80s in the 90s: 1983

Continuing the look at whether 80s acts succeeded in the 90s here's a look at the 1983 debutants:

Eurythmics: Between their Top 40 debut "Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of This)" in 1983 and "Sisters Are Doin' It For Themselves" in 1985, Eurythmics only failed to reach the Top 10 once. After this they only reached the Top 10 once again which was with "Thorn In My Side" in 1986. They managed at least 1 Top 40 hit in the remaining years of the 80s but most didn't even make the Top 20. In 1990 they had 2 minor hits in 1990 with "The King And Queen Of America" and "Angel" before they split up. Then they came back in 1999 with "I Saved The World Today" which made number 11.

Verdict: Miss

Tina Turner: Her 80s solo career was a sort of comeback having previously been part of Ike & Tina Turner in the 60s. She had more Top 40 hits in the 90s than 80s though less Top 10s. As an 80s chart act by this definition is one that had at least 4 Top 40 hits that decade, having 4 Top 10s in the 90s which is what Tina Turner had would surely qualify you as a 90s chart act too.

Verdict: Hit

Marillion: In the 90s Marillion managed 3 Top 40 hits that peaked at number 34. Some may be surprised to learn they even had 3 Top 40 hits that decade but they actually had 7. Just "Sympathy" was a Top 20 and none were Top 10. It's however worth noting that 8 of their 12 Top 40 hits in the 80s also failed to reach the Top 20. However they did have 3 Top 10s which are the ones people remember, their 90s hits not so much.

Verdict: Miss

Paul Young: His biggest 90s hit was "Senza Una Donna (Without A Woman)" but that was as a featured singer on a Zucchero record so doesn't really count. Taking that record out of the equation all his Top 40 hits up to "Every Time You Go Away" in 1985 made the Top 10 and every Top 40 hit after didn't. He did manage 6 Top 40 hits in the 90s on his own but all of them were minor.

Verdict: Miss

Prince: He was still releasing new music and had a huge following right up to his death in 2016. From a UK charts perspective though his last original Top 40 hit came in 1997 with "The Holy River". He did however manage at least one Top 40 hit between 1983 and 1997. The 90s was when we got the New Power Generation backing him and he changed his name to a symbol. It was also the decade where he scored his only number one plus several other big hits. There's no doubt he was just as much a 90s chart act as he was an 80s one.

Verdict: Hit

Aztec Camera: Best known for the 1988 hit "Somewhere In My Heart" I would say their solitary 90s Top 40 hit "Good Morning Britain" is their 2nd best known. The question is should a number 19 in 1990 that featured another artist, in this case Mick Jones, qualify you as a 90s chart act? Doesn't really seem enough.

Verdict: Miss

Big Country: When you hear the name Big Country the 80s springs to mind to the point you wouldn't expect them to have any Top 40 hits in the 90s. They managed 3 though but the highest they managed out of those was 24. 

Verdict: Miss

Nick Heyward: He started out as singer with Haircut 100 who managed 4 Top 40 hits. He 1 better as a solo artist in the 80s with 5 Top 40 hits to his name spread across 1983 and 1984. Then he had one more Top 40 hit in 1996 with the number 37 "Rollerblade" which was his attempt at jumping on the Britpop bandwagon.

Verdict: Miss