Robert Charles "Bob" Wright (born 1943) is an American television businessman, having served as Chairman of NBC Universal. He graduated from Chaminade High School, the College of the Holy Cross and earned an LLB from the University of Virginia Law School.

He was named president and CEO of NBC in 1986 by new General Electric boss Jack Welch. In 2001, he became chairman and CEO. In May 2004, NBC's parent company, General Electric, acquired Vivendi Universal Entertainment to create NBC Universal; Wright, who orchestrated the deal, was named chairman and CEO of the new company. In February 2007, Wright, after 21 years, was succeeded by Jeff Zucker, who was named president and CEO of NBC Universal. Wright remained chairman of the media company until May 2007 and remained vice chairman of GE until May 2008.^[1]

Wright had one of the longest and most successful tenures of any media company chief executive. Under his leadership, NBC was transformed from a broadcast network into a global media powerhouse, with leadership in TV programming, station ownership, and television production. In 1986, Wright's first year at NBC, the network had revenues of $2.6 billion. By 2006, his last full year at the helm, company revenues had grown to $16.2 billion. During Wright's tenure, NBC was GE's most successful business, enjoying double-digit compounded annual growth in operating profit.

Among his achievements, Wright diversified NBC by launching cable networks such as CNBC (the world's leading name in broadcast business news) and MSNBC (a leading news cable outlet and website). He also acquired entertainment cable network Bravo and Spanish-language broadcaster Telemundo, before orchestrating the VUE acquisition, which added to NBC the Universal Pictures film studio, Universal theme parks, and a collection of fast-growing and profitable cable networks such as USA Network and SCI FI Network (now called Syfy).

Before taking the helm of NBC in 1986, Wright was president of GE Financial Services, and before that, president of Cox Cable Communications. Before that, he had a diversified career in general management, marketing, and broadcasting, much of it with GE. As of 5/2008, he is serving as the head of Media Mergers and Acquisitions at Thomas Lee Equity.

After his grandson was diagnosed with autism in 2004, he and his wife, Suzanne, established a foundation called Autism Speaks, which is now the largest organization representing families of people with autism in the U.S. with affiliates in the U.K., Canada and Qatar. His three children Katie, Chris, and Maggie, all reside in New York City.

Through 2008, Bob and Suzanne were residents of Southport (Fairfield), Conn., where they had lived for 25 years.

References[link]

External links[link]

• Bob Wright at the Internet Movie Database
• Bio from GE/NBC Universal website
• Autism Speaks Founders Message

Judith Arundell Wright (31 May 1915 – 26 June 2000) was an Australian poet, environmentalist and campaigner for Aboriginal land rights.^[1]

Biography[link]

Judith Wright was born in Armidale, New South Wales the eldest child of Phillip Wright and his first wife Ethel, but spent most of her formative years in Brisbane and Sydney.^[2] Wright was of Cornish ancestry.^[3] After the early death of her mother, she lived with her aunt and then boarded at New England Girls' School after her father's remarriage in 1929. After graduating, Wright studied philosophy, English, Psychology and history at the University of Sydney.^[2][4] At the beginning of World War II she returned to her father's station to help during the shortage of labour caused by the war.

Wright's first book of poetry, The Moving Image, was published in 1946 while she was working at the University of Queensland as a research officer. At this time she also worked with Clem Christesen on the literary magazine Meanjin.^[4] In 1950 she moved to Mount Tamborine, Queensland, with the novelist and abstract philosopher Jack McKinney. Their daughter Judy was born in the same year. They married in 1962, although Jack was to live only until 1966.^[5] For the last three decades of her life, she lived in the New South Wales town of Braidwood.^[6]

With David Fleay, Kathleen McArthur and Brian Clouston, Judith Wright was a founding member and, from 1964 to 1976, President, of the Wildlife Preservation Society of Queensland. She was the second Australian to receive the Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry, in 1992.^[4]

In "In the Garden",^[7] Fiona Capp revealed the story of the 25-year secret love affair between two of Australia's most well-known and well-loved public figures, "the famous poet-cum-activist" Judith Wright and "the distinguished yet down-to-earth statesman" H. C. "Nugget" Coombs.^[8] She had moved to Braidwood in order to be closer to Coombs, who was based in Canberra.

She started to lose her hearing in her mid-20s, and became completely deaf by 1992.^[7]

Poet and critic[link]

Judith Wright was the author of several collections of poetry, including The Moving Image, Woman to Man, The Gateway, The Two Fires, Birds, The Other Half, Magpies, Shadow and much much more. She was a lover of nature too.

Her work is noted for a keen focus on the Australian environment, which began to gain prominence in Australian art in the years following World War II. She deals with the relationship between settlers, Indigenous Australians and the bush, among other themes. Wright's aesthetic centres on the relationship between mankind and the environment, which she views as the catalyst for poetic creation. Her images characteristically draw from the Australian flora and fauna, yet contain a mythic substrata that probes at the poetic process, limitations of language, and the correspondence between inner existence and objective reality.

Her poems have been translated into Italian, Japanese and Russian.

[edit] Birds

In 2003, the National Library of Australia published an expanded edition of Wright's collection titled Birds.^[9] Most of these poems were written in the 1950s when she was living on Tamborine Mountain in southeast Queensland. McKinney, Wright's daughter, writes that they were written at "a precious and dearly-won time of warmth and bounty to counterbalance at last what felt, in contrast, the chilly dearth and difficulty of her earlier years".^[10] McKinney goes on to say that "many of these poems have a newly relaxed, almost conversational tone and rhythm, an often humorous ease and an intimacy of voice that surely reflects the new intimacies and joys of her life".^[11] Despite the joy reflected in the poems, however, they also acknowledge "the experiences of cruelty, pain and death that are inseparable from the lives of birds as of humans ... and [turn] a sorrowing a clear-sighted gaze on the terrible damage we have done and continue to do to our world, even as we love it".^[11]

Environmentalist and social activist[link]

Wright was well known for her campaigning in support of the conservation of the Great Barrier Reef and Fraser Island. With some friends, she helped found one of the earliest nature conservation movements.^[11]

She was also an impassioned advocate for the Aboriginal land rights movement. Tom Shapcott, reviewing With Love and Fury, her posthumous collection of selected letters published in 2007, comments that her letter on this topic to the Australian Prime Minister John Howard was "almost brutal in its scorn".^[12] Shortly before her death, she attended a march in Canberra for reconciliation between non-indigenous Australians and the Aboriginal people.^[1]

Judith Wright died in Canberra on 26 June 2000, aged 85.^[13]

Awards[link]

• 1994 - Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission Poetry Award for Collected Poems^[14]

Recognition[link]

In June 2006 the Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) announced that the new federal electorate in Queensland to be created at the 2007 federal election would be named Wright in honour of her life as a "poet and in the areas of arts, conservation and indigenous affairs in Queensland and Australia".^[15] However, in September 2006 the AEC announced it would name the seat after John Flynn, the founder of the Royal Flying Doctor Service, due to numerous objections from people fearing the name Wright may be linked to disgraced former Queensland Labor MP Keith Wright. Under the 2009 redistribution of Queensland, a new seat in southeast Queensland was created and named in Wright's honour; it was first contested in 2010.

The Judith Wright Centre of Contemporary Arts in Brisbane's Fortitude Valley is named after her.

On 2 January 2008, it was announced that a future suburb in the district of Molonglo Valley, Canberra will be named "Wright". There is already a street in the Canberra suburb of Franklin named after her. Another of the Molonglo Valley suburbs is to be named after Wright's lover, "Nugget" Coombs.^[16]

Bibliography[link]

Poetry

Literary Criticism

• William Baylebridge and the modern problem (Canberra University College, 1955)
• Charles Harpur (1963)
• Preoccupations in Australian Poetry (1965)
• Henry Lawson (1967)
• Collected Poems (1971)
• Because I was Invited (1975)
• Going on Talking (1991) ISBN 0-947333-43-6

Other Works

• The Generations of Men (1959) ISBN 1-875892-16-8
• Range the Mountains High (1962)
• The Coral Battleground (1977)
• The Cry for the Dead (1981)
• We Call for a Treaty (1985)
• Born of the Conquerors: Selected Essays. Aboriginal Studies Press. 1991. ISBN 978-0-85575-217-0. http://books.google.com/books?id=ZTPEqP___P4C&printsec=frontcover&dq=inauthor:%22Judith+Wright%22&hl=en&ei=wkfyTYnuE8Wutwf8qJX5BA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=9&ved=0CFoQ6AEwCA#v=onepage&q&f=false. 
• Half a Lifetime (Text, 2001) ISBN 1-876485-78-7 Review

Letters

• The Equal Heart and Mind: Letters between Judith Wright and Jack McKinney. Edited by Patricia Clarke and Meredith McKinney (UQP, 2004) ISBN 0-7022-3441-9
• With Love and Fury: Selected letters of Judith Wright, edited by Patricia Clarke and Meredith McKinney (National Library of Australia, 2006) ISBN 978-0-642-27625-4
• Portrait of a friendship: the letters of Barbara Blackman and Judith Wright, 1950-2000, edited by Bryony Cosgrove (Miegunyah Press, 2007) ISBN 978-0-522-85355-1, ISBN 0-522-85355-2Review

Further reading[link]

• Brady, Veronica (1998) South of My Days: A Biography of Judith Wright, Angus & Robertson ISBN 0-207-18857-2

Notes[link]

Listed here are print references cited in the article.

• McKinney, Meredith (2004) "Birds", National Library of Australia News, XIV (6): 7-10, March 2004

References[link]

External links[link]

• Poems at Oldpoetry.com
• Vale Judith Wright Interview at Radio National
• Gardening at the 'Edge': Judith Wright's desert garden, Mongarlowe, New South Wales by Katie Holmes
• Judith Wright's Biography: A Delicate Balance between Trespass and Honour by Veronica Brady
• Uncertain Possession: The Politics and Poetry of Judith Wright by Gig Ryan
• The Judith Wright Centre of Contemporary Arts Website
• Two Fires: Festival of Arts and Activism Celebration of Judith Wright's legacy
• Sue King-Smith 'Ancestral Echoes: Spectres of the Past in Judith Wright's Poetry' JASAL Special Issue 2007

Clarence Homer Woods (June 19, 1888 - September 30, 1956) was an early and somewhat influential American ragtime composer.

Formative years[link]

Born in Adams County, Ohio to Samuel C. and Margeret (Maggie) Woods, Clarence was raised in both eastern Kansas and Carthage in southwest Missouri. Note that some sources list him as H. Clarence Woods, but multiple US Census and local Census records clearly list him as Clarence H. Woods, and his WWI Draft card shows him simply as Clarence Woods. The 1895 Kansas Census shows the family in Girard, Kansas. His father was a blacksmith, and he had two younger brothers and two younger sisters. Clarence was in the midst of a hotbed of ragtime as he grew up. He took piano lessons from the same teacher as James Scott, but whether they knew each other well is not known for certain. Both had their first compositions published by Dumars Music in Carthage as well, with Woods contributing Meteor March slightly in advance of Scott's On the Pike.

Early career[link]

In his late teens, Woods started traveling outside of Missouri into Oklahoma and Texas, playing for stage plays, Vaudeville olios, silent films, and other accompanist positions. His performance skills eventually saw him lauded in print as the "Ragtime Wonder of the South." He was married by 1913 or so to Marie E. Woods, and Clarence Jr. was born around 1914. In early 1917 he was listed at a Carthage residence of 301 N. Main, and playing for movies at the Sho-To-Al Theater. By 1920 Woods and the family had moved north to Nevada, Missouri, now playing for movies at the Star Theater plus other area engagements.

Wood's ragtime output was small, but significant. Even though he had been on the road for some time he was still based in Carthage, his rags and blues heavily reflected the influence of the Jasper County area, with his Sleepy Hollow Rag named for a community on the Spring River near Carthage. Woods was more known as a performer than composer, although he co-wrote a few lesser songs and some early blues. Two of his novelty pieces appeared only on piano rolls, but both Black Satin and the recently discovered Fever Heat show signs of a clear understanding of that genre, in which he did not follow up. The 1930 Census shows Marie and Clarence Jr. back in Carthage, but she is now divorced from the traveling pianist. He was remarried now to Gladys Woods, based in Tulsa, Oklahoma, still listed as a theater pianist.

Later career[link]

In Clarence's later years, he led an orchestra, became a radio entertainer, and started composing more. His last pieces, largely unknown and unpublished, were written in his capacity of composer/arranger, mostly for the presentational needs of Ringling Brothers Barnum and Bailey Circus from the early 1940s to the 1950s, where he also performed on the organ and calliope.

Known Compositions:

• Meteor March (1903)
• Slippery Elm Rag (1912)
• The Graveyard Blues [w/John S. Caldwell] (1916)
• The Worried Blues [w/Le Roy Williams] (1916)
• Sleepy Hollow Rag (1918)
• Who's Been Playin' Papa 'Round Here While I've Been Gone? (1919)
• Fever Heat [Rag Novelty - Piano Roll] (1919?)
• Black Satin [Fox Trot - Piano Roll] (1920)
• Oklahoma, I Love You [w/Opal Harrison Williford] (1938)

References[link]

• Independent research by the article's author, Bill Edwards, in archives of Carthage, MO, Fort Worth, TX, and Census/Draft records, completed 2007.

• Rudi Blesh and Harriet Janis, They All Played Ragtime, Oak Press, 1971. LCCC # 59-13575

• Marvin L. VanGilder, "James Scott." in Ragtime, Its History, Composers, and Music, ed. by John Edward Hasse, Shirmer Books, 1985, LCCC #84-13952

• Classic Piano Rags: Complete Original Music for 81 Rags, selected and with an introduction by Rudi Blesh, Dover Publications, 1973.

The Cure
The Cure performing in Singapore in 2007. Left to right: Porl Thompson, Jason Cooper (back), Robert Smith, Simon Gallup.
Background information
Origin	Crawley, England
Genres	Gothic rock,[1][2] alternative rock, New Wave, post-punk
Years active	1976–present
Labels	Fiction, Suretone, Geffen, Polydor, Elektra, Asylum, Sire
Associated acts	Malice, Easy Cure, The Glove, Siouxsie and the Banshees
Website	www.thecure.com
Members
Robert Smith Simon Gallup Roger O'Donnell Jason Cooper Reeves Gabrels
Past members
Lol Tolhurst Michael Dempsey Matthieu Hartley Andy Anderson Phil Thornalley Boris Williams Porl Thompson Perry Bamonte

The Cure are an English alternative rock band formed in Crawley, West Sussex in 1976. The band has experienced several line-up changes, with frontman, vocalist, guitarist and principal songwriter Robert Smith being the only constant member. The Cure first began releasing music in the late 1970s with its debut album Three Imaginary Boys (1979); this, along with several early singles, placed the band as part of the post-punk and New Wave movements that had sprung up in the wake of the punk rock revolution in the United Kingdom. During the early 1980s, the band's increasingly dark and tormented music helped form the gothic rock genre.^[1][2][3]

After the release of Pornography (1982), the band's future was uncertain and Smith was keen to move past the gloomy reputation his band had acquired. With the 1982 single "Let's Go to Bed" Smith began to place a pop sensibility into the band's music (as well as a unique stage look). The Cure's popularity increased as the decade wore on, especially in the United States where the songs "Just Like Heaven", "Lovesong" and "Friday I'm in Love" entered the Billboard Hot 100 chart. By the start of the 1990s, The Cure were one of the most popular alternative rock bands in the world. The band is estimated to have sold 27 million albums as of 2004.^[4] The Cure have released thirteen studio albums, 10 EPs and over thirty singles during the course of their career. Since 2010, they have been working on a fourteenth studio album.^[5]

History[link]

Formation and early years (1973–1979)[link]

The first incarnation of what became The Cure was The Obelisk, a band formed by students at Notre Dame Middle School in Crawley, Sussex. The band made their public debut in a one-off performance in April 1973, and featured Robert Smith (piano), Michael "Mick" Dempsey (guitar), Laurence "Lol" Tolhurst (percussion), Marc Ceccagno (lead guitar) and Alan Hill (bass guitar).^[6] In January 1976 the band took a more substantial form of what would be when Ceccagno formed Malice with Smith and Dempsey along with two other classmates from St. Wilfrid's Catholic Comprehensive School, with Ceccagno on lead, Smith on guitar, and Dempsey switching to bass. Ceccagno soon left, however, to form a jazz-rock fusion band called Amulet. Increasingly influenced by the emergence of punk rock, Malice's remaining members became known as Easy Cure in January 1977.^[7] By this time, Smith and Dempsey had been joined by Lol Tolhurst from The Obelisk on drums, and new lead guitarist Porl Thompson. Both Malice and Easy Cure auditioned several vocalists before Smith finally assumed the role of Easy Cure's frontman in September 1977.^[8]

That year, Easy Cure won a talent competition with German label Hansa Records, and received a recording contract. Although the band recorded tracks for the company, none were ever released.^[9] Following disagreements in March 1978 over the direction the band should take, the contract with Hansa was dissolved. Smith later recalled, "We were very young. They just thought they could turn us into a teen group. They actually wanted us to do cover versions and we always refused."^[9] Thompson was dropped from the band in May, and the remaining trio (Smith/Tolhurst/Dempsey) were soon renamed The Cure by Smith.^[10] Later that month the band recorded their first sessions as a trio at Chestnut Studios in Sussex, which were distributed as a demo tape to a dozen major record labels.^[11] The demo found its way to Polydor Records scout Chris Parry, who signed The Cure to his newly formed Fiction label—distributed by Polydor—in September 1978.^[12] The Cure released their debut single "Killing an Arab" in December 1978 on the Small Wonder label as a stopgap until Fiction finalised distribution arrangements with Polydor. "Killing an Arab" garnered both acclaim and controversy: while the single's provocative title led to accusations of racism, the song is actually based on French existentialist Albert Camus's novel The Stranger.^[13] The band placed a sticker label that denied the racist connotations on the single's 1979 reissue on Fiction. An early NME article on the band wrote that The Cure "are like a breath of fresh suburban air on the capital's smog-ridden pub-and-club circuit" and noted "With a John Peel session and more extensive London gigging on their immediate agenda, it remains to be seen whether or not The Cure can retain their refreshing joie de vivre."^[14]

The Cure released their debut album Three Imaginary Boys in May 1979. Because of the band's inexperience in the studio, Parry and engineer Mike Hedges took control of the recording.^[15] The band, particularly Smith, were unhappy with their debut; in a 1987 interview, he admitted, "a lot of it was very superficial – I didn't even like it at the time. There were criticisms made that it was very lightweight, and I thought they were justified. Even when we'd made it, I wanted to do something that I thought had more substance to it".^[16] The band's second single "Boys Don't Cry" was released in June. The Cure then embarked as the support band for Siouxsie and the Banshees' Join Hands promotional tour of England, Northern Ireland, and Wales between August and October. The tour saw Smith pull double duty each night by performing with The Cure and as the guitarist with The Banshees when John McKay quit the group.^[17] That musical experience had a strong impact on him: "On stage that first night with the Banshees, I was blown away by how powerful I felt playing that kind of music. It was so different to what we were doing with The Cure. Before that, I'd wanted us to be like The Buzzcocks or Elvis Costello, the punk Beatles. Being a Banshee really changed my attitude to what I was doing."^[18]

The Cure's third single "Jumping Someone Else's Train" was released in early October 1979. Soon afterwards, Dempsey was dropped from the band because of his cold reception to material Smith had written for the upcoming album.^[19] Dempsey joined the Associates, while Simon Gallup (bass) and Matthieu Hartley (keyboards) from The Magspies joined The Cure. The Associates toured as support band for The Cure and The Passions on the Future Pastimes Tour of England between November and December—all three bands were on the Fiction Records roster—with the new Cure line-up already performing a number of new songs for the projected second album.^[20] Meanwhile, a spin-off band comprising Smith, Tolhurst, Dempsey, Gallup, Hartley and Thompson, with backing vocals from assorted family and friends, and lead vocals provided by their local postman Frankie Bell released a 7-inch single in December under the assumed name of Cult Hero.^[21]

Early Gothic Phase (1980–1982)[link]

	"One Hundred Years" (1982) noicon Sample of "One Hundred Years" from Pornography.
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Due to the band's lack of creative control on the first album, Smith exerted a greater influence on the recording of The Cure's second album Seventeen Seconds, which he co-produced with Mike Hedges.^[22] The album was released in 1980 and reached number 20 on the UK charts. A single from the album, "A Forest", became the band's first UK hit single, reaching number 31 on the singles chart.^[23] The album was a departure from The Cure's sound up to that point, with Hedges describing it as "morose, atmospheric, very different to Three Imaginary Boys."^[24] In its review of Seventeen Seconds the NME said, "For a group as young as The Cure, it seems amazing that they have covered so much territory in such a brief time."^[25] At the same time, Smith was pressed concerning the concept of an alleged "anti-image".^[26] Smith told the press he was fed up with the anti-image association that some considered to be "elaborately disguising their plainness", stating, "We had to get away from that anti-image thing, which we didn't even create in the first place. And it seemed like we were trying to be more obscure. We just didn't like the standard rock thing. The whole thing really got out of hand."^[27] That same year Three Imaginary Boys was repackaged for the American market as Boys Don't Cry, with new artwork and a modified tracklist. The Cure set out on their first world tour to promote both releases. At the end of the tour, Matthieu Hartley left the band. Hartley said, "I realised that the group was heading towards suicidal, sombre music—the sort of thing that didn't interest me at all."^[28]

The band reconvened with Hedges to produce their third album Faith (1981), which furthered the mood of misery present on Seventeen Seconds.^[29] The album peaked at number 14 on the UK charts.^[23] Included with cassette copies of Faith was an instrumental soundtrack for Carnage Visors, an animated film shown in place of an opening act for the band's 1981 Picture Tour.^[30] In late 1981, The Cure released the non-album single "Charlotte Sometimes". By this point, the sombre mood of the music had a profound effect on the attitude of the band. The band would refuse requests for older songs in concert, and sometimes Smith would be so absorbed by the persona he projected onstage he would leave at the end in tears.^[31]

In 1982, The Cure recorded and released Pornography, the third and final album of an "oppressively dispirited" trio that cemented the Cure's stature as purveyors of the emerging gothic rock genre.^[32] Smith has said that during the recording of Pornography he was "undergoing a lot of mental stress. But it had nothing to do with the group, it just had to do with what I was like, my age and things. I think I got to my worst round about Pornography. Looking back and getting other people's opinions of what went on, I was a pretty monstrous sort of person at that time".^[16] Gallup described the album by saying, "Nihilism took over [. . .] We sang 'It doesn't matter if we all die' and that is exactly what we thought at the time."^[33] Parry was concerned that the album did not have a hit song for radio play and instructed Smith and producer Phil Thornalley to polish the track "The Hanging Garden" for release as a single.^[34] Despite the concerns about the album's uncommercial sound, Pornography became the band's first UK Top 10 album, charting at number eight.^[23] The release of Pornography was followed by the Fourteen Explicit Moments tour, where the band finally dropped the anti-image angle and first adopted their signature look of big, towering hair and smeared lipstick on their faces.^[35] The tour also saw a series of incidents that prompted Simon Gallup to leave The Cure at the tour's conclusion. Gallup and Smith did not talk to each other for eighteen months following his departure.^[36]

Increasing commercial success (1983–1986)[link]

	"Just Like Heaven" (1987) noicon Sample of "Just like Heaven" from Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me.
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With Gallup's departure from The Cure and with Smith's work with Siouxsie and the Banshees, rumours spread that The Cure had broken up. In December 1982, Smith remarked to Melody Maker, "Do The Cure really exist any more? I've been pondering that question myself [. . .] it has got to a point where I don't fancy working in that format again." He added, "Whatever happens, it won't be me, Laurence, and Simon together any more. I know that."^[37]

Parry was concerned at the state of his label's top band, and became convinced that the solution was for The Cure to reinvent its musical style. Parry managed to convince Smith and Tolhurst of the idea; Parry said, "It appealed to Robert because he wanted to destroy The Cure anyway."^[38] With Tolhurst now playing keyboards instead of drums, the duo released the single "Let's Go to Bed" in late 1982. While Smith wrote the single from as a throwaway, "stupid" pop song to the press,^[39] it became a minor hit in the UK, reaching number 44 on the singles chart.^[23] It was followed in 1983 by two more successful songs: the synthesiser-based "The Walk" (number 12), and "The Love Cats", which became the band's first British Top 10 hit, reaching number seven.^[23] The group released these studio singles and their B-sides as the compilation album Japanese Whispers, designed by Smith for the Japanese market only, but released worldwide on the decision of the record company. The same year, Smith also recorded and toured with Siouxsie and the Banshees, contributing as guitarist on their Nocturne live video and their Hyaena studio album. Meanwhile, he recorded the Blue Sunshine album with Banshees bassist Steven Severin as The Glove, while Lol Tolhurst produced the first two singles and debut album of the English band And Also The Trees.

In 1984, The Cure released The Top, a generally psychedelic album on which Smith played all the instruments except the drums—played by Andy Anderson—and the saxophone—played by returnee Porl Thompson. The album was a Top 10 hit in the UK, and was their first studio album to break the Billboard 200 in the U.S., reaching number 180.^[23][40] Melody Maker praised the album as "psychedelia that can't be dated", while pondering, "I've yet to meet anyone who can tell me why The Cure are having hits now of all times."^[41] The Cure then embarked on their worldwide "Top Tour" with Thompson, Anderson, and producer-turned-bassist Phil Thornalley on board. Released in late 1984, The Cure's first live album, Concert consisted of performances from this tour. Near the tour's end, Anderson was fired for destroying a hotel room and was replaced by Boris Williams.^[42] Thornalley also left because of the stress of touring.^[43] However, the bassist slot was not vacant long, for a Cure roadie named Gary Biddles had brokered a reunion between Smith and former bassist Simon Gallup, who had been playing in the band Fools Dance. Soon after reconciling, Smith asked Gallup to rejoin the band.^[44] Smith was ecstatic about Gallup's return and declared to Melody Maker, "It's a group again."^[45]

In 1985, the new line-up of Smith, Tolhurst, Gallup, Thompson, and Williams released The Head on the Door, an album that managed to bind together the optimistic and pessimistic aspects of the band's music between which they had previously shifted.^[46] The Head on the Door reached number seven in the UK and was the band's first entry into American Top 75 at number 59,^[23][40] a success partly due to the international impact of the LP's two singles, "In Between Days" and "Close to Me". Following the album and world tour, the band released the singles compilation Standing on a Beach in three formats (each with a different track listing and a specific name) in 1986. This compilation made the US Top 50,^[40] and saw the re-issue of three previous singles: "Boys Don't Cry" (in a new form), "Let's Go To Bed" and later "Charlotte Sometimes". This release was accompanied by a VHS or LaserDisc called Staring at the Sea, which featured videos for each track on the compilation. The Cure toured to support the compilation and released a live concert VHS of the show, filmed in the south of France called The Cure in Orange. During this time, The Cure became a very popular band in Europe (particularly in France, Germany and the Benelux countries) and increasingly popular in the U.S.^[47]

[edit] Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me and worldwide success (1987–1993)

In 1987, The Cure released the double LP Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me, which reached number six in the UK, the Top 10 in several countries^[48] and was the band's first entry into the U.S. Top 40 at number 35 (where it was certified platinum),^[23][40][49] due to the combination of the band's rising popularity and the success of lead single, "Why Can't I Be You?".^[50] The album's third single, "Just Like Heaven" was the band's most successful single to date in the US, being their first to enter the Billboard Top 40.^[51] After the album's release, the band embarked on the successful Kissing Tour. During the European leg of the tour, Lol Tolhurst's alcohol consumption was interfering with his ability to perform so The Psychedelic Furs keyboardist Roger O'Donnell was frequently called upon to stand in for him.^[52]

	"Lovesong" (1989) noicon Sample of "Lovesong" from Disintegration. "Lullaby" (1989) noicon Sample of "Lullaby" from Disintegration.
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In 1989, The Cure released the album Disintegration, which saw a return to the gothic atmospheres of earlier releases like Faith and Pornography.^[53] It became their highest charting album in the UK to date, entering at number three and featuring three Top 30 singles in the UK and Germany ("Lullaby", "Lovesong" and "Pictures of You").^[23][54] Disintegration also reached number twelve on the US charts.^[40] The first single stateside, "Fascination Street", reached number one on the American Modern Rock chart, but was quickly overshadowed when its third US single, "Lovesong", reached number two on the American pop charts (the only Cure single to reach the US Top 10).^[51] By 1992, Disintegration had sold over three million copies worldwide.^[55]

During the Disintegration sessions, the band gave Smith an ultimatum that either Tolhurst would have to leave the band or they would.^[56] In February 1989, Tolhurst's exit was made official and announced to the press;^[57] this resulted in Roger O'Donnell becoming a full-fledged member of the band and left Smith as The Cure's only remaining founder member. Smith attributed Tolhurst's dismissal to an inability to exert himself and issues with alcohol, concluding, "He was out of step with everything. It had just become detrimental to everything we'd do."^[58] Because Tolhurst was still on the payroll during the recording of Disintegration, he was credited in the album's liner notes as playing "other instruments", however it has since been revealed that he contributed nothing to the album in either performance or song writing. The Cure then embarked on the Prayer Tour, which saw the band playing stadiums in the US. On 6 September 1989, The Cure performed "Just Like Heaven" at the 1989 MTV Video Music Awards at the Universal Amphitheatre in Los Angeles.^[59] In February 1990, the song won the Brit Award for Best British Video.^[60]

In May 1990, Roger O'Donnell quit and was replaced with the band's guitar technician Perry Bamonte. That November, The Cure released a collection of remixes called Mixed Up. The album was not well received and quickly slid down the charts.^[61] The one new song on the collection, "Never Enough", was released as a single. In 1991 The Cure were awarded the Brit Award for Best British Group.^[62] That same year Tolhurst filed a lawsuit against Smith and Fiction Records in 1991 over royalties payments, and claimed joint ownership of the name "The Cure" with Smith; the verdict was handed out in September 1994 in favour of Smith. In respite from the lawsuit, the band returned to the studio to record their next album.^[63] Wish reached number one in the UK and number two in the US and yielded the international hits "High" and "Friday I'm in Love".^[23][40] The Cure also embarked on the "Wish Tour" with Cranes, and released the live albums Show (September 1993) and Paris (October 1993). As a promotional exercise with the Our Price music chain in the UK, a limited edition EP was released consisting of instrumental outtakes from the Wish sessions. Entitled Lost Wishes, the proceeds from the four-track cassette tape went to charity. In 1993, the band were nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Alternative Music Album for Wish.^[64]

In the years between the release of Wish and the start of sessions for The Cure's next album, the band's line-up shifted again. Thompson left the band once more during 1993 to play with Robert Plant and Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin, and Bamonte took over as lead guitarist. Boris Williams also left the band, and was replaced by Jason Cooper (formerly of My Life Story).

Period of transition (1994–1998)[link]

The album sessions began in 1994 with only Smith and Bamonte present; the pair were later joined by Gallup (who was recovering from physical problems) and Roger O'Donnell, who had been asked to rejoin the band at the end of 1994.^[65] The Cure performed "Burn" in the movie The Crow and "Dredd Song", the theme song of the 1995 movie Judge Dredd starring Sylvester Stallone (The former song despite never being released as a single nor ever played live, is regarded a fan favourite of Cure fans and fans of 'The Crow'). It was not released on a Cure album until 2004 on Join the Dots: B-Sides & Rarities 1978–2001 (The Fiction Years).

Wild Mood Swings, finally released in 1996, was poorly received compared with previous albums and marked the end of the band's commercial peak.^[66] Early in 1996, the Cure played festivals in South America, followed by a world tour in support of the album Galore. Galore contained all of the Cure's singles released between 1987 and 1997, as well as the new single "Wrong Number", which featured longtime David Bowie guitarist Reeves Gabrels. Gabrels also accompanied The Cure on a brief American radio festival tour as an onstage guest guitarist for "Wrong Number". In 1998 The Cure contributed to the soundtrack album for The X Files feature film as well as the Depeche Mode tribute album For the Masses, with their cover of "World in My Eyes".

	"Out of This World" (2000) noicon Sample of "Out of This World" from Bloodflowers.
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Later years (1999–2009)[link]

With only one album left in their record contract and with commercial response to Wild Mood Swings and the Galore compilation lacklustre, Smith once again considered that the end of The Cure might be near and thus wanted to make an album that reflected the more serious side of the band.^[67] The Grammy-nominated album Bloodflowers was released in 2000 after being delayed since 1998.^[68] According to Smith, the album was the third of a trilogy along with Pornography and Disintegration.^[69] The band also embarked on the nine-month Dream Tour, attended by over one million people worldwide. In 2001, The Cure left Fiction and released their Greatest Hits album and DVD, which featured the music videos for a number of classic Cure songs. In 2002, the band headlined twelve major summer music festivals, and played three extended concerts (one in Brussels, two in Berlin) in which they performed the albums Pornography, Disintegration and Bloodflowers in their respective entireties each night. The Berlin performances were released on DVD as The Cure: Trilogy in 2003.

In 2003, The Cure signed with Geffen Records. In 2004, they released a new four-disc boxed set on Fiction Records titled Join the Dots: B-Sides and Rarities, 1978-2001 (The Fiction Years). The compilation includes seventy Cure songs, some previously unreleased, and a 76-page full-colour book of photographs, history and quotes, packaged in a hard cover. The album peaked at number 106 on the Billboard 200 album charts.^[40] The band released their twelfth album The Cure on Geffen in 2004, which was produced by Ross Robinson. It made a top ten debut on both sides of the Atlantic in July 2004.^[23][40] To promote the album, the band headlined the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival that May. From 24 July to 29 August, The Cure headlined the Curiosa concert tour of North America. While attendances were lower than expected, Curiosa was still one of the more successful American summer festivals of 2004.^[70] The same year the band was honoured with an MTV Icon award in a television special presented by Marilyn Manson.^[71]

The Cure in concert in 2004. From left to right: Robert Smith, Jason Cooper, and Simon Gallup

In May 2005, Roger O'Donnell and Perry Bamonte were fired from the band. O'Donnell claims Smith informed him he was reducing the band to a three-piece. Previously O'Donnell said he had only found out about the band's upcoming tour dates via a fan site and added, "It was sad to find out after nearly 20 years the way I did but then I should have expected no less or more."^[72] The remaining members of the band—Smith, Gallup and Cooper—made several appearances as a trio before it was announced in June that Porl Thompson would be returning for the band's 2005 Festival summer shows, as well as their set at Live 8 in Paris on 2 July. Later that year, the band recorded a cover of John Lennon's "Love" for Amnesty International's charity album Make Some Noise. It is available for download on the Amnesty website, while the album was released on CD in 2006. On 1 April 2006, The Cure appeared at the Royal Albert Hall on behalf of the Teenage Cancer Trust. It was their only show through to the end the year. In December a live DVD, entitled The Cure: Festival 2005 including 30 songs of their 2005 Festival tour was released.

The Cure began writing and recording material for their thirteenth album in 2006. Smith initially stated it would be a double album.^[73] The Cure announced a last-minute postponement of their autumn 2007 North American 4Tour in August in order to continue working on the album, rescheduling the dates for spring 2008.^[74] Titled 4:13 Dream, the album was released in October 2008. The group released four singles and an EP—"The Only One", "Freakshow", "Sleep When I'm Dead", "The Perfect Boy" and Hypnagogic States respectively—on or near to the 13th of each month, in the months leading up to the album's release. In February 2009, The Cure received the 2009 Shockwaves NME Award for Godlike Genius.^[75]

Reunion with former members and next album (2010–present)[link]

On January 13, 2010, Smith announced on The Cure's website that they were working on the follow-up to 4:13 Dream and an iTunes exclusive release. He explained, "There is an 'exclusive' iTunes Cure album still in the works... and part two of the Dream sessions is slowly taking shape."^[5] In August 2011, Smith told Hot Press that The Cure may not be interested in wrapping up the leftover material that was recorded during the 4:13 Dream sessions. He explained, "It's one of those things that it's been left so long now I expect it will come out as a half-finished sort of thing. I'm not sure if the band wants to complete it, which is sort of the elephant in the room. What happened to the second half of the album? No one mentions it! We're aware that it's there. Nobody really wants to talk about it. Maybe it will come up after a few post-festival beers!". Smith later added, "I think between now and this time next year, The Cure will take precedence over anything else. Until I get the second half of this album out, I won't do another collaboration."^[76]

In 2011, the band played their first three studio albums in their entirety during two shows in Sydney, Australia. These "Reflections" shows notably featured Roger O'Donnell and Laurence Tolhurst, both in a keyboard and percussion role. Porl Thompson was absent from the performances. The shows are due to be released on DVD in 2012.^[77] The band later headlined Bestival. Roger O'Donnell again joined the band on stage. On 11 September 2011, Roger O'Donnell announced on his Facebook page that he had officially rejoined the band. The band announced seven more Reflections shows, one in London, three in New York City and three in Los Angeles.^[78] On Tuesday 27 September, The Cure was announced as a nominee for 2012 induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.^[79] The Cure have been announced as one of the three headliners of the 2012 Reading and Leeds Festivals.

Musical style[link]

The Cure are often identified with the gothic rock subgenre of alternative rock, and are viewed as one of the form's definitive bands. However, the band has routinely rejected classification, particularly as a gothic rock band. Robert Smith said in 2006, "It's so pitiful when 'goth' is still tagged onto the name The Cure", and added, "We're not categorisable. I suppose we were post-punk when we came out, but in total it's impossible [...] I just play Cure music, whatever that is."^[80] Smith has also expressed his distaste for gothic rock, describing it as "incredibly dull and monotonous. A dirge really."^[81] While typically viewed as producers of dark and gloomy music, The Cure have also yielded a number of upbeat songs. Spin has said "The Cure have always been an either/or sort of band: either [...] Robert Smith is wallowing in gothic sadness or he's licking sticky-sweet cotton-candy pop off his lipstick-stained fingers."^[82]

The Cure's primary musical traits have been listed as "dominant, melodic bass lines; whiny, strangulated vocals; and a lyric obsession with existential, almost literary despair."^[83] Most Cure songs start with Smith and Gallup writing the drum parts and bass lines. Both record demos at home and then bring them into the studio for fine-tuning.^[84] Smith said in 1992, "I think when people talk about the 'Cure sound,' they mean songs based on 6-string bass, acoustic guitar, and my voice, plus the string sound from the Solina."^[84] On top of this foundation is laid "towering layers of guitars and synthesisers".^[85] Keyboards have been a component of the band's sound since Seventeen Seconds, and their importance increased with the instrument's extensive use on Disintegration.^[86] With the Departure of Roger O'Donnell in 2005, keyboards have not been as prominent in the band's album 4:13 Dream and their live shows.

Music videos[link]

The band's early music videos have been described as "dreadful affairs" and have been maligned for their poor quality, particularly by the band itself. Lol Tolhurst said, "Those videos were unmitigated disasters; we weren't actors and our personalities weren't coming across."^[87] It was with the video for "Let's Go to Bed", their first collaboration with director Tim Pope, that The Cure would become noted for their videos. Pope added a playful element to the band's videos; the director insisted in a 1987 Spin interview, "I think that side of them was always there, but was never brought out."^[16] Pope would go on to direct the majority of The Cure's videos, and his videos, which became synonymous with the band, helped expand The Cure's audience during the 1980s.^[88] Pope explained the appeal of working with The Cure by saying, "The Cure is the ultimate band for a filmmaker to work with because Robert Smith really understands the camera. His songs are so cinematic. I mean on one level there's this stupidity and humour, right, but beneath that there are all [Smith's] psychological obsessions and claustrophobia."^[81]

Legacy[link]

The Cure were one of the first alternative bands to have chart and commercial success in an era before alternative rock had broken into the mainstream. In 1992 the NME declared The Cure had during the 1980s become "a goth hit machine (19 to date), an international phenomenon and, yep, the most successful alternative band that ever shuffled disconsolately about the earth".^[55] Smith has noted he looks at Cure-influenced bands like Interpol and My Chemical Romance with affection, adding, "I also think [Interpol bassist] Carlos D.'s obsession with Simon Gallup is sweet."^[89] Interpol lead singer, Paul Banks was quoted as saying "The Cure is the band that all of us in Interpol can say influenced us. When I was younger I listened to them a lot. Carlos as well. Actually, he took a straight influence from this band on the way he played the bass and the keys. To me, Robert Smith is also one of these examples: you can't be Robert Smith if you're not Robert Smith. It's one of the bands with the deepest influence on Interpol, because we all like them. They're legendary."^[90]

Several references to The Cure and their music have been made in popular culture. A number of films have used the title of a Cure song as the film's title, including Boys Don't Cry (1999) and Just Like Heaven (2005). The Cure's gloomy image has been the subject of parody at times. In series two of The Mighty Boosh, The Moon sings 'The Love Cats' over the credits. In the same episode, a powerful gothic hairspray, Goth Juice, is said to be "The most powerful hairspray known to man. Made from the tears of Robert Smith." The Mary Whitehouse Experience often featured brief clips of the stars of the show performing comical songs and nursery rhymes as The Cure in a morose style. Robert Smith appeared in the final episode of the first series of The Mary Whitehouse Experience singing "The sun has got his hat on" before punching the character Ray (played by Robert Newman) whilst uttering Ray's catchphrase "Oh no what a personal disaster". Robert Smith was also portrayed on an episode of South Park (Season 1, Episode 12) where he transforms into the form of Mothra and battles Mecha-Streisand to save the day and Kyle shouts "Disintegration is the best album ever!" In Craig Thompson's graphic novel Blankets the chapter seven is called "Just Like Heaven". The same chapter shows Raina singing some lyrics from this song to Craig.

Discography[link]

• Three Imaginary Boys (1979)
• Boys Don't Cry (1980)
• Seventeen Seconds (1980)
• Faith (1981)
• Pornography (1982)
• Japanese Whispers (1983)
• The Top (1984)
• The Head on the Door (1985)
• Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me (1987)
• Disintegration (1989)
• Wish (1992)
• Wild Mood Swings (1996)
• Bloodflowers (2000)
• The Cure (2004)
• 4:13 Dream (2008)

Members[link]

Current line-up

• Robert Smith – lead vocals, guitars, keyboards (1976–present)
• Simon Gallup – bass guitar, keyboards (1979–1982, 1985–present)
• Roger O'Donnell – keyboards (1987–1990, 1995–2005, 2011–present)
• Jason Cooper – drums, percussion (1995–present)
• Reeves Gabrels – guitars (2012–present)

See also[link]

• Wikipedia books: The Cure

References[link]

Sources[link]

• Apter, Jeff. (2006). Never Enough: The Story of the Cure. Omnibus Press. ISBN 1-84449-827-1

Further reading[link]

• Ten Imaginary Years, by L. Barbarian, Steve Sutherland and Robert Smith (1988) Zomba Books ISBN 0-946391-87-4
• The Cure: A Visual Documentary, by Dave Thompson and Jo-Ann Greene(1988) Omnibus Press ISBN 0-7119-1387-0
• The Cure: Songwords 1978–1989 S. Hopkins, Robert Smith and T. Foo (1989) Omnibus Press ISBN 0-7119-1951-8
• In Between Days: An Armchair Guide To The Cure by Dave Thompson, Helter Skelter Publishing (October 2005) ISBN 1-905139-00-4
• The Cure – Greatest Hits (songbook containing 20 of their best, transcribed note-for-note with tab, chord symbols and complete lyrics), Hal Leonard Corporation (May 2002) ISBN 0-634-04667-5
• Robert Smith: "The Cure" and Wishful Thinking by Richard Carman (2005) Independent Music Press (UK) ISBN 978-0-9549704-1-3
• Jeremy Wulc : My dream comes true : Carnet de route avec The Cure. (2009) Editions : Camion Blanc

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: The Cure

• Official website
• The Cure Records – the most complete discography on the Internet
• The Cure discography at Discogs