Pet Shop Boys – synthpop, new wave duo from England
Pet Shop Boys was formed in the fall of 1981. Its only members are Chris Lowe (4 October 1959) and Neil Tennant (10 July 1954). The musicians met by chance. It happened in one of the London music stores. In August 1981, Neil went to the shop to find out how to connect his keyboards to the stereo system. At the same time, Chris was visiting the store, looking for some new music. He promised to help Neil with his equipment. Several weeks later, the musicians met again. They immediately realized that they have similar tastes in music and decided to form a duo.
During the next several years, Neil and Chris were working on new songs. However, some of their early songs, including “Jealousy”, weren’t released until 1990. The duo’s direction was electronic music. The majority of the inspiration came to Chris and Neil from Bobby Orlando, Kraftwerk band, and contemporary groups, which performed in the New York nightclubs. They decided to call their duo Pet Shop Boys, which didn’t sound unusual for the hip hop bands of the 1980’s.
In the 1980’s, Neil Tennant used to be a music reporter. In 1983, he went to New York to collect information for his article about The Police band. He found an opportunity to meet with the famous producer Bobby Orland and show him the duo’s music. Bobby listened to a few singles and agreed to work with Pet Shop Boys.
