Berlin Biography
This US band from Los Angeles was formed in 1977 as a new wave/electro pop group. The original band included main songwriter John Crawford (17 January 1960; bass, synthesizer, ex-Videos), Terri Nunn (b. 26 June 1961; vocals), Jo Julian (b. 22 January 1948; synthesizer), Chris Velasco (b. Germany; guitar, vocals) and Dan Van Patten (drums, ex-Barbies). This line-up released a single for Renegade Records before Nunn left to pursue her acting career. She was briefly replaced by Toni Childs before Virginia Macolino took over the lead vocalist slot. This line-up released an album on their own Zone H Records label before signing to I.R.S. Records in the USA. They only managed one single for I.R.S. before breaking up in 1981.
They re-formed a few months later, but a series of personnel changes saw only Crawford and Nunn, who had returned to the band, remaining from the original line-up. David Diamond (guitar, synthesizer, vocals), Ric Olsen (b. 20 August 1956; guitar), Matt Reid (b. 15 April 1958; keyboards) and Rod Learned (drums) joined the duo in the new look Berlin. They completed recording 1982's mini-album Pleasure Victim (not released in the UK), followed by the full long-player Love Life. They gained a US Top 30 hit in April 1984 with "No More Words", before dropping down to a three-piece of Crawford, Nunn and Rob Brill (b. 21 January 1956; drums) the following year. In 1986 they had a number 1 hit on both sides of the Atlantic with a song with which they became almost exclusively associated, "Take My Breath Away". It was the theme song to the highly lucrative movie Top Gun, and had been produced and co-written by veteran producer Giorgio Moroder. Follow-up singles fared less well, and the band broke up for a second time in the late 80s. "Take My Breath Away" has proved to be a perennial favourite, re-entering the charts in 1988, and going into the UK Top 3 on reissue in 1990 as a result of its use in television car commercials. Nunn released a solo album, Moment Of Truth, in 1991, and has continued to lead Berlin on numerous nostalgia tours. She assembled a new line-up to record Berlin's first new studio album in over 15 years, the heavily electronic influenced Voyeur.
Source: The Encyclopedia of Popular Music by Colin Larkin. Licensed from Muze.
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