Frankie Goes to Hollywood

Frankie Goes To Hollywood (FGTH) was one of the biggest, most controversial and most marketed UK pop acts of the 1980s. The band was fronted by Liverpudlian singer Holly Johnson, and was supported by Paul Rutherford along with Peter Gill, Mark O'Toole and Brian Nash. Its debut single "Relax" was famously banned by the BBC and subsequently topped the UK singles chart. Along with "Two Tribes" and "The Power of Love", FGTH became only the second band in the history of the UK charts to reach number one with their first three singles.

Decline, split and aftermath

In August 1986 the new single "Rage Hard" reached #4 in the UK. But the corresponding album Liverpool, released in October, was panned by the music press, and chart results declined rapidly on the followup singles "Warriors" (#19) and "Watching The Wildlife" (#28). In the midst of these diminishing returns, a backstage altercation between Johnson and Nash at Wembley Arena in January 1987 reflected the collapsing relationship between the lead singer and the rest of the band. FGTH completed the tour, but Johnson left the group immediately thereafter.

Related Topics:
1986 - Wembley Arena

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In the aftermath of the split, Johnson was offered a recording agreement with MCA Records. ZTT, which had invested heavily in Liverpool (to the point where the digital recording system used to record the album was very nearly treated as a sixth member of the band on the sleeve of the "Warriors" single), had other ideas, and promptly sued Johnson in an attempt to hold him to his original contract with the label. Among other things, ZTT believed that as the departing member of Frankie Goes To Hollywood, Johnson was required to release all solo material through the label until the band's original multiple-album agreement was fulfilled. The suit was bitterly fought, exposing the inner workings of the ZTT/Frankie machine to a giddy UK music press. After two weeks the High Court found in Johnson's favor, holding that the highly restrictive terms of the contract constituted an unreasonable restraint of trade.

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Johnson's solo career at MCA commenced in 1989, with a succession of high-placed singles and the reasonably successful album Blast. The remix collection Hollelujah followed, trailed by a second studio album Dreams That Money Can't Buy. He would later become a reclusive but successful painter after announcing in 1993 that he was living with the HIV virus. The following year, Johnson recounted his version of Frankie's history in his autobiography A Bone In My Flute. His self-issued 1999 album Soulstream included a re-recording of "The Power Of Love", which was also released as a single. Rutherford, the other openly gay member of the band, released the ABC-produced album Oh World and a handful of singles before retiring with his partner to a farm in New Zealand to raise a family. The 'other three', as pop magazine Smash Hits labelled them, continued to work behind the scenes in the studio on other people's projects. As "Nasher", Nash released a 2002 solo album entitled Ripe.

Related Topics:
Solo - 1989 - 1993 - HIV - Gay - ABC - Magazine - Studio

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The band's name lived on to the extent that re-issues of "Relax" and "The Power Of Love" both returned to the UK Top 10 in 1993. Remixes of "The Power Of Love" (which became a dance anthem from its original lite-jazz ballad format) and "Two Tribes" were Top 20 hits in 1997, while "Welcome To The Pleasuredome" also got successful remix treatment to the extent of a Top 20 placing four years earlier. ZTT keeps the FGTH back-catalog alive into the new century with periodic reconfigurations, remasters, and further remixes by an ever-growing pool of dance producers, continuing the tradition that began with the multiple variations of the "Relax" 12" issued in 1983.

Related Topics:
1993 - Remix - 1997

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The group's first two singles appeared sixth and 22nd respectively in the official all-time UK best-selling singles list issued in 2002.

Related Topics:
All-time UK best-selling singles list - 2002

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A band called "The New Frankie Goes To Hollywood" appeared, fronted by Davey Johnson, who claimed to be Holly Johnson's brother. The band plays a few Frankie tracks, but actually has nothing to do with FGTH. Likewise, "Davey Johnson" is no relative of Holly's. The band is also not to be confused with the Frankie Goes To Hollywood conventions related to The Rocky Horror Picture Show.

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