Divinyls
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Divinyls (often incorrectly referred to as "The Divinyls") are an Australian rock music and New Wave band. The core of the band is and has been vocalist Christina Amphlett (born Christine Amphlett and affectionately known as 'Chrissy') and guitarist Mark McEntee. Amphlett had impeccable pop credentials, being the cousin of Sixties Australian pop icon Little Pattie and closely related to pioneer Aussie rocker Col Joye and his brother, leading promoter Kevin Jacobsen. In her autobiography "Pleasure and Pain" Chrissy talks of the early days, when she was breaking into the music scene, of being arrested for busking when a teenager travelling in Spain, and how her act drew upon childhood pain.
The duo formed after meeting at a Sydney Opera House concert in 1980, and for the first two years they performed in pubs and clubs in Sydney's Kings Cross. They provided the soundtrack for the movie Monkey Grip with Amphlett also acting in the film. She received a Best Supporting Actress nomination from the Australian Film Institute for her performance and the group had two hit singles, Boys In Town and Only Lonely from the soundtrack.
Over the next decade they released several albums, and had hit singles in Australia with songs such as Science Fiction, Good Die Young, Pleasure and Pain and Sleeping Beauty. Their manager Vince Lovegrove was the former co-lead vocalist of popular 60s pop band The Valentines with Bon Scott.
They also had hits with their cover versions of The Easybeats's I'll Make You Happy, and the Syndicate of Sound's Hey Little Boy (Hey Little Girl with the gender switched). Amphlett became a controversial and highly visible celebrity, known for her brash and overtly sexual persona, and for the subversive humour in both her lyrics and her performances. They toured and performed in the United States and established a fan base there, without achieving major commercial success.
Original bassist Jeremy Paul (ex Air Supply) left the group in 1982. He was replaced by Rick Grossman (ex Matt Finish), who left in 1987 to replace Clyde Bramley in Hoodoo Gurus.
In 1991 they released the single I Touch Myself which became their only Australian number one single, and it reached number 4 in the US, and number 10 in the UK. A disagreement with their record company in the US stifled their future development, however in Australia they continued to release popular albums, and to achieve several more hit singles (Love School, Make Out Alright, and I'm On Your Side). During the 1980s and 1990s Amphlett began to collaborate as a songwriter with such artists as Chrissie Hynde and Cyndi Lauper, and she and McEntee worked on solo projects.
As their record company was quick to capitalize on their success by releasing the Essential collection of hits from the first three albums, and the Divinyls Live authorized bootleg in 1991, the band did not rush to put out new studio material. In the early 1990s they recorded a series of cover songs for various movie soundtracks, including the Young Rascals' I Ain't Gonna Eat Out My Heart Anymore for Buffy the Vampire Slayer, the Wild Ones' Wild Thing for Reckless Kelly, and Roxy Music's Love Is The Drug for Super Mario Brothers.
It wasn't until 1996 that Underworld, the fifth album, was released in Australia by BMG. Despite the success of the previous album, Virgin did not keep the band under contract, and BMG did not release the album in the U.S. As with What A Life!, the group worked with three producers on Underworld, beginning with I'm Jealous, recorded in Nashville with Peter Collins, followed by Sex Will Keep Us Together and Heart Of Steel, recorded with Keith Forsey. Although Heart Of Steel was chosen as a single, the band decided to discontinue working with Forsey, because, in Amphlett's words, "he was a bit too 'pop' for us." The remaining tracks were produced by Charley Drayton, who also provided drums on both diVINYLS and Underworld, and to whom Amphlett is currently married.
Following Underworld Amphlett began to focus on a stage career. In 1998, Amphlett played the role of Judy Garland in the Australian stage production of the life story of entertainer Peter Allen, titled The Boy from Oz. The production was a huge success, and Amphlett's interpretation of Garland during her final troubled years, brought her critical acclaim.
From the late 1990s, Amphlett and McEntee have concentrated largely on solo projects and their collaborations with other artists. Nonetheless Divinyls, as a recording and performing entity, has never been officially disbanded.
A brand new career spanning best-of collection is due to be released by EMI Music Australia in August 2006.
Discography
Albums
| Year | Title | Chart Positions | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Australian Album Chart | United States Album Chart | |||
| 1982 | Monkey Grip | - | ||
| 1983 | Desperate | - | ||
| 1985 | What a Life! | #91 | ||
| 1988 | Tempermental | - | ||
| 1991 | Divinyls | #5 | #15 | |
| 1991 | Essential | #17 | - | |
| 1994 | The Collection | - | ||
| 1996 | Underworld | #47 | - | |
| 1997 | Make You Happy | - | ||
Singles
| Year | Song | Australian Singles Chart | United Kingdom Singles Chart | United States Singles Chart
| Album |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1981 | "Boys in Town" | #8 | align="center" | ||
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| Desperate | |||||
| 1983 | "Science Fiction" | #13 | align="center" | ||
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| Desperate | |||||
| "Siren (Never Let You Go)" | #45 | align="center" | |||
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| Desperate | |||||
| "Casual Encounter" | #91 | align="center" | |||
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| What a Life! | |||||
| 1984 | "Good Die Young" | #32 | align="center" | ||
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| What a Life! | |||||
| "In My Life" | #47 | align="center" | |||
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| What a Life! | |||||
| 1985 | "Pleasure and Pain" | #11 | align="center" | ||
| #76 | What a Life! | ||||
| 1986 | "Sleeping Beauty" | #50 | align="center" | ||
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| What a Life! | |||||
| "Heart Telegraph" | #90 | align="center" | |||
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| What a Life! | |||||
| 1988 | "Hey Little Boy" | #25 | align="center" | ||
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| Tempermental | |||||
| "Back to the Wall" | #33 | align="center" | |||
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| Tempermental | |||||
| "Punxsie" | align="center" | ||||
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| Tempermental | |||||
| 1990 | "I Touch Myself" | #1 | #10 | #4 | Divinyls |
| 1991 | "Love School" | #43 | align="center" | ||
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| Divinyls | |||||
| "Make Out Alright" | align="center" | ||||
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| Divinyls | |||||
| "I'm on Your Side" | #92 | align="center" | |||
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| Divinyls | |||||
| 1992 | "I Ain't Gonna Eat Out My Heart Anymore" | #19 | align="center" | ||
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| The Collection | |||||
| 1993 | "Wild Thing" | #39 | align="center" | ||
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| The Collection | |||||
| "Love Is the Drug" | align="center" | ||||
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| The Collection | |||||
| 1995 | "I'm Jealous" | #14 | align="center" | ||
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| Underworld | |||||
| "Heart of Steel" | align="center" | ||||
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| Underworld | |||||
| 1996 | "Human on the Inside" | #59 | align="center" | ||
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| Underworld | |||||
| "Hard on Me" | #94 | align="center" | |||
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| Underworld | |||||
| 1997 | "For a Good Time" | align="center" | |||
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| Underworld | |||||
Further reading
Pleasure and Pain: My Life by Chrissy Amphlett with Larry Writer. ISBN 0733619592. Published by Hachette Livre Australia (formerly Hodder Headline Australia), November 2005.Categories
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