Secret Affair
Encyclopedia
- Disambiguation: For the light novelLight novelA is a style of Japanese novel primarily targeting junior high and high school students . The term "light novel" is a wasei-eigo, or a Japanese term formed from words in the English language. Light novels are often called or for short...
see Kiddy Grade Secret Affair.
Secret Affair were a mod revival
Mod Revival
The mod revival was a music genre and subculture that started in England in 1978 and later spread to other countries . The mod revival's mainstream popularity was relatively short, although its influence has lasted for decades...
band, formed in 1978 and disbanded in 1982. They reformed to perform and record in the 2000s.
Career
In a period of a little over two years, Secret Affair posted five releases in the UK Singles ChartUK 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 ...
and released three albums. The debut single "Time For Action" sold over 200,000 copies and reached number 13 in the UK chart, putting the band at the forefront of the mod revival movement. More chart
Record chart
A record chart is a ranking of recorded music according to popularity during a given period of time. Examples of music charts are the Hit parade, Hot 100 or Top 40....
success followed with "Let Your Heart Dance", "My World" and "Sound Of Confusion".
Formed after the demise of the CBS Records
CBS Records
CBS Records is a record label founded by CBS Corporation in 2006 to take advantage of music from its entertainment properties owned by CBS Television Studios. The initial label roster consisted of only three artists; rock band Señor Happy and singer/songwriters Will Dailey and P.J...
signed power pop
Power pop
Power pop is a popular musical genre that draws its inspiration from 1960s British and American pop and rock music. It typically incorporates a combination of musical devices such as strong melodies, crisp vocal harmonies, economical arrangements, and prominent guitar riffs. Instrumental solos are...
band New Hearts
New Hearts
New Hearts were a British band from London, England.-Biography:New Hearts evolved out of college band Splitz Kidz, who met at Loughton College, comprising Ian Page , Dave Cairns , John Harty and drummer Rob Milne. At the start of 1977, Milne was replaced by Matt McIntyre...
, singer Ian Page
Ian Page
Ian Page is a British singer and author, achieving notoriety as singer in the band Secret Affair in the late 1970s.Teaming up with guitarist Dave Cairns while at school, Ian Page formed power pop/punk band New Hearts and signed to CBS Records in 1977, releasing two singles and touring with The Jam...
and guitarist Dave Cairns
Dave Cairns
Dave Cairns is an English rock guitarist and songwriter, best known for his role in the 1970s/1980s band Secret Affair...
spent the second half of 1978 writing songs that would form the basis of the first two Secret Affair albums. They also drew up plans for a smart-dressing youth movement – the Glory Boys – based around the idea of 1960s gangster chic and influenced by the movie, Performance
Performance (film)
Performance is a 1968 British crime drama film; the film was produced in 1968 but not released until 1970. Directed by Donald Cammell and Nicolas Roeg, Performance stars James Fox and Mick Jagger of The Rolling Stones in his film acting debut.-Plot:...
.
After spending January 1979 demoing
Demo (music)
A demo version or demo of a song is one recorded for reference rather than for release. A demo is a way for a musician to approximate their ideas on tape or disc, and provide an example of those ideas to record labels, producers or other artists...
songs, Page and Cairns enlisted the services of bassist Dennis Smith from the power pop band Advertising and Young Bucks drummer Seb Shelton
Seb Shelton
Seb Shelton is a British musician who was a drummer for the bands The Young Bucks , Secret Affair , and Dexys Midnight Runners...
. Saxophone player Dave Winthrop would join later in the year.
From its very first gig
Concert
A concert is a live performance before an audience. The performance may be by a single musician, sometimes then called a recital, or by a musical ensemble, such as an orchestra, a choir, or a musical band...
, opening for The Jam
The Jam
The Jam were an English punk rock/New Wave/mod revival band active during the late 1970s and early 1980s. They were formed in Woking, Surrey. While they shared the "angry young men" outlook and fast tempos of their punk rock contemporaries, The Jam wore smartly tailored suits rather than ripped...
at Reading University in February 1979, the band was adopted by a group of East End Mods, who readily embraced Page’s Glory Boy concept. This group of fans began referring to themselves as Glory Boys, often tattooing the name on their arms or inner lips as a badge of allegiance. Secret Affair had become so closely linked to the emerging mod revival that in March 1979 Cairns wrote what would become the youth movement's main anthem
Anthem
The term anthem means either a specific form of Anglican church music , or more generally, a song of celebration, usually acting as a symbol for a distinct group of people, as in the term "national anthem" or "sports anthem".-Etymology:The word is derived from the Greek via Old English , a word...
, "Time For Action".
Just a few months later, Secret Affair had signed to Arista Records
Arista Records
Arista was an American record label. It was a wholly owned subsidiary of Sony Music Entertainment and operated under the RCA Music Group. The label was founded in 1974 by Clive Davis, who formerly worked for CBS Records...
and formed its own label, I-Spy Records and "Time For Action" was in the chart. It was soon followed into the charts by "Let Your Heart Dance", "My World" and "Sound Of Confusion". The first two albums, Glory Boys (December 1979) and Behind Closed Doors (September 1980), with its more complex orchestrated arrangements, proved successful and in its first year Secret Affair regularly appeared on the BBC Television
BBC Television
BBC Television is a service of the British Broadcasting Corporation. The corporation, which has operated in the United Kingdom under the terms of a Royal Charter since 1927, has produced television programmes from its own studios since 1932, although the start of its regular service of television...
show Top Of The Pops
Top of the Pops
Top of the Pops, also known as TOTP, is a British music chart television programme, made by the BBC and originally broadcast weekly from 1 January 1964 to 30 July 2006. After 25 December 2006 it became a radio program, now hosted by Tony Blackburn...
and was a cover star
Celebrity
A celebrity, also referred to as a celeb in popular culture, is a person who has a prominent profile and commands a great degree of public fascination and influence in day-to-day media...
of many UK music magazine
Music magazine
A music magazine is a magazine dedicated to music and music culture. Such magazines typically include music news, interviews, photo shoots, essays, record reviews, concert reviews and occasionally have a covermount with recorded music.-Notable music magazines:...
s, including New Musical Express, Sounds
Sounds (magazine)
Sounds was a long-term British music paper, published weekly from 10 October 1970 – 6 April 1991. It was produced by Spotlight Publications , which was set up by Jack Hutton and Peter Wilkinson, who left "Melody Maker" to start their own company...
and Smash Hits
Smash Hits
Smash Hits was a pop music based magazine, aimed at teenagers and young adults and originally published in the United Kingdom by EMAP. It ran from 1978 to 2006 and was issued fortnightly for most of that time...
.
I-Spy Records also released singles by ska legend Laurel Aitken
Laurel Aitken
Lorenzo Aitken , better known as Laurel Aitken, was a singer and one of the originators of Jamaican ska music. He is often referred to as the "Godfather of ska".-Career:...
, Eddie Floyd
Eddie Floyd
Eddie Lee Floyd is an American soul/R&B singer and songwriter, best known for his work on the Stax record label in the 1960s and 1970s and the song "Knock on Wood".-Biography:...
and Squire.
The music videos for several of the band's songs were directed
Film director
A film director is a person who directs the actors and film crew in filmmaking. They control a film's artistic and dramatic nathan roach, while guiding the technical crew and actors.-Responsibilities:...
by Steve Barron
Steve Barron
Steven "Steve" Barron is a director and producer, best known for directing the films Coneheads , Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and the innovative music videos for a-ha's "Take on Me" and Michael Jackson's "Billie Jean"....
.
Likened to Jimmy Pursey
Jimmy Pursey
Jimmy Pursey is an English singer and record producer. He was the founder and frontman of the English punk rock band, Sham 69 from 1976 to 1980, and from 1986 to 2006.-Biography:...
, Page was asked to appear on UK television programmes and was viewed as an articulate spokesman for his generation, although his opinionated views alienated as many potential fans
Fan (person)
A Fan, sometimes also called aficionado or supporter, is a person with a liking and enthusiasm for something, such as a band or a sports team. Fans of a particular thing or person constitute its fanbase or fandom...
as they won over.
The mod movement that had swept Secret Affair into the pop charts had all but evaporated by mid 1980, losing out to the rival 2 Tone
2 Tone
2 Tone is a music genre created in the United Kingdom in the late 1970s by fusing elements of ska, punk rock, rocksteady, reggae, and New Wave. It was called 2 Tone because most of the bands were signed to 2 Tone Records at some point. Other labels associated with the 2 Tone sound were Stiff...
fashion movement, and after the release of the band's second album, drummer Shelton quit to join the "Come On Eileen
Come on Eileen
"Come On Eileen" was a single released by Dexys Midnight Runners in 1982. The song was written by Kevin Rowland, "Big" Jim Paterson, and Billy Adams; it was produced by Clive Langer and Alan Winstanley. It also appeared on the album Too-Rye-Ay...
" era Dexys Midnight Runners
Dexys Midnight Runners
Dexys Midnight Runners are a British pop group with soul influences, who achieved their major success in the early to mid 1980s. They are best known for their songs "Come On Eileen" and "Geno", both of which went No. 1 on the UK Singles Chart....
. Secret Affair regrouped, recruiting ex-Advertising drummer Paul Bultitude
Paul Bultitude
Paul Bultitude is an English musician and record producer. He was the drummer in power pop band Advertising, working with his cousin Dennis Smith, Tot Taylor and Simon Boswell, before replacing Seb Shelton as the drummer in Secret Affair...
and embarking on a lengthy tour of the United States, before returning in late 1981 with its final chart hit
Hit record
A hit record is a sound recording, usually in the form of a single or album, that sells a large number of copies or otherwise becomes broadly popular or well-known, through airplay, club play, inclusion in a film or stage play soundtrack, causing it to have "hit" one of the popular chart listings...
, "Do You Know".
One more single followed, "Lost In The Night", before the release of Business As Usual, an album that saw the band return to the rock-soul
Soul music
Soul music is a music genre originating in the United States combining elements of gospel music and rhythm and blues. According to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, soul is "music that arose out of the black experience in America through the transmutation of gospel and rhythm & blues into a form of...
fusion of its earlier work. Although a spirited album, it was a commercial failure and Secret Affair split-up midway through 1982.
Cairns went on to form a band called Flag, with Archie Brown from The Bureau
The Bureau
The Bureau were a New Wave soul group formed in late 1980 in Birmingham, England, when the original lineup of Dexys Midnight Runners split-up....
and signed a recording contract
Recording contract
A recording contract is a legal agreement between a record label and a recording artist , where the artist makes a record for the label to sell and promote...
in the US He subsequently teamed up with Scottish singer Alan King in Walk on Fire
Walk on Fire
Walk on Fire was a British melodic rock band whose album Blind Faith yielded two minor hit singles: "Blind Faith" and "Wastelands"....
, writing the majority of the band's material and playing keyboards on tours. Signing to MCA
Music Corporation of America
MCA, Inc. was an American talent agency. Initially starting in the music business, they would next become a dominant force in the film business, and later expanded into the television business...
in the U.S., the band released the album Blind Faith in 1990 and toured supporting Foreigner
Foreigner (band)
Foreigner is a British-American rock band, originally formed in 1976 by veteran English musicians Mick Jones and ex-King Crimson member Ian McDonald along with American vocalist Lou Gramm...
, Nils Lofgren
Nils Lofgren
Nils Hilmer Lofgren is an American rock music recording artist, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist...
and the Dan Reed Network
Dan Reed Network
The Dan Reed Network is a funk rock band formed by Dan Reed in Portland, Oregon, United States, in 1984. Dan Reed lended his vocals to a 1990 rap rock collaboration with the Portland Trail Blazers, "Bust a Bucket".-Breathless beginnings:...
before Cairns joined Gibson Guitars USA as Special Projects Manager. Page released two solo singles before leaving the music industry.
Reunion
In June 2002, Page, Cairns, Smith, Bultitude and Winthrop reformed for three gigs, including a performance at London's Shepherds Bush EmpireShepherds Bush Empire
The O2 Shepherds Bush Empire is a music venue in Shepherd's Bush, London, England, run by the Academy Music Group. It was built in 1903, as a music hall, and in 1953 became the BBC Television Theatre...
. They returned in June the following year, playing at The Scala in Islington
Islington
Islington is a neighbourhood in Greater London, England and forms the central district of the London Borough of Islington. It is a district of Inner London, spanning from Islington High Street to Highbury Fields, encompassing the area around the busy Upper Street...
to promote the release of Time For Action: The Anthology (Sanctuary
Sanctuary Records
Sanctuary Records Group Limited was a record label based in the United Kingdom and a subsidiary of Universal Music Group. Until June 2007, it was the largest independent record label in the UK and the largest independent music management company in the world...
), a major CD retrospective of hits, rarities and previously unreleased tracks. The concert was filmed and released on DVD.
In 2006 Page and Cairns attempted to mend their sometimes fractious relationship and started work on a fourth Secret Affair album, recording
Sound recording and reproduction
Sound recording and reproduction is an electrical or mechanical inscription and re-creation of sound waves, such as spoken voice, singing, instrumental music, or sound effects. The two main classes of sound recording technology are analog recording and digital recording...
five new songs. The album remains unfinished, but in 2008 Page and Cairns put their differences behind them and have reformed Secret Affair as a touring band with a new line-up. In 2009 they have been playing regularly around the UK and further afield, having played their first ever concerts in Dublin, Madrid, Moscow & Tokyo.
The band have confirmed shows in 2010 including Concorde 2, Brighton, and a double headliner with The Purple Hearts at The 02 Academy, Islington, London, on 23 October 2010.
Band members
Original band, 1979–1982- Vocalist – Ian PageIan PageIan Page is a British singer and author, achieving notoriety as singer in the band Secret Affair in the late 1970s.Teaming up with guitarist Dave Cairns while at school, Ian Page formed power pop/punk band New Hearts and signed to CBS Records in 1977, releasing two singles and touring with The Jam...
- Guitarist – Dave CairnsDave CairnsDave Cairns is an English rock guitarist and songwriter, best known for his role in the 1970s/1980s band Secret Affair...
- Bassist (1979–2003) – Dennis Smith
- Drummer (1979–80) – Seb SheltonSeb SheltonSeb Shelton is a British musician who was a drummer for the bands The Young Bucks , Secret Affair , and Dexys Midnight Runners...
- Drummer (1981–2003) – Paul BultitudePaul BultitudePaul Bultitude is an English musician and record producer. He was the drummer in power pop band Advertising, working with his cousin Dennis Smith, Tot Taylor and Simon Boswell, before replacing Seb Shelton as the drummer in Secret Affair...
- SaxophonistSaxophoneThe saxophone is a conical-bore transposing musical instrument that is a member of the woodwind family. Saxophones are usually made of brass and played with a single-reed mouthpiece similar to that of the clarinet. The saxophone was invented by the Belgian instrument maker Adolphe Sax in 1846...
(1979–2008) – Dave Winthrop
Additional reunion musicians
- Trombone – (2006–present) Steve RinaldiRinaldi SingsRinaldi Sings is the stage name used by Steve Rinaldi, a singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist whose orchestrated pop music prompted the New Musical Express to describe him in 2004 as a "cocksure 20th Century Scott Walker".- Background :...
- Bass (2008–present) Sean Kelly
- Drummer (2008–present) Russ Baxter
- Saxophone (2008–present) – Andy Brush
- Trumpet (2008–present) Martyn Blagdon
- Hammond (2009–present) Bryn Barkham
UK Singles Chart
- "Time For Action" – 1979 – Number 13
- "Let Your Heart Dance" – 1979 – Number 32
- "My World" – 1980 – Number 16
- "Sound Of Confusion" – 1980 – Number 45
- "Do You Know" – 1981 – Number 57
UK Albums Chart
- Glory Boys – 1979 – Number 41
- Behind Closed Doors – 1980 – Number 48
- Business As Usual – 1982 – Number 84
See also
- List of bands from England
- List of performances on Top of the Pops
- List of Peel sessions
- Captain Oi! RecordsCaptain Oi! RecordsCaptain Oi! is a punk rock and Oi! record label based in High Wycombe, England. The company has released over 300 albums by many notable punk and Oi! bands of the late 1970s and 1980s. The label was set up by Mark Brennan, former bassist of The Business, who had previously co-run Link Records and...
- Rock Goes To CollegeRock goes to CollegeRock Goes To College was a BBC series that ran between 1978 and 1981 on British television. A variety of up-coming rock oriented bands were showcased live from small venues and broadcast simultaneously on television and radio during a 40-50 minute live performance.It was a follow-on to the...
External links
- Secret Affair Official band site
- The Mod Revival The story of the Mod Revival, by Chris HuntChris HuntChris Hunt is a magazine editor, journalist and author. He has worked in journalism for over twenty years, most often writing about football or rock music. He was managing editor of Match from 1993 to 2001, a period that saw the weekly title become Britain's biggest selling football magazine...
, published in the New Musical Express Mod special edition, April 2005 - [ Secret Affair biography] at Allmusic
- Find Secret Affair & Mod music
- Ian Page Interview 2009
- Secret Affair tracks on YouTube