In 1982, he created the band Tin Tin, with John Mulligan and Dik Davis (both then of Fashion), Andy "Stoker" Growcott (of Dexys Midnight Runners) and Bob Lamb (original producer of Birmingham band UB40). The band was signed with WEA Records in the UK, and released the song, "Kiss Me", which went to no. 155 on the UK chart. By 1983, Tin Tin had signed with Sire Records in the US, and "Kiss Me" hit the dance charts there as well. Another single, "Hold It", was also released in 1983, reaching number 55 in the UK.
After a stint of working in the US, Duffy returned to England and signed another deal, this time with Virgin 10, and worked on recording his first full album, The Ups and Downs (produced by Duffy, Booker T. Jones, J.J. Jeczalik, Nicholas Froome and Stephen Street), under the name Stephen "Tin Tin" Duffy (which name was frequently mocked by Radio 1 DJs as Stephen "Duff Duff" Tinny). The album reached number 35 in the UK. Prior to the release of The Ups And Downs, Stephen and brother Nick formed their own design office called "DUFFY and DUFFY". For the album's preview release, they had an exhibition of about 80 paintings, drawings, photographs, and video.
A re-recorded "Kiss Me" single was released in 1984, this time only in the local West Midlands area, followed by a nationwide release of "She Makes Me Quiver". At the end of 1984, Duffy recorded a third version of "Kiss Me" with Froome and Jeczalik. The new version of "Kiss Me" was released on 25 February 1985. It debuted at no. 22 and peaked at no. 4, selling 250,000 copies in three weeks and staying in the UK Top 10 for five weeks altogether. It was the last song played on the medium wave service of Radio 1 before it became an FM-only station, at 9 A.M. on 1 July 1994. The final single released from The Ups and Downs album was "Icing on the Cake", which peaked at no. 14 in June 1985.
A new single, "Unkiss That Kiss", was released in September 1985 and peaked at no. 77. For this single, Duffy had become known as Stephen A.J. Duffy, after dropping the "Tin Tin" reference from his stage name apparently due to legal issues with the estate of the late Hergé, the Belgian cartoonist who created The Adventures of Tintin. The single was the first to be taken from the album Because We Love You, released in early 1986, for which he was credited simply as Stephen Duffy. Additional singles from the album were "I Love You" (which peaked at no. 86) and "Something Special" which was a collaboration with Sandii (of Sandii & the Sunsetz), however this single (and the album itself) failed to chart.
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Famous quotes containing the word tin:
“Another one o’ them new worlds. No beer, no women, no pool parlors, nothing. Nothing to do but throw rocks at tin cans. And we gotta bring our own tin cans.”
—Cyril Hume, and Fred McLeod Wilcox. Cook (Earl Holliman)
“A ‘spasm band’ is a miscellaneous collection of a soap box, tin cans, pan tops, nails, drumsticks, and little Negro boys. When mixed in the proper proportions this results in the wildest shuffle dancing, accompanied by a bumping rhythm.”
—For the City of New Orleans, U.S. public relief program (1935-1943)