Dave Stewart (Eurythmics)
David Allan Stewart is an English musician, songwriter and record producer, best known for Eurythmics, his successful professional partnership with Annie Lennox. He won Best British Producer at the 1986, 1987 and 1990 Brit Awards. Stewart was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2020 and the duo were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2022. Outside of Eurythmics, Stewart has written and produced songs for artists such as Ringo Starr, Stevie Nicks, Mick Jagger and Tom Petty.
Early life
Stewart was born in 1952 in Sunderland, England, son of John and Sadie Stewart. Distantly related both to the Dukes of Northumberland and to pirates, Stewart was from a middle-class, "well-off family", with accountant parents; he "always wanted to play with the working-class kids, but they'd always call 'richie' and whack on the head with cricket bats and things." His father was a "keen harmonica player" with a "dedication to music of all types", having "invested in the latest hi-tech stereo system and wired it up to every room in the house." He attended Barnes Infants and Junior School and Bede Grammar School for Boys.Stewart began "dropping acid" by the age of 15 and carried on taking it up to 3 times a week during his teenage years. He later told The Guardian newspaper "Everything changed at that moment, It’s a speeded-up version of sitting on a mountain for 60 years and meditating. 'Ah, now I get it.' The trouble is, it doesn’t last".
Whilst still in his teens, he secured a record deal as part of folk-rock band Longdancer. Despite being signed to Elton John's record label, The Rocket Record Company, they did not achieve commercial success. He also collaborated with Brian Harrison to produce an EP on the Sunderland Multicord label, recording two songs from a school musical production written by English teacher Dick Bradshaw, one traditional number and a song written by Dave and Brian. After leaving Wearside, Stewart spent several years living in squats in London. In late 1976, he was introduced to Annie Lennox by Paul Jacobs. Soon, Stewart and Lennox became romantically involved. By 1977, the pair had teamed up with Sunderland musician Peet Coombes, releasing a single on Logo Records as the Catch. The band then developed into the Tourists, who enjoyed modest success, including a hit in 1979 with a cover of the Dusty Springfield hit "I Only Want to Be with You".
Eurythmics
The Tourists split up in 1980, as did Stewart and Lennox, though the pair continued to work together. They formed a new musical project named Eurythmics. After a string of hit singles and albums, the duo split in 1990, but reunited in 1999 for the album Peace and another world tour. Lennox and Stewart worked together again in 2005, recording two new tracks for the greatest hits package Ultimate Collection, released to coincide with Eurythmics' 25th anniversary.Post-Eurythmics
When Eurythmics dissolved in 1990, Stewart moved to France and immediately released a self-titled album with his new band, The Spiritual Cowboys, which reached No. 38 on the UK album charts. The song "Party Town" was featured in the 1990 film Flatliners. A second album, Honest, followed in 1991. Both records went Gold in France, where Stewart concentrated his efforts.In 1992, Stewart collaborated with singer Terry Hall on the project Vegas. The duo released one self-titled album but this was commercially unsuccessful, though one of the singles from the album made the UK Top 40.
In 1993, Stewart appeared in an Apple Inc. advertisement for the Power Macintosh in which he riffed on the word "power". He also had a small cameo as a computer hacker in the 1995 film Hackers.
In 1994, Stewart released a solo album, Greetings from the Gutter. The album was not a commercial success, though Stewart scored a minor UK hit with the single "Heart Of Stone" which reached number 36. He then released another album, Sly-Fi, first on the internet.
In 1995, Stewart appeared in an advert for BT in which he sang the track 'Secrets' which was made specifically for BT to be used in the advert.
In November 2002, Stewart worked with former South African president Nelson Mandela. Stewart came up with the idea of turning Mandela's prison number into a telephone number then wrote and recorded songs with Paul McCartney, Bono and Edge and various others that you could only hear if you dialled this number and whilst listening you were donating. He then began organising the 46664 campaign and series of concerts in the fight against HIV/AIDS in South Africa.
In 2007, Stewart announced on his MySpace page that he would be playing live concerts showcasing his entire career. According to the announcement, he was to be accompanied by various guest musicians as well as a 30-piece orchestra. Additionally, Stewart has stated that for the first time in many years, he has been writing new songs on his guitar, although he had no plans at that time for a new solo album.
On the project, The Dave Stewart Songbook, he wrote a large coffee table-size book full of stories and photographs and also re-recorded 21 hit songs which have been co-written or co-produced by him during the past decades and were originally released by artists such as No Doubt, Shakespears Sister, Bryan Ferry, Celine Dion, Bob Geldof, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, Jon Bon Jovi and Eurythmics. Also included is the song "American Prayer" written by Stewart with Bono of U2, for which Dave Stewart shot a video clip in support of the campaign of US presidential candidate Barack Obama, featuring various film and music stars, which premiered on YouTube on 23 August 2008. Stewart also released a new solo track, Let's Do It Again, in 2008. In July 2010, Stewart recorded his first solo album of new material since 1998's Sly-Fi. Entitled The Blackbird Diaries after the Nashville, Tennessee studio where it was recorded, the album includes duets with Stevie Nicks, Martina McBride, Colbie Caillat and The Secret Sisters. Stewart has made a film of the making of the album and also filmed a live concert in Nashville at The Belcourt Theatre on 9 December 2010.
In May 2011 it was announced that Mick Jagger of the Rolling Stones had formed a new supergroup called SuperHeavy which includes Dave Stewart, Joss Stone, Damian Marley and A. R. Rahman.
In May 2012 it was announced that Stewart would be playing four UK shows in September 2012 to support the release of his new album The Ringmaster General.
In 2013, Stewart released the album Lucky Numbers, which was recorded on a boat in the South Pacific for 12 days.
In October 2017 Stewart appeared on a German TV programme marking the 40th year of the stage career of the German singer Nena with whom he performed their jointly written track, "Be My Rebel".
Other projects
Writer and producer
Stewart produced or co-produced all of Eurythmics' albums and, once the band became established, he also became a producer of other artists. In 1985, as well as producing Eurythmics' hit album Be Yourself Tonight, Stewart co-produced the album Southern Accents for Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, as well as co-writing several songs for the album including the hit "Don't Come Around Here No More". The same year, Stewart also produced the debut solo album by Feargal Sharkey, which included the UK number one hit "A Good Heart". Due to these accomplishments, Stewart won "Best Producer" at the 1986 BRIT Awards in London.Stewart would go on to write and produce for a variety of other artists throughout the years. In 1986, he collaborated with Bob Geldof on tracks for his debut solo album Deep in the Heart of Nowhere. Working together, the duo named themselves "The Brothers of Doom". Also in 1986, he co-produced the album Three Hearts in the Happy Ending Machine by Daryl Hall. The same year, he co-wrote and produced the song "Is This Love?" by Alison Moyet, a UK number 3.
Stewart also co-wrote and co-produced several tracks for Mick Jagger's 1987 album Primitive Cool.
In 1989, Stewart produced the debut album by Russian singer-songwriter Boris Grebenshchikov, Radio Silence.
In 1992, along with Marcella Detroit, he co-wrote the Shakespears Sister hit single "Stay" with his then-wife, Siobhan Fahey as well as several other tracks for their second album Hormonally Yours. In this year Fahey also provided vocals on "Walk into the Wind" for Stewart's group Vegas with Terry Hall, Olle Romö and Emmanuel 'Manu' Guiot.
In 1993, Stewart co-wrote two tracks for German punk rock-singer Nina Hagen which were published on her sixth solo studio album Revolution Ballroom. He can also be heard on keyboards and contributed background vocals.
In 1996, Stewart produced the debut album by Alisha's Attic, Alisha Rules the World, and wrote a few tracks on the third Shakespears Sister album #3.
In 1997, Stewart co-produced the album Destination Anywhere for Jon Bon Jovi, and also co-wrote two tracks. The same year, he produced and co-wrote the album Come Alive with the actress and singer Rhona Mitra, who was in character as Lara Croft for the recording, because she was the official model for the character at that time. In 1999, Stewart and Mitra collaborated on a second Lara Croft album, titled Female Icon.
Stewart collaborated with Bryan Ferry on his 2002 album Frantic, co-writing several tracks and co-producing one of them.
He also co-wrote "Friend or Foe" for the Russian pop duo t.A.T.u., which is on their 2005 album Dangerous and Moving.
In 2008, Stewart was brought in by Ringo Starr to produce his album Liverpool 8, after Starr dismissed the album's original producer, Mark Hudson. Hudson's work on some tracks earned both Stewart and Hudson credits as co-producers.
In 2010, Stewart announced on his Twitter account he was co-writing and producing the new studio album by Stevie Nicks. The album, entitled In Your Dreams, was co-produced by Glen Ballard and released in May 2011.
In 2010, Stewart co-wrote and co-produced two songs with writer and composer Mark Warford 'Lover Earth' and 'Time, Faith, Love' for the charity-focused dramatised audio production, 'A Voyage For Soldier Miles'.
On 24 February 2011, Stewart tweeted that he had just produced a new album by Joss Stone, stating that they also wrote 10 songs together.
On 10 October 2011, Stewart released a new song called "Leap of faith" in collaboration with Greek singer Anna Vissi. The official clip of the song was released in Anna's fan club YouTube channel. Two days later, the Stewart produced Fire EP for artist Orianthi was released as an iTunes download.
He has worked occasionally with American ska-punk band No Doubt, co-writing "Underneath It All" for their 2001 release Rock Steady and "Sparkle" for their 2012 release Push and Shove.
In 2013, he worked with singer Lauren Harris on the pop rock project Kingdom of I. The track Crying at the Disco was released as a free download on SoundCloud later that year.
Stewart co-wrote and produced New Zealand singer Jon Stevens' album called Starlight, which was released in March 2017 and features a blues and soul influenced rock / powerpop sound.
Parallel to that, Stewart co-wrote and produced Australian singer Vanessa Amorosi's studio album, which features "soul gospel" music. The album, Memphis Love, was released in November 2023 on Stewart's independent label, Bay Street Records.