On August 19th, Neil and Chris meet by chance in an electronics shop on the Kings Road. Realizing they have a common interest in dance music, they begin to write together. Initially they call themselves West End; later they come up with the name Pet Shop Boys, a name derived from some friends who work in a pet shop in Ealing. “We thought it sounded like an English rap group”.
Neil is sent to New York by Smash Hits to interview The Police. By this time the Pet Shop Boys are obsessed by a stream of hi energy records made by New York producer Bobby Orlando, known as Bobby O’. “I thought well, if I’ve got to go and see The Police play then I’m also going to have lunch with Bobby O’ ”. Neil and Bobby O share a cheeseburger and carrot cake at a restaurant called The Apple Jack on August 19th (two years to the day since Neil and Chris met) and Bobby O’, flatered by Neil’s compliments, suggests making a record with the Pet Shop Boys.
The first version of ‘West End girls’ is released. It is a club hit in Los Angeles and San Francisco and a small hit in France and Belgium.
They make their first ever stage appearance at the Fridge Nightclub in Brixton, singing and playing over tapes.
Neil Francis Tennant is born on July 10th in North Shields, Northumberland.
The Pet Shop Boys appear in Yokohama, Japan, as part of the Japanese leg of their Performance world tour.
The Boys finish ‘Indefinite Leave to Remain.’ That evening—after first meeting and having dinner with him—they attend a Sondre Lerche concert at Naples’ Theatro Nuevo.
After an extended break, they launch the South American leg of their Fundamental Tour with a concert in Rio de Janeiro.
Chris and Neil are interviewed on Jonathan Ross’s BBC Radio 2 show.
The two-CD score of the Tennant/Lowe ballet The Most Incredible Thing is released today in the U.K.
Big announcements today on the official PSB website: that the Boys have left their longtime record label Parlophone and that their next album, titled Electric, would be released in June on Kobalt Label Services.
The Pet Shop Boys are among the artists who perform this evening with Trevor Horn’s band at a charity gala for disadvantaged youth at the Roundhouse in London.