The Escape Club are an English pop rock band that was formed in London in 1983. They are best known for their 1988 No. 1 US hit "Wild, Wild West" and for their top-ten 1991 hit "I'll Be There".
History
The band formed in 1983, comprising Mad Shadows members lead singer/rhythm guitarist Trevor Steel and guitarist John Holliday, along with former Expressos members bassist Johnnie Christo and drummer Milan Zekavica. The seeds for the formation of The Escape Club were sown when Zekavica joined Steel and Holliday in Mad Shadows, who subsequently performed on an album by the obscureearly 1980s Stephen Milford-fronted new wave outfit Planning by Numbers. Before long, Christo had also joined the lineup, and The Escape Club was born. The fledgling band quickly released the single "Breathing". In 1985 The Escape Club signed with EMI and recordedthe albumWhite Fields, which was released the following year. In 1987, the group moved to Atlantic Records and began recording their next album, Wild Wild West. The album was released in the summer of 1988 and spawned the single "Wild, Wild West", which climbed to No. 1 on the BillboardHot 100chart while the song's video received major rotation on MTV. However, it is rumored it was banned from being used in their homeland for being extremely sexist. In 1989, they released two more singles from Wild Wild West: "Shake for the Sheik", which climbed to No. 28, and "Walking Through Walls", which peaked at No. 81. The Escape Club's cover single of The Doors' "20th Century Fox" appeared on , which also received airplay on MTV. The song was produced by Doors band member Ray Manzarek. In 1990 the band returned to the studio to record their final album, Dollars and Sex, which saw a March 1991 release. The first single, "Call It Poison", failed to crack the US Top 40. Atlantic Records then released the song "I'll Be There", which the group said was heavily influenced by the death of a friend's wife. The song has become an anthem among those who have experienced losses of their own. "I'll Be There" reached No. 8 on the Billboard Hot 100 and achieved gold status in the US. The group disbanded in 1992. The Escape Club is the only British band to have a No. 1 hit in the U.S. while not charting at all in their native UK. Trevor Steel and John Holliday reunited, with new band member Red Broad, in 2009 for a new album and a handful of live shows. They released a new studio album, Celebrity, in February 2012. In 2019, Johnnie Christo returned to the line-up and the Escape Club played as a full band for the first time in 25 years during the U.S. tour Lost 80s Live. After a thirty year absence, they will return to London in June 2020 to play their first album, White Fields, in its entirety.
