This British band got together in 1976 after the guitarists Dave Stewart and Peet Co0mbes had met up with Annie Lennox who had wanted to follow a career in pop music after she had decided to leave her studies at the Royal Academy of Music.
The trio had first gone by the name The Catch and released the 1977 single “Borderline/Black Blood” in various countries in Europe but saw minimal success with it.
They took on the drummer Jim Toomey and the bass player Eddie Chin and changed the name from The Catch to The Tourists. This was the beginning of their success and the band released the album The Tourists in 1979. The album produced the singles “The Loneliest Man in the World” which reached No.32 on the UK Singles chart and “Blind Among the Flowers” which went to No. 52 in the UK Singles chart
Also in 1979 the album Reality Effect was released and this time they were gaining a lot more attention. The album reached No. 23 on the UK Album charts and the singles from the album became Top 10 hits on the UK Singles chart when the “So Good To Be Back Home Again” went to No. 8. Their cover of “I Only Want To Be With You” , which had been a hit for Dusty Springfield, went to No. 4 in the UK and reached the top 10 in Australia and was No. 83 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the US.
The following year they changed their record label from Logo to RCA’s UK branch and went on tour. The tour included them being the support act for Roxy Music’s Manifesto Tour. They released the album Luminous Basement which was less successful, reaching No. 75 on the UK Album chart. It produced the single “Don’t Say I Told You So” which reached No. 40 on the UK Singles chart.
Later in 1980 the group decided to break up with Dave Stewart and Annie Lennox, who were a couple at that time, starting what would be the successful duo The Eurythmics. Peet Coombes and Eddie Chin started the band The Acid Drops, which saw minimal success.
In 1984 the compilation album Should Have Been Greatest Hits was released.
38 years after the band’s break-up the book We Were Tourists was written and published by Jim Toomey in 2018.
Sources:
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Tourists
- https://www.allmusic.com/artist/the-tourists-mn0000921200#biography
- https://nostalgiacentral.com/music/artists-l-to-z/artists-t/tourists/
- https://pastdaily.com/2020/12/14/tourists-concert-1979-nights-roundtable-mini-concert-edition/
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Tourists_(album)
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reality_Effect
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luminous_Basement
- https://www.allmusic.com/album/should-have-been-greatest-hits-mw0000207603
- https://www.discogs.com/artist/291650-The-Tourists