Tears For Fears Conjure 'happy Ending'

[Kooperman]

Tears for Fears Conjure 'Happy Ending'

By REUTERS

Published: January 28, 2004

Filed at 0:56 a.m. ET

LOS ANGELES (Billboard) - Tears For Fears principals Roland Orzabal and Curt Smith have completed and set a release date for their reunion album, ``Everybody Loves a Happy Ending.''

The Arista release will be the duo's first since 1989. ``Happy Ending'' will be released in the U.S. on April 6, preceded by first single ``Closest Thing to Heaven,'' which will be shipped Feb. 9 to U.S. radio outlets.

In addition to the title cut and first single, the album will feature Orzabal and Smith compositions such as ``Call Me Mellow,'' ``Killing With Kindness,'' ``Ladybird,'' ``Last Days on Earth'' and ``Who Killed Tangerine?'' The album also contains a number of songs written solely by Orzabal, including ``Size of Sorrow,'' ``Quiet Ones,'' ``The Devil'' and ``Secret World.'' Finally, one song, ``Who You Are,'' is credited to Smith and Charlton Pettus, who co-produced the album with the duo.

The act is in the process of confirming summer tour dates and television appearances. Confirmed dates will be posted on the band's official Web site (http://www.tearsforfears.net). The pair performed together for the first time in more than a decade in early October at Andre Agassi's Grand Slam for Children benefit in Las Vegas.

Tears For Fears came to prominence in the mid-1980s while signed to Mercury Records. The band's breakthrough album, ``Songs From the Big Chair,'' spent five weeks at No. 1 on The Billboard 200 and was certified five-times platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for U.S. shipments of 5 million copies. That album featured the back-to-back No. 1 hits ``Everybody Wants to Rule the World'' and ``Shout,'' as well as the No. 3 ``Head Over Heels.''

The group has also been in the news lately in the U.K., thanks to a No. 1 cover of ``Mad World'' by Gary Jules and Michael Andrews. The cut was featured in the cult American film ``Donnie Darko.''

Reuters/Billboard

http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/arts/entert...usic-tears.html