Being in a band can be hard. Circling the same people for years and years is bound to grow tiring at some point, especially when creative decisions and strings of sleepless nights due to touring are thrown into the mix. Now imagine a band that only consists of two people. All of that tension would likely be increased tenfold. So is it any wonder that Annie Lennox and Dave Stewart called it quits?
Videos by American Songwriter
Despite being formally broken up since 1990, Eurythmics have remained alive and well in the hearts of fans the world over. And their scattered appearances together over the years only fuel that fire.
Revisit the story of how Eurythmics came to be, below.
Behind the Duo
Prior to forming Eurythmics, Lennox, and Stewart came to the U.S. as part of the pop-rock group The Tourists. While in the band, the pair were romantically involved. Tensions within the group quickly made it an inhospitable creative environment for Lennox and Stewart, prompting them to foray out on their own.
They released their first record, In the Garden, as Eurythmics in 1981. Though the album wasn’t a runaway success for the duo, it helped start them on their path to becoming household names. Their second album, Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This), was far more profitable for the pair. It further helped them to break into the U.S.
“I got to love America and I got to understand why everything was so epic,” Stewart once told American Songwriter. “In Britain, you would go to a club and it’s just the band playing with maybe one backlight or something. When you got to America, it was all rock shows, and if you look back through all sorts of industries, whether cars or food, everything [in the U.S.] was massive. You get a sandwich at a deli, and it was a meal for seven people.”
From the start, Stewart says he and Lennox were songwriting machines.
“We wouldn’t let anybody else in the room or near us,” Stewart continued. “We’d write a song very quickly, sometimes in 20 minutes, then go back into the engineer and say, ‘Alright, we want to record this now,’ and he would go, ‘Right, when did you write that?'”
Between 1983 and 1984, Eurythmics released three projects: Sweet Dreams, Touch, and Touch Dance. “Funny enough, Annie and I have never really had an argument,” Stewart added in the same American Songwriter interview, which is likely why they became so prolific as a songwriting duo.
The years between 1985 and 1990, saw the group experimenting with their sound. They went from employing a number of physical instruments to solely using pre-recorded tracks. Years of constantly creating together and being on the road caused tension between Lennox and Stewart. In 1990, they decided to call it quits.
In the wake of their breakup, Stewart began to work on film soundtracks and a secondary band, The Spiritual Cowboys, while Lennox took some time off to have a child. In 1992, Lennox shared her own solo material. The album, Diva, was successful both commercially and critically.
The pair came back together in 1999 for an album titled Peace. They subsequently hit the road in support of the record, thrilling fans that were waiting on their return. The future of the band has been up in the air. The biggest semblance of a reunion came as the pair was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame last year.
Photo by Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic
