Were formed in 1983 by Neil Tennant born in 1954 at North
Shields and Christopher Lowe born in 1959 at Blackpool. They met for the first
time in August 1981, in an electronics store when Neil Tennant went to buy some
parts for his synthesizer. They chose their band name because of some friends of
Chris who worked in a London pet shop. Neil and Chris have also said it reminded
them of the hip-hop groups of the early 80's which they were so fond of. One of
the names which they rejected, included West End among others.
After writing and recording demos, they came under the wing of New York dance
producer Bobby O Orlando. In the summer of 1984, they issued the Orlando
produced West End Girls, which passed unnoticed. After being dropped from Epic
Records, they were picked up by Parlophone Records the following year. A second
single Opportunities, Let's Make Lots Of Money also failed but a re-recording of
West End Girls, produced by Stephen Hague, began selling in late 1985. In
January 1986, this hypnotic single topped the charts in the UK and repeated the
feat later in the USA.
WestEnd Girls the version produced by Stephen Hague was not their
first song. The Pet Shop Boys released West End Girls
in 1984 on Epic with a self-titled b-side called Pet
Shop Boys, produced by Bobby Orlando, becoming a minor
hit in the USA, but not in the UK.
