ’60s-inspired guitar pop of the earlier records, suggested the group had drifted from a clear artistic direction. The Tourists disbanded later that year. Epic later capitalized on their catalog with the 1984 compilation Should Have Been Greatest Hits.