Pete Byrne, the frontman of British new wave group Naked Eyes who carried them to repeated chart successes in the US, has died aged 74. The news was announced on the band’s website and social media on Wednesday, stating that Byrne died peacefully in Los Angeles on 14 September after a brief illness. Byrne was part of the “second British invasion” when synthpop and new wave bands from the UK, powered in part by the rise of MTV, swept into the US, with peers including Duran Duran, A Flock of Seagulls and more.
He formed Naked Eyes in the late 1970s after the failure of his groups Studio and Neon, with Neon featuring future Tears for Fears members Curt Smith and Roland Orzabal as well as his future Naked Eyes bandmate Rob Fisher and others. Their debut single became their biggest hit: a cover of the Burt Bacharach-penned Always Something There to Remind Me, powered by Byrne’s earnest boyish croon, which reached the Top 10 in the US, Canada and Australia. Though Naked Eyes never hit the Top 40 in their native UK, they continued a run of US successes with three more Top 40 hits there: Promises, Promises (which reached No 11 and featured Madonna on unreleased remixes), When the Lights Go Out and (What) In the Name of Love (which was remixed by Arthur Baker).
The group weren’t able to replicate their synth-heavy studio setup on tour, and they split after their second album, 1984’s Fuel for the Fire. Byrne later blamed the split on him and Fisher living in Los Angeles and London respectively, and on EMI losing faith in the project. Byrne retreated, writing and producing with other artists – later including a song for Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen – and recorded backing vocals for Stevie Wonder’s 1985 US No 1 Part-Time Lover.
He released a solo album, The Real Illusion, in 2001, and began working with Fisher again, rebooting Naked Eyes as a solo project after Fisher’s death in 1999. Byrne released two further albums under that name and became a familiar face on 80s revue tours, alongside the likes of the Go-Go’s and the Human League. Speaking in 2017, Byrne said music has been “the main focus of my life since I was 18.
Nothing has changed really. I still get up in the morning, make coffee, fiddle around on the guitar and scribble down some nonsense. And I eventually look back and say: ‘There might be something there.’” He is survived by three children, Merlin, Dylan and Chloe, from his marriage to ex-wife Elena, as well as his siblings Eileen, Sandy, Carol and Steve.
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