The Dream Academy
| Company type | Musical group |
|---|---|
| Industry | Music |
| Founded | 1983 |
| Founder | Nick Laird-Clowes, Gilbert Gabriel, Kate St John |
| Defunct | 1991 |
| Headquarters | London , England |
| Products | Music albums, singles |
The Dream Academy was a British alternative pop group consisting of lead singer, guitarist, and chief songwriter Nick Laird-Clowes, woodwind instrumentalist and pianist Kate St John, along with keyboardist Gilbert Gabriel. They are primarily recognized for their 1985 hit single, "Life in a Northern Town".
History
During the late 1970s, Laird-Clowes and Gabriel crossed paths while Laird-Clowes was performing with The Act. Their vision was to craft a unique musical style by integrating seldom-used instruments such as strings, woodwinds, timpani percussion, and synthesizers. Initially, the band operated under the name Politics of Paradise.
The Dream Academy officially came together in 1983 when Laird-Clowes invited Kate St John, who was then part of The Ravishing Beauties, to join the lineup. The trio spent close to two years presenting demo recordings before securing a deal with Warner Bros. Records in 1985. During this period, they established collaborations with Adam Peters and Pink Floyd's David Gilmour, who contributed production work, instrumentation on two albums, and co-authored the track "Twelve-Eight Angel."
Their first single, "Life in a Northern Town" (1985), achieved significant international acclaim, reaching number 7 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and number 15 on the UK Singles Chart. This song, a tribute to Nick Drake, was featured on their debut album co-produced by Gilmour. Their next single, "The Love Parade" (1985), also charted in both the UK and US markets.
In the same year, The Dream Academy released a rendition of the Smiths' "Please Please Please Let Me Get What I Want," which peaked at number 83 on the UK Singles Chart. An instrumental version of this cover appeared in the 1986 movie Ferris Bueller's Day Off.
Building on their momentum, the band embarked on an international promotional tour and made appearances on prominent television programs such as Saturday Night Live, The Tonight Show, American Bandstand, MTV, and Top of the Pops. While their debut album found a wide audience in the United States, later releases did not match that level of commercial success. Their 1987 album Remembrance Days included a cover of "Everybody's Got to Learn Sometime."
The group disbanded in 1991. They issued a greatest hits compilation in Japan in 2000 titled Somewhere in the Sun... Best of the Dream Academy and followed with another anthology in 2014 named The Morning Lasted All Day, which was remastered and featured liner notes by Laird-Clowes.
Band members
- Gilbert Gabriel – keyboards, synthesizers, vocals
- Nick Laird-Clowes – lead vocals, guitars, harmonica
- Kate St John – saxophone, oboe, cor anglais, accordion, piano, backing vocals
Studio albums
| Year | Album details | Peak chart positions | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UK | US | ||||||||
| 1985 | The Dream Academy
|
58 | 20 | ||||||
| 1987 | Remembrance Days
|
— | 181 | ||||||
| 1990 | A Different Kind of Weather
|
— | — | ||||||
| "—" denotes albums that did not chart | |||||||||
Compilation albums
| Year | Album information |
|---|---|
| 2000 | Best of the Dream Academy
|
| 2014 | The Morning Lasted All Day: A Retrospective
|
| 2024 | Religion, Revolution & Railways: The Complete Recordings
|
Singles
See also
External links
| Year | Single title | Highest chart rankings | Source album | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UK | AUS | BEL | CAN | CAN AC | IRE | NLD | US | US AC | US Main | |||
| 1985 | "Life in a Northern Town" | 15 | 4 | — | 14 | 7 | 9 | — | 7 | 2 | 7 | The Dream Academy |
| "The Edge of Forever" | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 37 | ||
| "This World" | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| "The Love Parade" | 68 | 76 | 30 | 41 | — | — | — | 36 | 13 | — | ||
| ""Please Please Please Let Me Get What I Want" | 83 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 'Ferris Bueller's Day Off' (soundtrack) | |
| "Indian Summer" | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | Remembrance Days | |
| "The Lesson of Love" | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| "Power to Believe" | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||
- Articles with short description
- Alternative pop music groups
- British folk rock groups
- British indie pop groups
- English musical trios
- English new wave musical groups
- Musical groups established in 1983
- Musical groups disestablished in 1991
- Blanco y Negro Records artists
- Warner Records artists
- Reprise Records artists
- Pop music groups from London
- Mixed-gender musical trios