Fans go wild as big 80s band announce surprise reunion tour comeback

Virgin Radio

11 Jul 2024, 10:22

Power ballads and perms at the ready. Make way for some 80s pop nostalgia and the four million record-selling icons, T'Pau.

China in your Hand singer Carol Decker is making a comeback and delighting fans with a string of tour dates this summer with tracks such as Heart and Soul.

One of the biggest-selling groups of the 1980s, who have just headlined at Hazlemere fringe festival, are set to bring retro back to the stage starting in Northern Ireland, Birmingham, Manchester, Cornwall, Brighton and London’s Wembley Arena.

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The Shropshire-formed band's debut 1987 album Bridge of Spies sold over 1.2 million copies in the UK and went quadruple-platinum. Their third single, China in Your Hand, became the 600th single to reach number 1 in the UK and spent five weeks at the top of the charts.

To mark the group's 25th anniversary, Decker and her then-boyfriend and band mate Ronnie Rogers embarked on a 28-date UK tour in 2013, without the original lineup, who split up in 1992.

T’Pau’s fifth studio album was released in 2015, but the final eight shows had to be cancelled after Carol suffered damage to her voice.

Decker starred in Peter Kay and Matt Lucas' charity single I'm Gonna be 500 miles for Comic Relief in 2007 and made a guest appearance in an episode of Benidorm as herself in 2018.

The superstar singer, who has guest hosted on Virgin Radio 80s Plus and was previously a guest on My 80s Playlist, told The Guardian previously about making it. She said: "The first time we went to No 1 we were in Germany on tour with Bryan Adams. Our manager told us the midweek charts and we went ballistic, jumping and screaming. Bryan came out of his dressing room really annoyed.

"He liked to have a bit of a nap before the show to get into the zone, which I now understand, but back then I thought he was just being grumpy.

"I knew he wouldn’t want the opening act to eclipse his success – everywhere we performed we entered the Top 5 – but he was lovely in the end. He bought us a load of champagne and we went out and played pool.

"The success of T’Pau surpassed all my hopes and dreams. On the way up, I had met a lot of cynical people and local papers that were rude and said our band was rubbish.

"I remember the first time we did Top of the Pops I stared down the barrel of the camera thinking, 'Well, you’re all watching me now!' I grinned so much my cheeks hurt that day."

The I Will Be With You vocalist said about losing her mum and dad: "When both of your parents are gone, you consider your own mortality. My mum died in 2014.

"I’d viewed myself for a very long time as a failed pop star. It’s taken my mother’s death for me to realise how lucky I am and how much time I’ve wasted thinking I need to explain myself, or feeling sorry for myself.

"She used to constantly say: 'Just get on with it and make some more music.'"

Carol added: "When I was in a relationship with Ronnie Rogers, my bandmate in T’Pau, I was allergic to children.

"I’d benefited from a doting mother, but I saw her depressions and loneliness and felt that being tied down with a family was partly responsible.

"If you marry and have kids, you go nowhere, was my interpretation."

To hear plenty of T'Pau and loads of other 80s icons, listen online at virginradio80splus.co.uk or on the Virgin Radio UK App.