Magic of Italo Disco |4| Eddy Huntington
Earlier introduced Radiorama, Den Harrow and Miko Mission.
Introduction
Edward Huntington (born 29 October 1965) is an English pop singer who began his professional singing career in Italy. Huntington became popular in Europe, but not so much in home country UK, which is probably indicated by him in some live appearances wearing a T-shirt containing text ”famous abroad”. He worked as a teacher at Rosebrook Primary School, Stockton-on-Tees (near Middlesbrough), but leaved the job 2020 to work as the Head of Education of Stockton Council.
Beginning
Edward ”Eddy” Huntington was born in the northeast of England 29th October 1965. He moved to London at the age of 18, where he became a music video extra and model. He was discovered by a big italian record producer and soon found himself in Milan recording his first Italo Disco single. In Italo Disco the stage name Eddy Huntington is used, and that’s the name everyone (outside his family/job/friends) knows him.
The italian (and one american) professionals behind Eddy were already famous in Italo Disco productions: Roberto Turatti, Miki Chieregato and Tom Hooker, the same guys who also wrote hits for Den Harrow project for Baby Records. Tom Hooker did not borrow his voice this time (as was done with Den Harrow), but did sing on refrains.
Big hits of 80s
The debut single on Esquire Records label U.S.S.R. was released 1986 and became a huge hit around europe, peaking charts at number 6 in Switzerland and 23 in Germany. This was accomplished as U.S.S.R. was also released on big german music label/company Zyx Music and also on spanish Max Music. Let it be stated here, that all the biggest Italo Disco successes were always published also on foreign (non italian) record labels. If song has no potential to be a big success, it’s usually not published (world)wide. For a Italo Disco fan like me, it’s a bit strange why the swedish record label Vinyl Mania/Beat Box did not publish U.S.S.R., as it published huge amount of Italo Disco releases during years. Swedish releases typically had a remix version (mixed by Fredrik Ramel) on A-side and the original (italian) versions on B-side.
After debut U.S.S.R., which was also a big hit in Soviet Union (Russia) in the 80s and even now, it was time for the follow-up. The second single Up & Down (1987) did also became a big hit in Europe. I remember it was played a lot here in Finland too, much more than the debut U.S.S.R., did our history and wars had some part in this ”anomaly”.
Another big Eddy Huntington hit Meet My Friend was also published 1987. The releases after that were widely known, but not anymore huge hits, as can be seen now decades after. I personally like very much of May Day (1988) and Physical Attraction (1989), but not so much of Bang Bang Baby (1988) or Hey Senorita (1990). There were also some other single releases and an album Bang Bang Baby (1989).
After Millennium
In the 20th century some more new Eddy songs have been published, perhaps best known is Love for Russia (2009), which is probably inspired by the fact that Eddy has performed a lot in Russia and is very popular there. Detailed list of all releases available at Discogs.
The latest Eddy release, as I know, is Warsaw In The Night (2017) – a space sound style new generation italo disco song. Eddy has a good steady job and it’s not very easy to make money on music – it’s more like a hobby (+extra income). There are some Italo Disco artists who really need the income from records sold plus live apperarances, and as I see things, these fellows are pretty active performing. The relatively high age (career started 80s or earlier) also pushes them to keep performing right now and near future.
Brando