Dexys Midnight Runners (GB)

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Also known as: Dexie's Midnight Runners, Dexy Midnight Runners, Dexys, Dexys Midnight Runner, Dexys Midnight Runners & Kevin Rowland, Dexy’s Midnight Runners, Dexy’s Mindnight Runners, Kevin Rowland & Dexys Midnight Runners

Two UK number ones, a transatlantic smash, and a wardrobe that looked like it walked off a De Niro film set. Dexys Midnight Runners, the Birmingham soul outfit built around singer and songwriter Kevin Rowland, made their mark with "Geno" in 1980 and then went global with "Come On Eileen", which hit the top spot on both the UK Singles Chart and the US Billboard Hot 100. Outside the UK they are largely seen as a one hit wonder, but at home they racked up five more Top 20 singles and a cover of Van Morrison's "Jackie Wilson Said" that reached number 5. The band went through near constant lineup changes across three albums in their original run, with Rowland the only constant throughout. They split in 1986, but he brought Dexys back in 2003, and the group has kept going ever since. Their fourth album arrived in 2012, a fifth covering Irish and country soul in 2016, and a sixth, The Feminine Divine, in 2023. A recent video for "I'm Going To Get Free" shows they are still very much active.