One of the most iconic and influential pop acts in the world, Pet Shop Boys return with their tenth album and first for Astralwerks on April 21, 2009. In a career spanning over 2 decades, the duo of Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe have created some of the most beloved and recognizable hits in the world (West End girls, It’s a sin, New York City Boy, etc.), and sold over 30 million records. They’ve worked with artists like Dusty Springfield, David Bowie, Liza Minnelli, Robbie Williams, Electronic, The Killers and Madonna. In the USA, Pet Shop Boys are the fourth most successful artist in the history of the Billboard dance charts (behind Madonna, Donna Summer and Janet Jackson). Filled with sparkling state of the art pop songs, Yes is an affirmation of the duo’s knack for mixing innovative artistry with exuberant commercial appeal. (pull)Produced by the acclaimed Xenomania (Girls Aloud, Sugababes, Cher, Kylie Minogue, Saint Etienne), the album features guitar work by ex-Smith Johnny Marr and orchestral arrangements by Owen Pallett (Last Shadow Puppets, Final Fantasy).(/pull) Never far from the public eye, Pet Shop Boys have been very busy lately: producing a #1 UK dance hit for Sam Taylor-Wood (released on the ultra-hip Kompakt label), remixing a track for Lady GaGa and co-writing the hit UK single The Loving Kind for Girls Aloud. They are also working on a ballet, and were honored with the Outstanding Contribution to Music award at the Brit Awards last month. “We can’t seem to remember how we came up with the title Yes,” says Neil. “Our official story is that we may have taken it from the famous Yoko Ono exhibition in 1967 where you had to climb up a step ladder – as John Lennon famously did – pick up a magnifying glass, look at a tiny word written on the ceiling, and the word was ‘yes’. I think it partly came from that.” (Chris adds: “We thought No was a bit negative.”)
Pet Shop Boys are an English electronic dance music duo, consisting of Neil Tennant, who provides main vocals, keyboards and occasionally guitar and Chris Lowe on keyboards and occasionally on vocals. A the 2009 BRIT Awards, The Pet Shop Boys received an award for Outstanding Contribution to Music. Pet Shop Boys have sold more than 50 million records worldwide. Since 1986, they have had 39 Top 30 singles and 22 Top 10 hits in the UK, including four Number Ones: “West End Girls,” “It’s a Sin,” “Always on My Mind,” and “Heart.” Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe met in an electronics shop on Kings Road in Chelsea, London in August 1981. Recognising a mutual interest in dance music, they began to work on material together, first in Tennant’s flat in Chelsea and from 1982, in a small studio, in Camden Town. It was during these early years that several songs that would later appear on future albums were created, including “It’s a Sin,” “West End Girls,” “Rent,” and “Jealousy.” (pull)Starting out, the two called themselves West End, because of their love of London’s West End, but later they came up with the name Pet Shop Boys, which derived from some friends who worked in a pet shop, in Ealing. They said that the new name “sounded like an English rap group.”(/pull) Their big break came in August 1983, when Tennant was assigned by Smash Hits to interview The Police in New York. The duo were obsessed with a stream of Hi-NRG records, made by New York producer Bobby Orlando, simply known as Bobby ‘O’. According to Tennant: “I thought: well, if I’ve got to go and see The Police play, then I’m also going to have lunch with Bobby ‘O’.” They shared a cheeseburger and carrot cake, at a restaurant called the Apple Jack, on 19 August (two years to the day since Tennant and Lowe had met) and Orlando suggested making a record with Pet Shop Boys, after hearing a demo tape that Tennant had taken with him. In April 1984, the Orlando-produced “West End Girls” was released, becoming a club hit in Los Angeles and San Francisco. On 2 November it was voted “Screamer of the Week” by listeners of Long Island, New York radio station WLIR. Though the track did not do well in the UK, it was a minor hit in France and Belgium. According to their official Website, Pet Shop Boys completed their forthcoming album late 2008 and has been titled Yes. The album was recorded with Xenomania and was released on 23 March 2009. The single “Love, etc.” will precede it. Other tracks on the album include “Beautiful People” and “Legacy”. Pet Shop Boys appear on Girls Aloud’s new album Out of Control, collaborating on the track “The Loving Kind”.[9] Pet Shop Boys received The British Phonographic Industry’s most prestigious accolade, the award for their outstanding contribution to British music, at the 2009 Brits Awards ceremony in February 2009. It was held at the Earls Court Arena in London. During the performance at this show, Pet Shop Boys collaborated with Lady GaGa & Brandon Flowers (of The Killers). This also helped their collection album “PopArt” chart at number 18 on the UK albums chart. On the 22 March 2009, the first single from the album “Love etc” charted in the UK at number 14, and on the 29 March 2009, the album “Yes” charted in the UK at number 4.
