River City People
Tim Speed (b. 17 November 1961, Chester, Cheshire, England; guitar/vocals), Paul Speed (b. 27 October 1964, Chester, Cheshire, England; drums) and Dave Snell (bass), were all studying at Liverpool Polytechnic in 1987 when they got together with Siobhan Maher (b. 11 January 1964, Liverpool, England; vocals), who had previously played with Snell in Peep Show and was now working as a researcher for the BBC. After the fortuitous break of an all-expenses-paid video for (What's Wrong With) Dreaming, commissioned by the British independent television programme, The Chart Show, they signed to EMI and found themselves recording in Los Angeles with producer Don Gehman. The results of this collaboration can be heard on their debut SAY SOMETHING GOOD released in September 1989, which spawned a number of successful pop-rock singles: (What's Wrong With) Dreaming, Say Something Good, Walking On Ice and the double a-side hit Carry The Blame/California Dreamin', the latter being a remake of the classic Mamas And The Papas track, which reached number 13 in the UK charts. Between extensive touring throughout the UK and abroad, they recorded their follow-up THIS IS THE WORLD. Released in October 1991 and recorded at Peter Gabriel's Real World Studios, it demonstrated a new ‘harder edge’ but still retained their more sensitive side, so evident on Say Something Good.