Graduate was formed in 1979, in Bath, England. Baker and Orzabal were at school together and performed as the "Baker Brothers" in local pubs and clubs from 1977 aged 16. The name Graduate came from the fact that they used to open shows with a cover of Simon and Garfunkel

Simon and Garfunkel

Simon & Garfunkel are an American duo consisting of singer-songwriter Paul Simon and singer Art Garfunkel. They formed the group Tom & Jerry in 1957 and had their first success with the minor hit "Hey, Schoolgirl". As Simon & Garfunkel, the duo rose to fame in 1965, largely on the strength of the...

's "Mrs. Robinson

Mrs. Robinson

"Mrs. Robinson" is a song written by Paul Simon and first performed by Simon & Garfunkel. When released as a single in 1968, it hit number one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in the US, for their second chart-topping hit after "The Sound of Silence"...

", which was featured in the movie The Graduate

The Graduate

The Graduate is a 1967 American comedy-drama motion picture directed by Mike Nichols. It is based on the 1963 novel The Graduate by Charles Webb, who wrote it shortly after graduating from Williams College. The screenplay was by Buck Henry, who makes a cameo appearance as a hotel clerk, and Calder...

. In 1979, Graduate signed a publishing deal with Tony Hatch

Tony Hatch

Anthony Peter "Tony" Hatch is an English composer, songwriter, pianist, music arranger and producer.-Early life and early career:...

 who subsequently offered the group to Pye Records

Pye Records

Pye Records was a British record label. In its first incarnation, perhaps Pye's best known artists were Lonnie Donegan , Petula Clark , The Searchers , The Kinks , Sandie Shaw and Brotherhood of Man...

.

In 1980, Graduate released an album, Acting My Age, and a single "Elvis Should Play Ska" (referring to Elvis Costello

Elvis Costello

Elvis Costello , born Declan Patrick MacManus, is an English singer-songwriter. He came to prominence as an early participant in London's pub rock scene in the mid-1970s and later became associated with the punk/New Wave genre. Steeped in word play, the vocabulary of Costello's lyrics is broader...

, not Presley

Presley

The surname Presley and variants Pressley and Pressly are thought to be ultimately of English origin. Later, if not found in some form originating also in Scotland, the name made its way across the border to that country, then on to Ireland and to the United States...

) on the Pye label. The single reached #106 in the UK Singles Chart

UK Singles Chart

The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...

, but performed better in Spain, and in Switzerland

Switzerland

Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....

; the group had its amount of success in some other European countries such as Germany and Greece

Greece

Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....

.

In 1981, Orzabal and Smith went on to form the acclaimed New Wave

New Wave music

New Wave is a subgenre of :rock music that emerged in the mid to late 1970s alongside punk rock. The term at first generally was synonymous with punk rock before being considered a genre in its own right that incorporated aspects of electronic and experimental music, mod subculture, disco and 1960s...

 band Tears for Fears

Tears for Fears

Tears for Fears are an English new wave band formed in the early 1980s by Roland Orzabal and Curt Smith.Founded after the dissolution of their first band, the mod-influenced Graduate, they were initially associated with the New Wave synthesiser bands of the early 1980s but later branched out into...

.

Band members

• Roland Orzabal
  Roland Orzabal
  Roland Jaime Orzabal de la Quintana is an English musician, songwriter and record producer. He is known mainly as a co-founding member of Tears for Fears, of which he is the main songwriter and joint vocalist, but he has also achieved success as a producer of other artists.- Early career :Orzabal...
  
  : guitar, keyboards and vocals (main lead vocalist)
• Curt Smith
  Curt Smith
  Curt Smith is an English musician. He is best known for forming the band Tears for Fears, along with childhood friend Roland Orzabal. Also a solo artist, he released his third album Halfway, Pleased in May 2008....
  
  : bass, synthesisers and vocals (occasional lead vocalist)
• John Baker: guitar and vocals (lead vocals on one track, co-lead vocals with Orzabal on another. Went on to join Korgis 1981–1982 and 1989–present. Also Contributed backing vocals on 1993 Tears For Fears album "Elemental")
• Steve Buck: keyboards and flute
• Andy Marsden: drums

Albums

Year	Album	UK UK Albums Chart The UK Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales in the United Kingdom. It is compiled every week by The Official Charts Company and broadcast on a Sunday on BBC Radio 1 , and published in Music Week magazine and on the OCC website .To qualify for the UK albums chart...	Notes
1980	Acting My Age	-	Debut studio album. Remastered with extra tracks in 2001.
Unreleased	Ambitions	-	Cancelled before completion. All tracks can be found on the 2001 expanded remaster of Acting My Age
1991	Graduate	-	German-only release featuring many of the tracks from Acting My Age but with two different versions of the song "Shut Up" and the song "I See Through You" from the unfinished "Ambitions" album.