After scoring a trio of top 40 hits in the 1980s, Hue And Cry returned to the public consciousness last year when it was part of the ITV reality show "Hit Me Baby One More Time." The program's premise was simple: each week, five former pop stars sing their biggest hit along with a cover version of a contemporary hit; one winner is then picked from each via a phone vote.Hue And Cry performed "Labour Of Love," which went to No. 6 in the U.K. in 1987, and ultimately won its group, besting performers such as China Black and The Real Thing. The Coatbridge duo, comprised of the brothers Pat and Greg Kane, ultimately finished second to Welshman Shakin' Stevens.
However, the Kane brothers did use their television stint as a means for reevaluating their careers ("The show revealed something surprising to us," Pat Kane said here, "which is that we could be a 'Saturday Night' act again, rather than a 'Tuesday Morning' one.") and eventually they parlayed the peformances into a string of sell-out dates in Scotland, including a support slot for Jamie Cullum at the Live On The Lawn festival, and a set in front of 25,000 at Glasgow's Hogmanay festivities.
Hear it for yourself. Download: "Looking For Linda" by Hue And Cry. One of the group's bigger U.K. hits, the track was inspired by a true story of a woman who left home to buy cigarettes -- and ended up boarding a train to find a new life.
