Cutting Crew

Cutting Crew is a pop rock best known for their #1 hit, "(I Just) Died in Your Arms". Vocalist Nick Van Eede founded the group along with Canadian guitarist Kevin MacMichae, and the two made demos that led to a recording contract, before bassist Colin Farley and drummer Martin Beadle joined in 1986.

Their first album, Broadcast, was released on Virgin Records in 1986. Virgin flew the band to New York City for initial recordings of the album, then to Australia to shoot music videos. The unknown band shot to #1 in the major US market, as well as smaller markets such as Canada and Norway, with their debut single, "(I Just) Died in Your Arms". Their most popular single, it was a multiformat success in the US, where it also reached number four on the Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks chart, #24 on the Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks chart and #37 on the Hot Dance/Club Play chart. The song peaked at #4 in the UK Singles Chart, as well as becoming a hit in the smaller Switzerland and South Africa markets. It went to #2 in Sweden and Ireland, and #9 in Austria.

"I've Been in Love Before" became Cutting Crew's second U.S. Top 10 on the Hot 100, peaking at #9, and was their first major hit on the U.S. Adult Contemporary chart, where it peaked at #4. The band received a Grammy nomination as the Best New Artist of 1987.

The Scattering was released in early 1989 and its lead single, "(Between a) Rock and a Hard Place", failed to reach the Top 40. However, they did score a U.S. Adult Contemporary hit with "Everything But My Pride" which peaked at #4 and stayed in the top 50 for 22 weeks. It climbed to #72 on the Canadian pop charts, though it failed to hit the U.S. Hot 100. The prophetically named "The Last Thing" scaled the AC charts as high as #17 in early 1990 and went to #90 on the Canadian chart, and has been their final chart hit to date. Although a video for the title track did air briefly in the UK and North America, "The Scattering" failed to chart.

Cutting Crew's third album, Compus Mentus, released in 1992, failed to chart. After the band broke up in 1993, MacMichael joined forces with Robert Plant, and played on his Fate of Nations album. MacMichael died of lung cancer on New Year's Eve 2002, at his home in Nova Scotia, at the age of 51.

Van Eede continued as a solo artist, producer, and songwriter. Colin Farley, the bass player in the 1980s line up, currently lives in Surrey and continues to work in the music industry, playing with his new band in pubs. Drummer Frosty Beedle has a successful career as a session musician and in the West End.

In 2005, Van Eede reformed the group with a completely new line-up. They released an album, Grinning Souls, in February 2006 on the Hypertension record label. The new band toured Germany early the same year and played on tours in the UK and Denmark. In 2008, Cutting Crew signed a U.S. deal with label Spectra Records

Music Videos

 * (Between a) Rock and a Hard Place
 * (I Just) Died in Your Arms
 * I've Been in Love Before
 * One For The Mockingbird