Thompson Twins

Much merriment was gained from their name (they took it from the detectives in bowler hats who featured in the Tintin comics) as there were three in the band; none of them were twins; and none of them were called Thompson. Among computing circles, she is known for her song Tom's Diner being used as the reference track for the MP3 compression system. The two divorced in 2004. Vega has a daughter, Ruby Froom. The band have, however, declined to follow the examples of many of their contemporaries and reform to tie in with a nostalgic rebirth of the 1980s. (The UK version of Retrospective included an eight-song bonus CD as well as a DVD containing twelve songs.). Bailey and Currie, despite years of denying romantic inclinations at the height of their fame, got married and now raise their family in New Zealand while still occasionally dabbling in music under the name Babble. In 2003, the twenty-one-song greatest hits compilation Retrospective: The Best of Suzanne Vega was released.

Leeway left and the remaining duo soldiered on for another seven years, only occasionally puncturing the singles charts and never again making the Top 40. The subject matter deals with Vega's divorce from her ex-husband, record producer Mitchell Froom. As the most talked about and hippest woman on the planet at the time, her appearance with the Thompson Twins should have helped their cause further, but by the end of the year, by which time they'd enjoyed three US Top 10 hits, they'd plummeted substantially. September 2001 saw the release of a new album, Songs In Red and Grey. In 1985, they had three hits which were palpable compared to the previous year's highs, but still made headlines when they performed at the American end of Live Aid and were joined onstage by the fresh-faced Madonna, who was in only her second year of fame. This album contains "Caramel", featured in the movie The Truth About Cats and Dogs, and "Dead Man Walking", a song from the soundtrack of a movie of the same name. The trio had peaked. The music varies between a frugal, simple style and the industrial production of 99.9F°.

The corresponding album, "Into The Gap" was one of the best sellers of the year. The fifth album, Nine Objects of Desire, was released in 1996. Three equally as mature singles followed into 1984 - the poppy "Doctor Doctor"; the quirky, accordion-dominated "You Take Me Up" (at No.2, their biggest UK hit); and the haunting "Sister Of Mercy". The songs are short and the lyric style compressed. It hit the Top 3 and remains one of the more timeless singles from an era and decade which tends to date a little more easily than others. This gives a sunny quality to the work in contrast to the previous album. It defied the trends of the electronic pop which was still dominating the charts, relying almost wholly on an emotive piano, some clever percussion from the New Zealand-born Currie and a heartfelt vocal from Bailey. It consists of an eclectic mixture of folk music, dance beats and industrial music.

At the end of 1983, a single "Hold me Now" was released. 1992 saw the release of the album 99.9F° ("ninety-nine point nine Fahrenheit degrees"). Further hits from debut album "Quickstep And Sidekick" followed, with Bailey's flame-red hair and bright ponytail and Currie's wasp-swatting style at the xylophone swiftly becoming endearing images of an exciting new act. The album lacked hit single material and is best considered as a whole. The remaining trio - singer and main musician Bailey; lyricist and percussionist Alannah Currie (born September 20, 1959); and multi-instrumentalist and stylings guru Joe Leeway (born November 15, 1957) - broke into the UK charts at the beginning of 1983 with "Love On Your Side". Vega's third album, Days of Open Hand (1990) signified a change in style: the music became more experimental and the lyrics expressed greater emotion. After a lucky break, they were signed up to Arista records and group leader Tom Bailey (born January 18, 1956) paid off four of the members in return for their instruments. The music is more strongly pop-oriented compared with her first album.

They were originally a new-wave act who, after the founding threesome moved south from Sheffield, had so little money that they lived as squatters in London, with the personnel rising to seven members. "Luka" is written from the point of view of an abused child—uncommon for a pop hit. The Thompson Twins are a British band which emerged in the 1980s in the immediate aftermath of New Romanticism, scoring a string of hits and conquering the USA in the process. Her sophomore effort, Solitude Standing (1987), contained two successful singles: "Tom's Diner" (a hit later remixed by two British dance producers under the name DNA, not to be confused with the no wave band DNA) and "Luka". The songs are straightforward and oppose the 'bigger is better' slogan of the mid-1980s. They are not typical protest songs, but are introspective, in the manner of the singer-songwriters of the 1970s. Suzanne's eponymous debut album was released in 1985 and was well received by critics.

In 1984 she received a major label record contract. While she was an English literature major at Columbia University's Barnard College, she performed in small venues in Greenwich Village. Music, however, was her first love. Later she attended the New York High School of Performing Arts (the school seen in the film and musical Fame), where she studied modern dance.

At the age of nine she began to write poems; she wrote her first song at 14. She was born in Santa Monica, California, but, at the age of one, moved with her mother and her stepfather to New York City, where she grew up in a socially problematic area. Suzanne Vega (born July 11, 1959) is an American songwriter and singer.