Curiosity Killed The Cat

Curiosity Killed The Cat

Curiosity Killed The Cat is a British group from the United Kingdom that is active from 1984 to 2016. The line-up includes Julian Godfrey Brookhouse, Michael Drummond and Ben Volpeliere-Pierrot. The group is associated with jazz, pop and sophisti-pop, and its music is also described as soulful, funky pop jazz.

Career

The group finds success in the UK pop charts in the late 1980s and early 1990s. It is initially signed to Phonogram Records’ Mercury imprint. It first comes to wider attention through the video for the 1986 single Misfit, which is made with photographer Andy Warhol and features the band in New York.

Curiosity Killed The Cat’s debut album, Keep Your Distance, enters the British charts at number one and remains in the Top Ten for 13 weeks. The album’s single Free reaches number 56 in the UK. The second album, Getahead, is led by the track Name and Number and reaches number 14 in 1989. The song’s “Hey How You Doin’” refrain later appears in De La Soul’s Ring Ring Ring (Hey Hey Hey).

After the performance of Getahead and its second single First Place, the group is dropped from Mercury Records. Three years later, it returns to the UK Top Ten as a three-piece on RCA Records with a cover of Johnny Bristol’s Hang on in There Baby. Follow-up covers of I Need Your Lovin' and Gimme the Sunshine do not chart well in the UK, and the album Back to Front is only released in Japan and selected overseas markets.

Later activity

The group reforms in the 2000s for an appearance on a National Lottery midweek show on BBC One. After the band disbands, Ben Volpeliere-Pierrot continues to perform live and in the studio and tours under the Curiosity Killed the Cat name on 1980s revival packages. He also works with the dance production duo Element, also known as Bimbo Jones, who are responsible for remixes for acts including Deep Dish, Usher and The Bodyrockers, as well as Meck’s Thunder In My Heart Again.

Members

Julian Brookhouse plays guitar, Michael Drummond plays drums and Ben Volpeliere-Pierrot provides vocals. The group has also included Nick Thorp on bass.