Fans of 1980s-era new wave music are mourning the passing of Peter Byrne. He was 74.
Byrne was one-half of synth-pop duo Naked Eyes, lead singer alongside keyboardist Rob Fisher.
Per a press release provided to Billboard, Byrne died peacefully in Los Angeles on Monday, September 14, following a brief illness. A private family service is being held.
A String of 1980s Hits
Byrne and Fisher, two college friends in the English town of Bath, formed Naked Eyes in 1982. Previously, the pair had been members of another band, Neon, which also featured the future Tears for Fears duo of Roland Orzabal and Curt Smith.
Their first single proved to be an out-of-the box hit, a synth-heavy new wave cover of the Burt Bacharach standard “Always Something There to Remind Me.” The single cracked the top 10 in the U.S. in 1983, peaking at No. 8.
Other hits for Naked Eyes included “When the Lights Go Out,” “What in the Name of Love” and “Promises, Promises.”
Naked Eyes’ career was as brief as it had been successful, and the group never toured due to difficulties in replicating their studio sound in concert.
Fisher and Byrne broke up the band after the release of their second album, 1984’s “Fuel for the Fire.”
Fisher passed away in 1999 at age 42, following cancer surgery.
A Solo Career
Following Fisher’s death, Byrne carried on the band’s legacy, touring as a solo artist.
He released his debut solo album in 2001, “The Real Illusion.” Among the album’s standout tracks was a cover of The Rolling Stones‘ “Paint It Black.”
He then revived Naked Eyes as a live act in 2005. That led to subsequent Naked Eyes albums “Fumbling with the Covers” (2007) and “Disguise the Limit (2021).
Revisiting ‘Promises, Promises’
In a 2018 interview with New Beats, Byrne discussed an alternate version of hit “Promises, Promises” that was released as part of a rarities collection — and featured vocals from a then-unknown Madonna.
He recalled how Naked Eyes wound up giving Madonna her first big break, explaining it happened through her then-producer Jellybean Benitez.
“Jellybean was introduced to us through our management. They were in New York, and we came over and did a couple of remixes with him. And he was going out with Madonna. She would come to the studio everyday and hang out basically,” Byrne said.
“It was suggested that she do this sexy voiceover thing (laughs). She did it and that was the end of it. We never released it. It was something I’ve always wanted to delve into. I had to go to Abbey Road and Los Angeles to get all the stuff together. Nobody knew anything about the mixes. I think it’s really cool. They sound bright, so that’s what the record company thought. In retrospect…they sound great,” he said.
“It’s kind of weird because that song to me was such a throwaway,” he said of “Promises, Promises.”
“We wrote that in an afternoon and it was one of those songs [that] didn’t require a lot of thought went into it. We recorded the album not knowing which tracks were really going to be a single and ‘Promises’ was just another song as far as I was concerned. But I’ve been doing the guitar version of it and the lyrics were really strong, and the people identify it. The lyrics really hold up. Rob and I used to work everyday. We were very prolific. It was just from experience, I really think,” Byrne added.
