SHP NEWS

Naked Eyes Goes Public

By: Nick Green

The Daily Breeze


For the last 21 years, Pete Byrne has reveled in the anonymity of South Bay suburbia, raising two kids and becoming an active part of the community with few realizing who he really is: a one-time pop star.

But now the lead singer of 1980s synthpop duo Naked Eyes -- best known for its cover of the Burt Bacharach-penned standard "Always Something There to Remind Me" that was an MTV-propelled worldwide hit -- is blowing his cover.

Byrne has emerged from his self-imposed obscurity to capitalize on the resurgent interest in '80s music, re-forming Naked Eyes and playing a series of shows for the first time in more than two decades. The group performs at Hollywood's Viper Room tonight.

"Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)" perhaps, but the English-born Byrne, 52, has mixed feelings about his re-emergence into the public eye, while laughing at the suggestion he's been in a lengthy semi- retirement.

"I suppose from the point of view of not having really huge hits, it could be perceived as that," he said. "Basically I've been thinking about doing this for 10 years and it's just taken awhile. ... It's going to bring up my profile around here a lot."

Interest in '80s music, perpetuated by such television programs as VH1's "Bands Reunited," shows no signs of abating. Radio stations, for instance, continue to add '80s songs to their formats - - proof that audiences "Just Can't Get Enough."

Sean Healey, a Los Angeles promoter who booked Byrne into the Viper Room, is capitalizing on the trend.

He has staged numerous shows featuring '80s acts, including an appearance by The English Beat ("I Confess") last week at Gardena's Normandie Casino.

"At these shows you get a combination of younger kids who are just discovering the '80s and people in their late 30s who get to relive it," Healey said. "It was feel good, happy music and with so much disaster and war and politics going on in our culture today this kind of brightens things up for a minute. Plus, it's cool to be retro."

While declaring "Don't You Forget About Me," Byrne finds the popularity for '80s acts slightly unnerving after so long out of the limelight, even as a member of a relatively faceless duo like Naked Eyes. Which is why when Byrne did reluctantly acquiesce to an interview he deliberately wore dark sunglasses for the photo (although, hey, it perpetuates the pop star image, too).

He requested the nondisclosure of the exact city -- or even the general area -- where he lives with his Los Angeles-born wife, Elena, and where the couple has raised a daughter, 14, and a son, 20 (no names, please).

And he asked that the exact nature of his community activities not be identified lest some star-struck thirtysomething mother ask "Don't You Want Me?"

"It's the closest you can get to living in England, but without the rain," is all he'll enigmatically say about where he lives.

Byrne has kept busy in the intervening years.

He released a solo album on a small Utah-based synthpop label, sang on a Stevie Wonder album, and wrote and produced an album for the Olsen twins.

But Naked Eyes remains his claim to fame, especially the lush, sweeping "Always Something There to Remind Me," which Bacharach himself reportedly said was his favorite version.

Byrne seems as nostalgic as '80s music fans as he recalls recording the vocal track for the "magical" song in a virtually unprecedented single take at the Beatles' Abbey Road studio complete with the harpsichord used on "Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds."

"That song was just a gem," he said. "They still play the hell out of it (on the radio) -- it's so unbelievable."

But Naked Eyes' "Dance Hall Days" proved brief.

The band broke up after a handful of top 40 hits -- "Promises, Promises" was another -- and recorded just two albums within a couple of years. Byrne, who decamped to the South Bay, and his partner in the band, keyboardist Rob Fisher, agreed not to use the Naked Eyes name separately. Fisher's ill health -- he died in 1999 from complications related to stomach surgery -- ended any hope of a comeback together.

But earlier this year Byrne finally formed a four-piece band and played a couple of concerts, including two opening for fellow '80s band ABC ("The Look of Love") in Salt Lake City and Chicago.

The next thing Byrne knew, an agent contacted him and he's been playing weekend concerts ever since. Curiously that's something that Naked Eyes, which was primarily a television and video act, never did much of in its heyday.

"The nice thing about it is that obviously people know the songs," Byrne said. "So, it's quite nice going out on stage."

An acoustic album of cover songs is in the works followed by a third Naked Eyes album that's slated for release early next year in conjunction with a full-scale tour.

Last Sunday a show in Philadelphia was taped in high definition for eventual broadcast on DirecTV.

And Byrne already has a New Year's Eve gig lined up at the Morongo Casino and Resort in Cabazon near Palm Springs with Colin Hay of Men at Work ("Who Can It Be Now?") renown.

Byrne has turned down some '80s exploitation shows -- for instance, an appearance on NBC's short-lived "Hit Me Baby One More Time," an American Idol-like program for such retreads as Flock of Seagulls, Tiffany and Vanilla Ice.

But for the most part, Byrne is thoroughly enjoying showing his "True Colors" by reliving the '80s era on stage, even if he does worry about potential disruptions to his daily life.

"I'm just having so much fun," he said. "I never did take it that seriously. I'm just feeling really happy and feel privileged to be doing it -- it's fantastic."

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