On August 19th, Neil and Chris meet by chance in an electronics shop on the Kings Road. Realizing they have a common interest in dance music, they begin to write together. Initially they call themselves West End; later they come up with the name Pet Shop Boys, a name derived from some friends who work in a pet shop in Ealing. “We thought it sounded like an English rap group”.
Neil is sent to New York by Smash Hits to interview The Police. By this time the Pet Shop Boys are obsessed by a stream of hi energy records made by New York producer Bobby Orlando, known as Bobby O’. “I thought well, if I’ve got to go and see The Police play then I’m also going to have lunch with Bobby O’ ”. Neil and Bobby O share a cheeseburger and carrot cake at a restaurant called The Apple Jack on August 19th (two years to the day since Neil and Chris met) and Bobby O’, flatered by Neil’s compliments, suggests making a record with the Pet Shop Boys.
The first version of ‘West End girls’ is released. It is a club hit in Los Angeles and San Francisco and a small hit in France and Belgium.
They make their first ever stage appearance at the Fridge Nightclub in Brixton, singing and playing over tapes.
Neil Francis Tennant is born on July 10th in North Shields, Northumberland.
Chris and Neil tour Aztec pyramids and temples in Mexico while on a brief break during the Latin American leg of their DiscoVery tour.
The Boys attend a rehearsal of David Almond’s play My Dad’s a Birdman, for which they have written songs and music.
This evening, at London’s Queen Elizabeth Hall, the BBC Concert Orchestra performs a program titled Exstatica, consisting of works that convey ‘states of ecstasy’ in various forms. Among the works performed is a specially commissioned setting of the PSB song ‘I Wouldn’t Normally Do This Kind of Thing,’ arranged by Richard Niles and sung by soprano Kate Winter. The concert is broadcast live on BBC Radio 3.
The Pet Shop Boys perform in Mexico City: the final show of the North American leg of their Super Tour.
They kick off the 2023 Latin American leg of their extended Dreamworld Tour with a concert this evening at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez in Mexico City.