We are very sad to hear that the legendary Frankie Knuckles has died. The word “legendary” is rather overused these days, but Frankie Knuckles was a true dance legend and a pioneer of house music. We were honoured to work with him in 1988 when he did his brilliant dark mix of “I want a dog”. It was so exciting to drive out to Jersey City to hear this mix for the first time in his studio and then drive back to New York with the mix on repeat. We were thrilled with it and included it on our album, Introspective. In 1990 Frankie came over to London to play at Chris’s birthday party at Brixton Academy and enthralled the crowd with his brilliant set. In the early days, House music was referred to as “Chicago House” after the city where it was invented — it was great to visit the city last year and see that a street had been named after the music’s inventor: Frankie Knuckles Way. Love and respect forever. xx
Kicking off the weekend which will see Pet Shop Boys performing at the EMAs in Manchester, the official video for their new version of David Bowie’s “All the young dudes” is now available to watch on YouTube at the link below.
Recent Pet Texts
An exciting night in Manchester at the EMAs getting the Pop Pioneers award presented by Aaron Taylor-Johnson and performing with the Manchester Camerata! Thanks to MTV and our amazing creative team. Link to the performance below.
Photo: Vita Spalding
Pet Shop Boys’ cover of “All the young dudes”, originally written and performed by David Bowie, has been added straight to the BBC Radio 2 playlist. Rotation begins this Saturday, 9th November.
Two new PSB tracks are set to premiere on UK radio tomorrow morning, 7th November. First, Zoe Ball will be giving the Pet Shop Boys cover of David Bowie’s “All the young dudes” its first play on BBC Radio 2 at 7:50 AM GMT. The Boy Harsher remix of “New London boy” will premiere on BBC Radio 6 Music at 8:55 AM, where Nick Grimshaw sits in for Lauren Laverne. All details at the links below.
I saw a wonderful concert by Arooj Aftab in Berlin tonight. She has the most beautiful voice and is accompanied by brilliant musicians who play with a rare delicacy. I’ve been listening to her album “Night Reign” which I highly recommend! Neil x
Happy Birthday, Chris!
The Hidden Cameras’ 2009 album, “Origin: Orphan”, is re-released tomorrow, October 4, including Pet Shop Boys “organic” remix of the song, “Colour of a Man” which has never been properly released before. Video and streaming links below.
We are starting work early this year on the 2025 edition of “Annually”, which, as always, will include a selection of your letters answered by Chris and Neil. So if you have a question for them, email it to info@beckerbrown.com with “Annually letters” in the subject line by next Monday, 7th October. (Alternatively, you can leave a question on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter). Details on how to pre-order your copy of Annually 2025 will be available on this site soon.
Pet Shop Boys’ latest single “Feel” is released on CD today and available to order at the link below. Artwork photo by Corbin Shaw. This is PSB’s fourth CD single release this year — the others are still available at our online store. Will there be a fifth?