It’s been a major year for nostalgic acts making a comeback, from the resurgence of Natasha Bedingfield’s Unwritten to Girls Aloud’s reunion tour.
And now we have another huge band returning with a major tour…
In news that will send waves of excitement rippling through their fanbase, T’pau is heading out on the road with a series of UK concert dates, kicking off this summer.
The pop group, formed in Shrewsbury, Shropshire, led by singer Carol Decker, have already headlined the Hazlemere fringe festival last week.
Following the success, the iconic band will star in some 80s nostalgic shows starting in Northern Ireland later this year.
They’ll then travel to select cities including Birmingham, Manchester, Cornwall, and Brighton, with a performance also scheduled at London’s Wembley Arena.
The China in Your Hand hitmakers first got together in 1986, taking inspiration for their name from a Vulcan elder of the same name in Star Trek.
Released in 1987, Heart and Soul was their first single. While the track initially flopped in the UK, it soon gained momentum and peaked at number four on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart, catapulting the group to mainstream recognition.
Their debut album, Bridge of Spies, dropped later that year and was also a huge hit, selling over 1.2million copies in the UK and going quadruple platinum.
Their third single, China in Your Hand, was, undoubtedly, their biggest hit, though, as it became the 600th single to reach number 1 in the UK and spent five weeks at the top.
Other songs loved by fans included Valentin, Sex Talk, and I Will Be with You, but their success began to fizzle out when later tunes made less of a splash.
Following several albums, T’pau released a compilation record, Heart and Soul – The Very Best of T’Pau, in 1993, which reached the UK top 40.
After their official disbandment in 1991, frontwoman Carol, now 66, focused on her personal life and welcomed two children with restaurateur Richard Coates – Scarlett, 26, and Dylan, 22.
She tried to resurrect the band with a new line-up in the late 90s, going on to perform at 80s revival gifs and one-off events in the years since.
Carol – who wrote the majority of T’pau’s tunes with her then-boyfriend and band member, Ronnie Rogers – has remained active in showbiz.
To mark the 25th anniversary of the formation of the band, she and Ronnie embarked on a 28-date UK tour during the spring of 2013, without the original band members.
She’s made plenty of TV appearances and also starred in the music video for Peter Kay and Matt Lucas’s charity single I’m Gonna be 500 Miles for Comic Relief in 2007.
However, in 2015 following the release of T’Pau’s fifth studio album, the final eight shows on their tour had to be cancelled after Carol suffered damage to her voice.
At the same time, she also revealed her frustration that the band’s new material wasn’t receiving the same airplay as their old hits.
‘It’s a little harder to get on the radio because all the 80s stations play the 80s stuff and they won’t play your new stuff,’ she said in an interview.
‘They actually say they can’t, and then the younger stations play the younger artists, the hip stations. That’s the downside, and I miss hearing radio plays for the new stuff… it is a little frustrating that I can’t get it out to the wider audience anymore.’
Their record did sell, though, which was their first chart action in two decades.
In 2018, Carol made a cameo in the beloved comedy series Benidorm, playing herself.
Then, in 2022, she published an autobiography, aptly titled Heart And Soul.
Former members of T’pau are: Tim Burgess, Michael Chetwood, Paul Jackson, Taj Wyzgowski, Dean Howard, Jez Ashurst, Dave Hattee, and Dan McKinna.
Meanwhile, touring members are Spencer Cozens on keys, James Ashby on lead guitar, Luke Burnet-Smith on bass, and Dave Hattee on drums.
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