Description:

NOW Music is proud to present the newest edition to our Yearbook family: NOW Yearbook 1985, the 6th addition to our Yearbook 80s series and 7th addition including NOW Yearbook 1979.

1985 was a huge year for Queen, including a career-defining performance at Live Aid and Disc One opens with One Vision and is followed with three of the years #1s from Eurythmics with There Must Be An Angel and two collaborations: UB40 & Chrissie Hynde on I Got You Babe, and Philip Bailey & Phil Collins with Easy Lover. The first single from Stings debut solo album is included alongside massive trans-Atlantic hits from Tears For Fears, Simple Minds, The Power Station and Tina Turner plus some of the decades most iconic hits including a-ha with Take On Me and Dead Or Alive delivering the first #1 for producers Stock, Aitken and Waterman. Sophisticated Ballads from Bryan Ferry, Elton John, Paul Young and the #1 Move Closer from Phyllis Nelson feature before the disc closes with the epic The Unforgettable Fire from U2.

Disc 2 begins with 1985s Power Ballads and Soft Rock hits. Kicking off with the #1 from Foreigner I Want To Know What Love Is, and Marillions Kayleigh before huge radio friendly Rock-Pop from ZZ Top, Pat Benatar and Billy Idol and massive movie-theme smashes from Huey Lewis & The News, Bonnie Tyler, John Parr, Dan Hartman, Maria Vidal and DeBarge. The second half of the disc celebrates the years Soul driven line-up including Ashford & Simpson with Solid, Princess with Say Im Your Number One, Hangin On A String from Loose Ends, along with classic slow-dance Ballads from Kool & The Gang, Lionel Richie and the debut #1 Saving All My Love For You from Whitney Houston.

The third disc opens with the breath-taking Cloudbusting from Kate Bush, and Indie anthem How Soon Is Now? from The Smiths setting the tone for a run of Alternative hits including The Cure with Close To Me, Duel from Propaganda, and She Sells Sanctuary from The Cult. Mid-1980s Synth and Pop from Howard Jones, Nik Kershaw, Red Box, Scritti Politti and Stephen Duffy follow as does the debut Election Day from Duran Duran side project Arcadia. More chart debuts from King, Simply Red, Fine Young Cannibals, and The Dream Academy lead toward the discs closing track from Strawberry Switchblade with the Pop classic Since Yesterday.

The final disc gets underway with massive Electro-Pop hits from Paul Hardcastle with #1 19, Harold Faltermeyer with Axel F and Colonel Abrams Trapped before floor-filling HI-NRG from Bronski Beat with Marc Almond and Divine. A trio of beautiful tracks from Dee C Lee, Sade and Alison Moyet are featured leading into the #1 A Good Heart from Feargal Sharkey before a run of upbeat Pop classics from Katrina & The Waves, Sheila E, Level 42, Billy Ocean, Five Star, and the #1 Frankie from Sister Sledge. Three #1s close out this Yearbook: Elaine Paige & Barbara Dicksons I Know Him So Well, the years biggest selling single The Power Of Love from Jennifer Rush, and 1985s Christmas chart-topper that has become an all-time seasonal favourite, Merry Christmas Everyone from Shakin Stevens.

NOW Yearbook 1985 A celebration of the diversity and creative magic of the year in Pop.