Rekindling the 80s music: A look at the Real Life band

Real Life is a band based in Melbourne Australia that plays new wave/ synthpop type of music. The group was formed in the 80s and comprised of David Sterry who was a lead vocalist and guitarist, Alan Johnson a bassist, Danny Simcic who played the drums, Richard Zatorski who majored with playing the keyboard. 

 

The group started by releasing the album Heartland whose song "Send Me an Angel," became a hit in Australia in the year 1983. The single hit the international music headlines by the end of the year and was ranked 29th on the American Billboard Hot 100 chart and top 10 in Australia. Later, in the year 1984, Real life hit the top 40 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart with their song "Catch Me I'm Falling." Their music which was similar to Duran Duran was gaining popularity all across the world. 

This popularity extended for some time and was thwarted when they released their second album Flame in 1985. The album produced minor hits such as “No shame” and “Face To Face”, but none of the singles became a hit. “Face to Face” only managed to rank number 32 in Australia even after receiving enough airplay. This album was such a commercial disappointment that it led to the cancellation of their Australian contract. During this hard period, the band added Rob Burke a great saxophonist to be part of them in their tours. Later in 1986, they recorded the controversial song “Babies” for a North-American release “Down Comes the Hammer”. Later that year, their keyboardist Richard Zartoski pulled off due to issues with management and was replaced by Steve Williams. 

The group released a remix of "Send Me an Angel" in 1989 which propelled them to their all time highest rank in the American Charts; #26. After success of the “Send Me An Angel ” remix their other remix of “Let’s Fall in Love” didn’t make a hit. (To date Send Me an Angel remixes can add up to 18). With Steve Williams on board, Real life recorded their album “Lifetime” in 1990 with the singles “God Tonight” and “Kiss the Ground.” The album failed terribly and the band didn’t get a contract for 5 good years. They came back in 1996 with a self released album “Like a Ghost.” By this time, Steve Williams had left the group and had been replaced by George Pappas.

The departure of Steve Williams did not stop Real life from performing. They went ahead to release the album “Happy” in 1997 and was shortly followed by a remix album “Happier” in 1999. In 2003, Real Life seemed to disintegrate as only two of their members; David Sterry and George Pappas released the album “Imperfection,” and released a remix of the same version a year later. The band added a new member Scott Ingram who played the drums and together with David Sterry and George Pappas they toured major cities in the West Coast of America to promote their new album “Imperfection.” 

Later in 2005, the band faced a major setback when George Pappas departed from the band leaving David Sterry to steer the band on his own. The last time the band released an album was in 2009 which incorporated ’80s classics cover versions. The album was called Send Me An Angel – ’80s Synth Essentials and is currently available on digital download formats, vinyl and CD.