Brother Beyond

Brother Beyond

Brother Beyond is a British pop group from the United Kingdom. The line-up includes Steve Alexander, Carl Fysh, Nathan Moore, David White and Eg White. The group is associated with late-1980s pop and boy band music.

Career

The band’s early singles include “I Should Have Lied”, “How Many Times”, “Chain-Gang Smile” and “Can You Keep a Secret?”. These songs are written by band members Eg White and Carl Fysh, and “Chain-Gang Smile” is produced by Don Was. None of these singles reaches the UK top 50, though they do make minor chart appearances.

Brother Beyond later records a charity-linked session with Stock, Aitken and Waterman and EMI. The first release from that session is “The Harder I Try”, which reaches number 2 in the UK and is kept from the top spot by Phil Collins’ “Groovy Kind of Love”. The song samples the drum introduction from The Isley Brothers’ “This Old Heart Of Mine” and has a strong Motown influence.

Its follow-up, “He Ain’t No Competition”, continues that sound and becomes a significant hit; its 12-inch version tops the Hi-NRG chart in October 1988. The band’s later chart entries include a remix of “Be My Twin”, which reaches number 14, “Can You Keep A Secret”, which reaches 22, “Drive On”, which reaches 39, “Trust”, which reaches 53, and a cover of The Three Degrees’ “When Will I See You Again?”, which reaches 43. After a year-long break, the group also has some success in the US with “The Girl I Used To Know” and later has a final UK chart entry at number 48.

Albums and split

The group releases two albums:

Get Even (1988) and Trust (1989). It disbands in 1991.

After Brother Beyond

Nathan Moore later sings with Worlds Apart, works as a manager for acts including Jessica Garlick, appears on ITV’s Hit Me Baby One More Time, and becomes known for his involvement in Lisa Scott-Lee’s Totally Scott-Lee project. Steve Alexander tours with Duran Duran for six years before going solo. Carl Fysh works for a London PR agency and becomes manager of the male duo Fierce Girl. David White studies for a BA in Fine Art at Central St Martin’s College in London and exhibits paintings in England and Israel. Eg White forms the duo Eg and Alice with Alice Temple; they release one album in 1991 before he begins a solo career. He later wins an Ivor Novello Award for writing Will Young’s “Leave Right Now” and writes songs for artists including Natalie Imbruglia and Joss Stone.