Pet Shop Boys

Pet Shop Boys are an English electronic dance music duo, consisting of Neil Tennant, who provides main vocals, keyboards and occasional guitar, and Chris Lowe on keyboards. One of the world's best-selling music artists, Pet Shop Boys have sold over 100 million records worldwideand are listed as the most successful duo in UK music history by The Guinness Book of Records. Three-time Brit Award winners and six-time Grammy nominees, since 1986 they have achieved 42 Top 30 singles and 22 Top 10 hits in the UK Singles Chart, including four Number Ones: "West End Girls", "It's a Sin", "Always on My Mind" and "Heart".

They have released ten studio albums, four compilation albums, two live albums, four remix albums, one extended play and fifty-five singles. The duo's debut single, "West End Girls", was first released in 1984 but charted lowly. However, it was re-released in late-1985 and became their first number-one single which topped the UK Singles Chart, Billboard Hot 100 and Canadian Singles Chart.

The duo's debut album, Please, was released in the United Kingdom in March 1986. The album peaked at number three on the UK Albums Chart and was certified Platinum by the British Phonographic Industry. It also peaked at number seven on the Billboard 200 in the United States and was certified Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America.

The following summer they released "It's a Sin", the lead single from their second album, Actually. The single became another UK number one and also reached number nine in the US. This was followed by "What Have I Done to Deserve This?", with Dusty Springfield, which peaked at number two in both the UK and US.

In the summer of 1987 the Pet Shop Boys recorded "Always on My Mind", a cover of the Elvis Presley track, and it became their third UK number-one single over Christmas 1987. This was followed by another UK number one, "Heart" in spring 1988. The album Actually was released in September 1987, peaked at number two in the UK and was certified three-times Platinum by the BPI.

The duo's third album, Introspective, was released in October 1988 and peaked at number two in the UK and Germany and was certified two-times Platinum by the BPI. Next album Behaviour, came in 1990 and became their third album in a row to debut and peak at number two in the UK. The duo then released their first hits compilation, Discography, which included all of their single releases as well as two new tracks.

In 1993, they released a cover of the Village People single "Go West", which reached number two in the UK. The duo's fifth album, Very, followed and is the only Pet Shop Boys album, so far, to reach number one in the UK.

Nightlife, the duo's seventh album came in 1999, followed by the modestly successful album Release in 2002. In November 2003, Pet Shop Boys released a second greatest hits album, PopArt: Pet Shop Boys – The Hits. The ninth Pet Shop Boys studio album, Fundamental, came in May 2006, reaching number five in the UK. Also in 2006, Concrete was released, a live album recorded at the Mermaid Theatre, London. Released in UK in March 2009, Yes, was a critical success and hit number four, their highest album chart peak in more than a decade.

The Pet Shop Boys also received the BPI's award for 'Outstanding Contribution to British Music', at the 2009 Brit Awards ceremony. In December 2009, they released an EP of covers, remixes, and new material, entitled Christmas.

Ultimate, the 1-disc complication, was released to celebrate 25 years since the band's first single release in November 2010. The special version included a DVD with over three hours of BBC TV performances of 27 singles by Pet Shop Boys, released by arrangement with BBC Music. The second b-side complication album, Format, was released in February 2012.