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Thompson Twins are Babbling?

© Michele Morabito

What and where are the Thompson Twins (or variation thereof) are doing.  We hadn't been heard of or about them in quite some time, then VH1 had the '80s special last August.

In their 10 minutes of airtime, the only pieces of information given, was that Thompson Twins do not exist anymore but half of the group lives on as Babble in their adopted country of New Zealand and that Tom & Alannah have two children. This was August of 1997.

Recently, their biggest hit from the '80s, "Hold Me Now" was featured on the Wedding Singer soundtrack.  Their CD The Best of Thompson Twins: Greatest Mixes has most of the tracks produced by the greatest ones like Nile Rogers, Alex Sadkin, Shep Pettibone and Rupert Hine. "Lay Your Hands On Me" remix is amazing. Remember "Doctor! Doctor!" and their other songs rocking the house down during Live Aid in 1985?

Thompson Twins were Tom Bailey, Alannah Curie and Joe Leeway with their start in 1977 in the UK according to the Unofficial Thompson Twins Homepage. The site gives good background info, but unfortunately, too many of the links are dead (or in transit). However, the News Page is fairly current as of Mar 22, 1998 with this to say:

"The news is coursing fast and furious now. Finally, more details on Tom Bailey's work with Bic Runga's last album. TT/Babble mailing list's Darryl McSherry, received this news : 'Tom remixed the title track from Bic Runga's album 'Drive' for inclusion on her last single release 'Roll Into One'. He did two mixes - 'Doordarshan mix' and 'Interstellar over Drive Mix'.' Tom is apparently listed on the single under the nom de plumb of 'tomb'. Now all everyone has to do is find the single!"

It seems the three members of TT are quite prolific but under different monikers, Tom & Alannah under Babble and doing independent work like contributing tracks to Mortal Combat II (not accepted), film scores, producing other artists like New Zealander Bic Runga and Joe is now solo with all his own stuff going on. As of very recently, Babble no longer exists as well. I'm sure they will resurface once again as something else.

There is however a good interview with Tom Bailey from 1994 at the Babble site that brings the reader up to speed to 1994.

There is a good TT album history at Land of Linda's Thompson Twin Site. It gives the date of release, chart positions, sleeve design and tracks.

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