The Cure

The Cure are a British rock band. They formed in Salford, Manchester, England in 1975.
History
The Cure began in 1976 as 'Easy Cure'. It was formed by Robert Smith (vocals, guitar) together with schoolmates Michael Dempsey (bass), Lol Tolhurst (drums), and local guitarist Porl Thompson.
They began writing and demoing their own songs almost immediately, playing throughout 1977 in Southern England to an ever growing army of fans. In 1978 the 'Easy' was dropped, along with Porl, and an eager trio now known simply as The Cure were quickly signed to Chris Parry's new Fiction label.
First album
In August 1978 their debut album Three Imaginary Boys was released to great acclaim, and as the band toured extensively around the UK, the singles "Boys Don't Cry" and "Jumping Someone Else's Train" were released. Michael left the band at the end of the year, and Simon Gallup (bass) and Matthieu Hartley (keyboards) joined. In early 1979 the 4-piece Cure embarked on an exploration of the darker side of Robert's songwriting, and emerged with the minimalist classic Seventeen Seconds, along with their first real 'hit single' "A Forest."
Results and second album
After an intense world tour Matthieu left the group, and in early 1980 the trio recorded an album of mournful atmospheric soundscapes entitled Faith, which included another successful single in "Primary."
Third album
The band then set out on a second trip around the world, named "The Picture Tour," and they put out the single "Charlotte Sometimes." In 1982 The Cure went back into the studio to record the album "Pornography" which had a dark mood. The trip was difficult for the band members, and the single "The Hanging Garden" came out just as Simon left the band.
First dance single
Robert Smith and Lol Tolhurst were now the only band members. To feel better, the band chose to change the dark mood of the band into a more fun "pop" mood. So they recorded a dance single called "Let's Go To Bed," and became good friends with the song's film-clip director, Tim Pope. The band continued into 1983 with two more fun singles: "The Walk" and "The Lovecats."
Fourth album
In 1984 The Top was released, a strange hallucinogenic mix, which contained the infectiously psychedelic single "The Caterpillar."
Expansion of the band
The world 'Top Tour' saw the band expand to a 5-piece, with the addition of Andy Anderson (drums) and Phil Thornalley (bass), and the return of Porl Thompson (guitar).
The new Cure sound was captured live for the album Concert. Andy and Phil left soon after the end of the tour, and were replaced by Boris Williams (drums) and further returnee Simon Gallup (bass). This new incarnation started work on 1985's The Head On The Door with a very real sense of 'something happening'... The vibrant hit single "Inbetween Days" was followed up by "Close To Me," and the ensuing world tour paved the way for the massive success of the singles collection Standing On A Beach in 1986. That summer saw the band headline the Glastonbury Festival for the first time, and a year of extensive gigs and festivals was crowned by Tim Pope's live concert film The Cure In Orange.
First double album
In 1987 The Cure brought out Kiss Me Kiss Me Kiss Me, an immense double album of extreme and extraordinary stylistic range, and with the arrival of Roger O'Donnell on keyboards the 6-piece Cure traveled the world with the 'Kissing Tour', enjoying four more hit singles along the way. The wonderfully atmospheric Disintegration was demoed in 1988 and released in 1989, and despite being a work of powerful brooding grandeur, it too gave rise to four hit singles. The 'Prayer Tour' followed, with the band back down to a five-piece following the departure of Lol Tolhurst. It was captured live for the album Entreat.
Replacing Roger O'Donnell
In early 1990 Roger O'Donnell left the group, and was replaced by long-time band friend Perry Bamonte, just in time for a series of headlining European festival shows that included the band's second Glastonbury headline slot. The album Mixed Up was released, supported by the re-mixed singles "Never Enough," "Close To Me" and "A Forest," and in 1991 The Cure at last won some long overdue "home" recognition with a Brit Award for "Best British Group."
Sixth album
In 1992 they recorded Wish, a richly diverse multi-faceted guitar driven album hailed by some as their best work to date. It spawned 3 fabulous hit singles, and the glorious 'Wish Tour' that followed was a worldwide sell out. The sheer power of the shows inspired the release of two live works in 1993, Paris and Show. Immediately after the tour ended, guitarist Porl Thompson left the band again (this time with a smile!), and The Cure headlined the XFM 'Great Xpectations Show' in London's Finsbury Park as a 4-piece. The band also contributed "Burn" to the film "The Crow" and covered "Purple Haze" for the Hendrix tribute album 'Stone Free'.
Seventh album
In 1994 Boris Williams decided to move on, and in early 1995 Jason Cooper took up residency behind the drum kit, with Roger O'Donnell rejoining once more on keyboards. Work on the next album was interspersed with recording "Dredd Song" for the film "Judge Dredd," a cover of Bowie's "Young Americans" for an XFM album, and headlining several major European festivals, including the 25th Glastonbury. Wild Mood Swings was released in 1996, and went straight into almost every top ten around the world. The Cure hit the road once more with 'The Swing Tour', their longest to date, and released 4 more singles.
Eighth album
Galore, the follow up singles and video compilation to Standing On A Beach, was released in 1997, after which work took place in 1998 on a variety of projects, including "More than This" for the "X Files" album, and a memorable appearance by Robert in "South Park" In 1999 the band completed the recording and mixing of what many regard as their best studio album so far, the Grammy Nominated Bloodflowers. With its release in 2000 the band set off on the massive world-wide 'Dreamtour' - playing to more than a million people in 9 months.
Ninth album
2001 saw the long-awaited release of the Cure's "Greatest Hits" album, which featured all the band's biggest selling singles along with 2 new songs, the elegiac "Cut Here" and the ebullient "Just Say Yes," a duet with Saffron. This year also saw the end of the group's relationship with Fiction Records, the label they had been instrumental in starting 23 years before.
Festivals in Europe
In 2002 the band spent the summer headlining a number of European festivals before going into rehearsals for two very special nights in November at the Tempodrom Berlin, where they performed all the tracks from Pornography, Disintegration and Bloodflowers plus encores. Both performances were shot in Hi-Def video on 12 cameras, and Trilogy DVD was released in 2003 as another chapter of The Cure story opened, the band signing a 3 album global deal with the Geffen label.
Tenth album
2004 saw the release of 'Join the Dots', a 4 cd Boxset of all the B-sides and Rarities, followed by the widely acclaimed new album 'The Cure', and another hugely successful world tour.
In 2005 Perry Bamonte and Roger O'Donnell left the band and Porl Thompson joined for a third time. The quartet's debut show was headlining Live 8 Paris, followed by a number of other summer European Festivals. The first 4 Cure albums (Three Imaginary Boys, Seventeen Seconds, Faith and Pornography) were re-released, with Robert providing 'rarities' for Deluxe Edition extras CD's, as part of an ongoing campaign to remaster and re-issue all the Cure albums. Immediately after closing a week of Teenage Cancer Trust Shows at the Royal Albert Hall in April 2006, the band started recording their 13th studio album.
Eleventh album
In August 2006, the second set of re-releases (The Top, The Head On The Door, Kiss Me Kiss Me Kiss Me) was released, each album as a 2CD Deluxe Edition, along with 1983's Glove album Blue Sunshine, while in the studio The Cure passed the 30 new songs mark. In November 'Festival 2005', a 155-minute 5.1 DVD comprising a 30-song selection of live performances captured the previous summer by a mix of fans, crew and 'on-the-night-big-screen cameras', was released.
Thirteenth album
In 2006 The Cure started writing and recording 4:13 Dream. It was released in 2008. It was going to be a double album but featured 13 songs.
Present
In 2013 the band started The Great Circle Tour.
References
1970s British music groups
1980s British music groups
1990s British music groups
2000s British music groups
2010s British music groups
2020s British music groups
English rock bands
Entertainers from Sussex