Lighthouse Family biography

 

A Northern soul duo who recorded the single "Lifted" in 1995 but had to wait two years for it to become a hit, the Lighthouse Family was formed in Newcastle by vocalist Tunde Baiyewu and programmer/keyboard player Paul Tucker. Both had been born in London, though Baiyewu lived in Nigeria for ten years before returning to attend college in the north, where he met Tucker.

 

The duo began recording, and though Baiyewu had trepidations about his vocal abilities, they recorded the singles "Ocean Drive" and "Lifted" during 1994-95 for Wild Card Records. Their debut album, also named Ocean Drive, was released in late 1995. It was almost two years later, however, that "Lifted" hit the top of the British charts, as well as those of several other European countries. The duo's second album, Postcards from Heaven, appeared later that year.

 

Both Baiyewu and Tucker were working in bars when they first met. Together, they recorded demos of a number of songs Tucker had written during the late 1980s.Among these, a demo of "Ocean Drive" attracted the attention of Polydor Records A&R director Colin Barlow, who, in 1993, signed the band to a six-month development deal.

In the wake of an economic recession in the UK, British record labels were, at the time, primarily signing artists with the goal of short-term profit. In contrast, Barlow, in The Times, expected that the band could last for "ten years or more". At the time of the launch of the first album, Polydor's investments in the band totaled ₤250,000.

 

The lead single, "Lifted", received airplay on BBC Radio One as well as a number of BBC Local Radio stations, and The Chart Show aired its music video. Still, this did not translate to considerable single or album sales within 1995; it wasn't until "Lifted" was re-released in 1996 that it reached the top five on the UK Singles Chart, and Ocean Drive, which had been deleted, rebounded and was certified six-times platinum by the end of 1997, spending 154 weeks on the UK Album Chart in the process. Its follow-up Postcards from Heaven achieved similar sales status in 1997.

Lighthouse Family scaled down their appearances in early 2003 because of what they called a "heavy promotional schedule" following the release of Whatever Gets You Through the Day in 2001. This led to both men pursuing individual projects. Baiyewu became a solo artist, while Tucker joined a rock band, The Orange Lights.

In November 2010, the duo announced they were reforming Lighthouse Family and did a full UK & Ireland tour, in February and March 2011. It was the first performance of Lighthouse Family in eight years.