Pseudo Echo

Pseudo Echo are an Australian new wave band formed in 1982¹ by Brian Canham (vocals, guitar, and keyboards), Pierre Gigliotti (bass keyboards and bass guitar), and Tony Lugton (keyboards). Later members included Anthony Argiro (drums), Vince Leigh (drums), and James Leigh (keyboards). In the 1980s, Pseudo Echo had multiple Australian top 20 hits with "Listening", "A Beat for You", "Don't Go", "Love an Adventure", and "Living in a Dream". Their 1986 cover of "Funkytown" (a 1980 disco hit by Lipps Inc.) was an international success, peaking at No. 1 in Australia and New Zealand and becoming a top ten hit in Sweden, Canada, the United States, and in the United Kingdom. Their 1984 debut album, Autumnal Park, peaked at No. 11 on the Australian Kent Music Report. Love an Adventure followed in 1985 and reached No. 14. Their third album, Race (1988), peaked at No. 18. In 1990, the group disbanded. They reformed in 1998 and released the albums Ultraviolet (2014¹), Acoustica, and After Party (both 2020). Australian rock music historian Ian McFarlane described the band as "combin[ing] flash clothes, blow-wave hairstyles, youthful exuberance and accessible synth-pop to arrive at a winning combination".

Pseudo Echo are an Australian new wave band formed in 1982 by Brian Canham (vocals, guitar, and keyboards), Pierre Gigliotti (bass keyboards and bass guitar), and Tony Lugton (keyboards). Later members included Anthony Argiro (drums), Vince Leigh (drums), and James Leigh (keyboards). In the 1980s, Pseudo Echo had multiple Australian top 20 hits with "Listening", "A Beat for You", "Don't Go", "Love an Adventure", and "Living in a Dream". Their 1986 cover of "Funkytown" (a 1980 disco hit by Lipps Inc.) was an international success, peaking at No. 1 in Australia and New Zealand and becoming a top ten hit in Sweden, Canada, the United States, and in the United Kingdom. Their 1984 debut album, Autumnal Park, peaked at No. 11 on the Australian Kent Music Report. Love an Adventure followed in 1985 and reached No. 14. Their third album, Race (1988), peaked at No. 18. In 1990, the group disbanded. They reformed in 1998 and released the albums Ultraviolet (2014), Acoustica, and After Party (both 2020). Australian rock music historian Ian McFarlane described the band as "combin[ing] flash clothes, blow-wave hairstyles, youthful exuberance and accessible synth-pop to arrive at a winning combination". ==Biography== === 1985–1990: Love an Adventure, "Funky Town", Race, and disbandment=== In November 1985, Pseudo Echo released their second album, Love an Adventure. It was co-produced by Brian Canham and Mark S. Berry. Another line-up change occurred after its recording with Argiro replaced by James' brother Vince Leigh (aka Vincent Dingli) on drums. The album reached No. 14 in Australia. Three of its singles reached the Top 20 including "Don't Go" (No. 4 in October), "Love an Adventure" (No. 6 in January 1986), and "Living in a Dream" (No. 15 in May). A fourth single, "Try" (August), peaked at No. 60. In November 1985, Canham was part of the supergroup the Incredible Penguins, who recorded a cover of the John Lennon and Yoko Ono hit "Happy Xmas (War Is Over)" for charity; it peaked at No. 10 in December. In November 1986, Pseudo Echo released a cover version of the Lipps Inc. disco song "Funky Town", which spent seven weeks at number one from December. "Funky Town" brought Pseudo Echo their biggest international chart success. It reached No. 6 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the United States, No. 8 on the UK Singles Chart in July 1987, No. 1 in Canada, (No. 17 on Canadian 1987 Year End) and No. 1 in New Zealand. While not initially included on Love an Adventure, "Funky Town" was included on reissues of the album that were released following the success of the single. In September 1986, James and Vince Leigh appeared in the music video for John Farnham's single, "You're the Voice" despite not contributing to its audio recording. In 1987, the band re-released their 1983¹ debut single "Listening" for the movie North Shore. In October, they won the 1987 World Popular Song Festival with "Take on the World", which provided a prize of US$10,000. They released the compilation album Long Plays 83–87, re-titled Funky Town - The Album in New Zealand, where it peaked at No. 1. In 1988, they released their third studio album Race. It was produced by Canham, Brian Malouf and Julian Mendelsohn. It spawned the Australian singles "Fooled Again", "Over Tomorrow", and "Eye of the Storm". The album reached No. 18 on the Kent Music Report Albums Chart and No. 32 on the ARIA Albums Chart. Pseudo Echo disbanded after touring in support of Race in 1990. ==Members== ===Current members=== Brian Canham – lead vocals, guitar, keyboards (1982–present) Valentina Taylor – backing vocals (2024–present) Andrea Krakovská - guitar (2024–present) Danny Ammar - keyboards (2024–present) Elliott Orban - drums (2025–present) Michael Kasif - keytar (2025–present) ===Former members=== Pierre Gigliotti – bass guitar, keyboards, synth bass (1982–1989, 1998-2011) Tony Lugton – keyboards, guitar (1982–1984) Anthony Argiro – drums (1982–1985) James Leigh – keyboards, keytar, piano (1984–1989, 2007¹–2011) Vince Leigh – drums (1985–1990, 2007–2011) Tony Featherstone - keyboards (1998–2012, 2022–2023) Simon Rayner - keyboards (2012–2016) Ben Grayson - keyboards, keytar (1999–2007, 2012–2018) Darren Danielson - drums (1998–2007, 2012–2018) Matty Ray - keytar (2016 - 2025) Abbie Lula - drums (2023 - 2024) James Mudd - guitar (2018 - 2025) Cameron Smith - drums (2018 - 2022) ==Discography== Studio albums Autumnal Park (1984) Love an Adventure (1985) Race (1988) Ultraviolet (2014) Acoustica (2020) After Party (2020) ==Awards and nominations== ===Countdown Music Awards=== Countdown is an Australian pop music TV series which was broadcast nationwide on ABC-TV from 1974–1987 to present music awards from 1979–1987, known as the Countdown Music Awards. |- | rowspan="2"| 1983 | "Listening" | Best Debut Single | |- | themselves | Most Promising New Talent | |- | rowspan="3"| 1984 | Autumnal Park | Best Debut Album | |- | themselves | Most Popular Australian Group | |- | Brian Canham (Pseudo Echo) | Most Popular Male Performer | |- | rowspan="3"| 1986 | "Funkytown" | Best Group Performance in a Video | |- | themselves | Most Popular Australian Group | |- | Brian Canham (Pseudo Echo) | Most Popular Male Performer | |- ===ARIA Music Awards=== The ARIA Music Awards is an annual awards ceremony that recognises excellence, innovation, and achievement across all genres of Australian music. In 1987, Pseudo Echo were nominated for four awards. |- | rowspan="4"| 1987 | "Funky Town" | Highest Selling Single | |- | rowspan="2"| themselves for "Funky Town" | Best Group | |- | Producer of the Year | |- | Love An Adventure | Best Cover Art | |- ===Yamaha Music Foundation=== World Popular Song Festival ==References== Note: Archived [on-line] copy has limited functionality. Note: [on-line] version of The Who's Who of Australian Rock was established at White Room Electronic Publishing Pty Ltd in 2007 and was expanded from the 2002 edition. As from, September 2010 the [on-line] version shows an 'Internal Service Error' and was no longer available.

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