Tears for Fears

A synth-pop duo with big ambitions, Tears for Fears' founding members Roland Orzabal (born on 22 August 1961 in Portsmouth, England) and Curt Smith (born on June 24, 1961 in Bath, England) initially played together in pop group Graduate before forming the band, taking inspiration for their name from Arthur Janov's controversial primal scream therapy. Although their first couple of singles failed to make an impact, their third, 1982's career-defining cut "Mad World", hit the top 3 in the UK, followed shortly after by "Change." Their debut album, 1983's The Hurting, saw the group properly arrive, hitting Number 1 in the UK album chart. This chart-topping was followed up in 1985 by Songs from the Big Chair, which went on to sell a million copies. The album spawned two huge transatlantic hits with "Shout," which shot the top of the US singles chart and "Everybody Wants To Rule The World". However, it took another four years for the group to release their next album. Seeds of Love came in 1989, and while it sold well, growing tension between Curt Smith and Roland Orzabal led the group to split up in the early 1990s. Roland Orzabal continued under the Tears for Fears name for a couple of unsuccessful albums, until Gary Jules's cover of "Mad World" from cult film Donnie Darko proved a huge hit in the UK and spurred the pair to patch up their differences for another shot at the charts. It came with 2004's Everybody Loves a Happy Ending, and the album performed better in the US than on home territory. A new compilation, Rule the World: The Greatest Hits, reared its head in 2017 and gave the two-piece their sixth UK Top 20 album. 18 years after the release of their last full-length, and with decades of life experience under their belts, Tears for Fears re-emerged with their seventh studio album. Part-inspired by the death of Roland Orzabal's wife in 2017, The Tipping Point landed in February 2022 and went all the way to Number 2 in the UK, giving the band their sixth UK Top 5 album and highest chart position in 30 years.

Please enable Javascript to view this page competely.