Curiosity Killed the Cat
Encyclopedia
Curiosity Killed the Cat was a British
pop
band that found success in the UK Singles Chart
in the late 1980s and early 1990s.
, jazz
y, and funk
y pop music
and was initially signed to Phonogram Records
' Mercury
imprint. They first came to notice of the UK
music press when they hooked up with Andy Warhol
for the video
of the 1986 single
"Misfit". This featured the band in New York
and at one point featured frontman Ben Volpeliere-Pierrot dancing down a side street whilst Andy Warhol referenced Bob Dylan's
"Subterranean Homesick Blues
" by dropping pieces of white card in time to the music (an effect originally done in a long-form promotional film by Bob Dylan
for "Subterranean Homesick Blues
" in 1965 and also copied by Warhol as well as INXS
in their video for "Mediate" in 1988 as well as many other bands).
The band's first album
, Keep Your Distance, entered the UK Albums Chart
at number one in May 1987, and stayed in the Top Ten for 13 weeks, although the release of that album's "Free" as a single only reached number 56 in the UK Singles Chart
. Just before that, a re-release of the first single, "Misfit", had reached Number 7, continuing the group's Top Ten placement which ended with "Free". "Misfit" was also their only U.S.
chart single, peaking at number 42.
The band's second album, Getahead, was led by an upbeat funky track called "Name and Number". This record was a hit, reaching number 14 in 1989, but the "Hey How You Doin'" refrain would find itself in the Top Ten two years later as part of the De La Soul
song "Ring Ring Ring (Ha Ha Hey)
".
After the lack-lustre performance of Getahead and second single "First Place", Curiosity (as they were now billed) found themselves dropped from Mercury Records
. However, three years after the release of that single they returned to the UK Top Ten as a three piece on RCA Records
, with a cover of Johnny Bristol's
"Hang On In There Baby". However, the band's follow ups (covers of "I Need Your Lovin'" and "Gimme the Sunshine") flopped, which resulted in the album Back to Front only being released in Japan
and selected overseas markets.
In the 2000s, the band reformed for an appearance on a National Lottery
midweek show on BBC 1, and since then Volpeliere has toured under the name Curiosity Killed the Cat, on a number of 1980s revival packages.
Volpelierre-Pierrot was best known for wearing a Frank Spencer
-style beret in most pictures of the band. He later revealed it was in fact a peaked fisherman's hat, turned round with the peak to the rear so that it resembled a beret
. Ben VP (as he was billed on a number of solo singles in the mid 1990s) was frequently referred to as Ben Vol-au-vent-Parrot in Smash Hits
magazine. He also appeared as a male model on the front of Mike Read
's Pop Quiz board game.
In 1995, Migi Drummond and Nick Thorp set up Naked Records
which was acquired a year later by software maker Eidos
Plc.
"Toby Anderson" co wrote all tracks and played keyboards on the album Keep Your Distance.
Session guitarist/keyboard player Mike McEvoy (Michael J McEvoy
) co-wrote the songs on their Getahead album and drummer Jeff Porcaro
played on three tracks ("Cascade", "Can't Grow Trees on Money", "Who Are You").
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
pop
Pop music
Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...
band that found success in the UK Singles Chart
UK Singles Chart
The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...
in the late 1980s and early 1990s.
Career
The band tried to play soulfulSoul music
Soul music is a music genre originating in the United States combining elements of gospel music and rhythm and blues. According to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, soul is "music that arose out of the black experience in America through the transmutation of gospel and rhythm & blues into a form of...
, jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
y, and funk
Funk
Funk is a music genre that originated in the mid-late 1960s when African American musicians blended soul music, jazz and R&B into a rhythmic, danceable new form of music. Funk de-emphasizes melody and harmony and brings a strong rhythmic groove of electric bass and drums to the foreground...
y pop music
Pop music
Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...
and was initially signed to Phonogram Records
Phonogram Records
Phonogram Records was started in 1962 as a joint venture between Philips Records and Deutsche Grammophon. In 1972, Phonogram was merged with Polydor Records into PolyGram....
' Mercury
Mercury Records
Mercury Records is a record label operating as a standalone company in the UK and as part of the Island Def Jam Motown Music Group in the US; both are subsidiaries of Universal Music Group. There is also a Mercury Records in Australia, which is a local artist and repertoire division of Universal...
imprint. They first came to notice of the UK
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
music press when they hooked up with Andy Warhol
Andy Warhol
Andrew Warhola , known as Andy Warhol, was an American painter, printmaker, and filmmaker who was a leading figure in the visual art movement known as pop art...
for the video
Music video
A music video or song video is a short film integrating a song and imagery, produced for promotional or artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a marketing device intended to promote the sale of music recordings...
of the 1986 single
Single (music)
In music, a single or record single is a type of release, typically a recording of fewer tracks than an LP or a CD. This can be released for sale to the public in a variety of different formats. In most cases, the single is a song that is released separately from an album, but it can still appear...
"Misfit". This featured the band in New York
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
and at one point featured frontman Ben Volpeliere-Pierrot dancing down a side street whilst Andy Warhol referenced Bob Dylan's
Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter, musician, poet, film director and painter. He has been a major and profoundly influential figure in popular music and culture for five decades. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s when he was an informal chronicler and a seemingly...
"Subterranean Homesick Blues
Subterranean Homesick Blues
"Subterranean Homesick Blues" is a song by Bob Dylan, originally released in 1965 as a single on Columbia Records, catalogue 43242. It appeared 19 days later as the lead track to the album Bringing It All Back Home. It was Dylan's first Top 40 hit, peaking at #39 on the Billboard Hot 100. It also...
" by dropping pieces of white card in time to the music (an effect originally done in a long-form promotional film by Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter, musician, poet, film director and painter. He has been a major and profoundly influential figure in popular music and culture for five decades. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s when he was an informal chronicler and a seemingly...
for "Subterranean Homesick Blues
Subterranean Homesick Blues
"Subterranean Homesick Blues" is a song by Bob Dylan, originally released in 1965 as a single on Columbia Records, catalogue 43242. It appeared 19 days later as the lead track to the album Bringing It All Back Home. It was Dylan's first Top 40 hit, peaking at #39 on the Billboard Hot 100. It also...
" in 1965 and also copied by Warhol as well as INXS
INXS
INXS are an Australian rock band, formed as The Farriss Brothers in 1977 in Sydney, New South Wales. Mainstays are Garry Gary Beers on bass guitar, Andrew Farriss on guitar/keyboards, Jon Farriss on drums, Tim Farriss on lead guitar and Kirk Pengilly on guitar/sax...
in their video for "Mediate" in 1988 as well as many other bands).
The band's first album
Album
An album is a collection of recordings, released as a single package on gramophone record, cassette, compact disc, or via digital distribution. The word derives from the Latin word for list .Vinyl LP records have two sides, each comprising one half of the album...
, Keep Your Distance, entered the UK Albums Chart
UK Albums Chart
The UK Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales in the United Kingdom. It is compiled every week by The Official Charts Company and broadcast on a Sunday on BBC Radio 1 , and published in Music Week magazine and on the OCC website .To qualify for the UK albums chart...
at number one in May 1987, and stayed in the Top Ten for 13 weeks, although the release of that album's "Free" as a single only reached number 56 in the UK Singles Chart
UK Singles Chart
The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...
. Just before that, a re-release of the first single, "Misfit", had reached Number 7, continuing the group's Top Ten placement which ended with "Free". "Misfit" was also their only U.S.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
chart single, peaking at number 42.
The band's second album, Getahead, was led by an upbeat funky track called "Name and Number". This record was a hit, reaching number 14 in 1989, but the "Hey How You Doin'" refrain would find itself in the Top Ten two years later as part of the De La Soul
De La Soul
De La Soul is an American hip hop trio formed in 1987 on Long Island, New York. The band is best known for their eclectic sampling, quirky lyrics, and their contributions to the evolution of the jazz rap and alternative hip hop subgenres...
song "Ring Ring Ring (Ha Ha Hey)
Ring Ring Ring (Ha Ha Hey)
"Ring Ring Ring " is the second single released by De La Soul from their second album De La Soul Is Dead, in 1991. The song is a party jam about overzealous fans who pursue the group with demo tapes in their efforts to obtain an endorsement from the group...
".
After the lack-lustre performance of Getahead and second single "First Place", Curiosity (as they were now billed) found themselves dropped from Mercury Records
Mercury Records
Mercury Records is a record label operating as a standalone company in the UK and as part of the Island Def Jam Motown Music Group in the US; both are subsidiaries of Universal Music Group. There is also a Mercury Records in Australia, which is a local artist and repertoire division of Universal...
. However, three years after the release of that single they returned to the UK Top Ten as a three piece on RCA Records
RCA Records
RCA Records is one of the flagship labels of Sony Music Entertainment. The RCA initials stand for Radio Corporation of America , which was the parent corporation from 1929 to 1985 and a partner from 1985 to 1986.RCA's Canadian unit is Sony's oldest label...
, with a cover of Johnny Bristol's
Johnny Bristol
Johnny Bristol , was an American musician, most famous as a songwriter and record producer for the Motown label in the late 1960s and early 1970s...
"Hang On In There Baby". However, the band's follow ups (covers of "I Need Your Lovin'" and "Gimme the Sunshine") flopped, which resulted in the album Back to Front only being released in Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
and selected overseas markets.
In the 2000s, the band reformed for an appearance on a National Lottery
National Lottery (United Kingdom)
The National Lottery is the state-franchised national lottery in the United Kingdom and the Isle of Man.It is operated by Camelot Group, to whom the licence was granted in 1994, 2001 and again in 2007. The lottery is regulated by the National Lottery Commission, and was established by the then...
midweek show on BBC 1, and since then Volpeliere has toured under the name Curiosity Killed the Cat, on a number of 1980s revival packages.
Band members
- Ben Volpeliere-Pierrot (vocals; born Martin Benedict Volpeliere-Pierrot, 19 May 1965, Earls CourtEarls CourtEarls Court is a district in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in London, England. It is an inner-city district centred on Earl's Court Road and surrounding streets, located 3.1 miles west south-west of Charing Cross. It borders the sub-districts of South Kensington to the East, West...
, LondonLondonLondon is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
)
Volpelierre-Pierrot was best known for wearing a Frank Spencer
Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em
Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em was a BBC situation comedy, written by Raymond Allen and starring Michael Crawford and Michele Dotrice.The series followed the accident-prone Frank Spencer and his tolerant wife Betty through Frank's various attempts to hold down a job, which frequently end in...
-style beret in most pictures of the band. He later revealed it was in fact a peaked fisherman's hat, turned round with the peak to the rear so that it resembled a beret
Beret
A beret is a soft, round, flat-crowned hat, designated a "cap", usually of woven, hand-knitted wool, crocheted cotton, or wool felt, or acrylic fiber....
. Ben VP (as he was billed on a number of solo singles in the mid 1990s) was frequently referred to as Ben Vol-au-vent-Parrot in Smash Hits
Smash Hits
Smash Hits was a pop music based magazine, aimed at teenagers and young adults and originally published in the United Kingdom by EMAP. It ran from 1978 to 2006 and was issued fortnightly for most of that time...
magazine. He also appeared as a male model on the front of Mike Read
Mike Read
Michael David Kenneth Read is an English radio disc jockey, writer, journalist and television presenter.-Early life:...
's Pop Quiz board game.
- Nick Thorp (bass guitaristBassistA bass player, or bassist is a musician who plays a bass instrument such as a double bass, bass guitar, keyboard bass or a low brass instrument such as a tuba or sousaphone. Different musical genres tend to be associated with one or more of these instruments...
; born Nicholas Bernard Thorp, 25 October 1964, Sunbury-on-ThamesSunbury-on-ThamesSunbury-on-Thames, also known as Sunbury, is a town in the Surrey borough of Spelthorne, England, and part of the London commuter belt. It is located 16 miles southwest of central London and bordered by Feltham and Hampton, flanked on the south by the River Thames.-History:The earliest evidence of...
, London) - Migi Drummond (drummerDrummerA drummer is a musician who is capable of playing drums, which includes but is not limited to a drum kit and accessory based hardware which includes an assortment of pedals and standing support mechanisms, marching percussion and/or any musical instrument that is struck within the context of a...
; born Miguel John Drummond, 27 January 1964, Strawberry Hill, LondonStrawberry Hill, LondonStrawberry Hill is an affluent area of the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames in Twickenham. It is a suburban development situated 10.4 miles west south-west of Charing Cross. It consists of a number of residential roads centered around a small development of shops and serviced by Strawberry...
)
In 1995, Migi Drummond and Nick Thorp set up Naked Records
Naked Records
This article is wrong. Naked Records was in fact set up in 1988 by James Reed, who was part of Indie band Those Disposable Things. Two singles were released in 1988, the first was a double 'A' side single; Sweet Leila/Out Of The Question. The second single was called Away Days, which was...
which was acquired a year later by software maker Eidos
Eidos Interactive
Eidos Interactive Ltd. is a British video game publisher and is a label of Square Enix Europe. As an independent company Eidos plc was headquartered in the Wimbledon Bridge House in Wimbledon, London Borough of Merton....
Plc.
- Julian Godfrey Brookhouse (guitaristGuitaristA guitarist is a musician who plays the guitar. Guitarists may play a variety of instruments such as classical guitars, acoustic guitars, electric guitars, and bass guitars. Some guitarists accompany themselves on the guitar while singing.- Versatility :The guitarist controls an extremely...
; born 15 May 1963, PutneyPutneyPutney is a district in south-west London, England, located in the London Borough of Wandsworth. It is situated south-west of Charing Cross. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London....
, London) - Antimo Rivetti (manager; born Antimo Rivetti, 14 October 1959, Peterborough, England)
"Toby Anderson" co wrote all tracks and played keyboards on the album Keep Your Distance.
Session guitarist/keyboard player Mike McEvoy (Michael J McEvoy
Michael J McEvoy
Michael J McEvoy is a screen composer, orchestrator and multi-instrumentalist. He began studying music as a child but his music education developed quickly after his family relocated to London, England in 1973...
) co-wrote the songs on their Getahead album and drummer Jeff Porcaro
Jeff Porcaro
Jeffrey Thomas "Jeff" Porcaro was an American session drummer and a founding member of the Grammy Award winning band Toto. Porcaro was one of the most recorded drummers in history, working on hundreds of albums and thousands of sessions...
played on three tracks ("Cascade", "Can't Grow Trees on Money", "Who Are You").
Singles
- "Misfit" (1986) [Mercury / CAT 1]
- "Down to Earth" (1986) UKUK Singles ChartThe UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...
#3 [Mercury / CAT 2] - "Ordinary Day" (1987) UK #11 [Mercury / CAT 3]
- "Misfit" (re-issue - 1987) UK #7 U.S.Billboard Hot 100The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...
#42 [Mercury / CAT 4] - "Free" (1987) UK #56 [Mercury / CAT 5]
- "Name and Number" (1989) UK #14 [Mercury / CAT 6]
- On "Name and Number", the band and co-writer get writing credits; however, on De La SoulDe La SoulDe La Soul is an American hip hop trio formed in 1987 on Long Island, New York. The band is best known for their eclectic sampling, quirky lyrics, and their contributions to the evolution of the jazz rap and alternative hip hop subgenres...
's "Ring Ring RingRing Ring Ring (Ha Ha Hey)"Ring Ring Ring " is the second single released by De La Soul from their second album De La Soul Is Dead, in 1991. The song is a party jam about overzealous fans who pursue the group with demo tapes in their efforts to obtain an endorsement from the group...
" only the co-writer gets a credit, even though it utilises the chorus of the Curiosity song.
- On "Name and Number", the band and co-writer get writing credits; however, on De La Soul
- "First Place" (1989) [Mercury / CAT 7]
Billed as Curiosity
- "Hang On In There Baby" (1992) UK #3
- "I Need Your Lovin'" (1992) UK #47
- "Gimme the Sunshine" (1993) UK #73
- "Relax"