Gene Loves Jezebel - Early Years: 1980-1989

Early Years: 1980-1989

Originally called Slav Aryan, Gene Loves Jezebel was formed in 1980 with the Aston brothers, guitarist Ian Hudson, bassist Stephen Davis and drummer Snowy White. The Astons grew up in Cornelly, Wales, making the move to London in 1981. With a new home, and shortly thereafter, the new name, the trio with bassist Steve Radwall and drummer James Chater (left in 1982/3 and was replaced by Richard Hawkins), played several live shows and were signed by Situation Two. Gene Loves Jezebel underwent numerous line-up changes between 1981–1985. In May 1982, the label released Gene Loves Jezebel's demo single "Shaving My Neck". The band then added bassist Julianne Regan followed, briefly, by a keyboardist, Jean-Marc Lederman. Regan left within a year to form All About Eve, leaving Ian Hudson briefly playing bass and Albie DeLuca being the guitar player until Stephen Marshall joined. This line up went on to perform some 100 gigs and recorded the first album Promise, along with their first John Peel session and the B-side "Stephen". Peter Rizzo joined in 1984.

The band released two more singles in 1983 before Promise peaked at number 8 in the UK Indie Chart. In 1984, the group recorded a John Peel radio session for the BBC and toured America with fellow Welsh artist John Cale. Their second album, Immigrant, was released in mid-1985. However, during an agonizing American tour for Immigrant, founding member Ian Hudson left the band and was replaced by former Generation X and Chelsea guitarist James Stevenson (who later also played rhythm guitar on tour with The Cult).

During 1986, the group moved its contract to Situation Two's parent company, Beggar's Banquet Records and distribution rights in the U.S. to Geffen Records. The subsequent promotion increased pop-chart success for the group. The single "Sweetest Thing" briefly hit the Top 75 in UK and the album Discover reached number 32 in the UK Albums Chart. At this time, the group also found heavy rotation on college and countercultural radio stations across America. The band had slowly turned their attention to dance music. The slick and catchy guitar hooks of singles "Desire" and "Heartache" leapt to #6 and #72, respectively, on Los Angeles' New Wave station, KROQ-FM. Later that year, former Spear of Destiny and Thompson Twins member Chris Bell became the band's fifth drummer.

Gene Loves Jezebel's fourth album, The House of Dolls, was released in 1988 and yielded the singles, "20 Killer Hurts" and "The Motion of Love", which grazed the U.S. pop charts. "Motion of Love" was the band's biggest UK hit single, reaching number 56. The third single from The House of Dolls, "Suspicion", for the first time surfaced on the Billboard Hot 100. Despite rising mainstream success, the new pop-oriented direction proved to be too polished and commercial for Michael Aston, who left during the recording of the album and only appears on two songs, leaving Jay Aston as the main songwriter.