East 17 were the boy band who broke the mould, their gritty look, authentic attitude and pop/dance/hip-hop edge a world away from the soft ballads and slick looks of their competition. Now, as the band approach their 35th anniversary, London Records celebrate a career that encompassed the #1 timeless classic ‘Stay Another Day’ and a further ten Top 10 hits with the release of a new ‘Best Of’ on December 4th with all the tracks fully remastered for the first time.
Founded by songwriter Tony Mortimer in Walthamstow in 1991 – Tony brought together his friends Brian Harvey, Terry Coldwell and John Hendy to create a group with unconventionally broad appeal: one that could attract the standard boy band demographic while also dominating the airwaves and landing multiple global Platinum certifications; featuring on the cover of NME; and for Tony Mortimer, winning an Ivor Novello. They set a new standard for boy bands operating outside of the standard blueprint and offered something different both visually and sonically. Working class boys from the estate, with shaved heads, tattoos, dressed in baggy clothes, beanies and streetwear; they incorporated hip-hop, rap, R&B and dance music into mainstream pop. Tony Mortimer’s songwriting crossed musical boundaries and gave the band creative credibility compared to the stereotypical manufactured 90s boyband.
They arrived like a whirlwind in 1992 with the swaggering style of breakthrough hit ‘House Of Love’ and kept that energy pulsating through other highlights such as ‘It’s Alright’ and ‘Steam’. Even when they dropped the tempo, their slower moments still possessed a punchy, street-level authenticity, with ‘Deep’, ‘Around The World’, ‘If You Ever’ (with Gabrielle) and ‘Thunder’. It was an approach which resulted in the timeless festive favourite ‘Stay Another Day’, which spent five weeks at #1 and still returns to the charts every Christmas season. Their success wasn’t limited to the UK either – they were one of Britain’s biggest pop exports in the 90s with international chart success and record sales in Ireland, Europe, Australia, Asia and beyond.
This new ‘Best Of’ documents their chart dominance and cultural impact in style, bringing East 17’s most impactful era back to physical formats for the first time in twenty years – with all tracks remastered. The hits feature on the CD, HMV exclusive CD and the vinyl formats – the first-ever East 17 ‘Best Of’ on vinyl. An extended 2CD/DVD set adds a second disc of ten remastered remixes as well as sixteen freshly restored official music videos.
The package is completed with previously unseen photography from Lawrence Watson. Renowned for his work documenting the NYChip-hop scene of the ‘80s made him the perfect choice in the 90s to capture the visuals of a boyband like no other.
All formats are now available pre-order HERE.
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