Fade to Grey (Visage song)
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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"Fade to Grey" is the second single by the British pop group Visage, released on Polydor Records in November 1980.
The song was the band's most successful single. It became a huge dance floor hit and entered the singles charts in early 1981, peaking at #8 in the UK Singles Chart and reaching #1 in both Germany and Switzerland.
History
The song's structure was primarily composed by Billy Currie and Christopher John Payne. While setting the track listing of the Visage album, Midge Ure composed the song's lyrics after Billy Currie suggested the use of the melody for the album. Steve Strange had singing lessons with Ure in order to maintain himself in tune and be recorded. Gary Numan commented in interview for the Numan Digest: "As far as I'm concerned Chris and Billy were the driving force behind writing 'Fade to Grey'. They used to work on it during the sound checks on my '79 tour. Cedric [Sharpley, who was the drummer of the Gary Numan's backing band] was also heavily involved. In those days it was called 'Toot City'".
On the UK Channel 4 show "Top Ten New Romantics" in 1999, Steve Strange claimed to have been the one who came up with the idea for the French vocal in the track (a statement disputed by Midge Ure who claims this idea was his). However the original recording by Currie and Payne had featured a French vocal well before Ure and Strange were involved, and this was written by Payne who now lives in France. The French vocal was performed by Brigitte Arendt, a young student from Luxembourg who was Rusty Egan's girlfriend at the time.
A remix by Bassheads/Andy Stevenson was released in 1993 to promote the compilation album with the same title, becoming a modest Top 40 hit. Several other artists have made their own versions of this song.
In 2008, Strange appeared on the BBC series Ashes to Ashes performing the song in the Blitz nightclub.
"Fade to Grey" and "One Word"
In 2005, a copyright dispute arose over similarities between "Fade to Grey" and the Kelly Osbourne single, "One Word". Billy Currie accused "One Word" writer Linda Perry of copyright infringement and had discussions with co-writers Midge Ure and Christopher Payne with a view to taking legal action. However, the matter was resolved after Perry agreed to pay them a share of the royalties from the single. Visage's second incarnation have announced their intention to release a "One Word" remix, but this has not yet materialised. They have, however, produced a reworked version of "Fade to Grey" in 2005.
To further accentuate the point, British mashup artist Mixomatosis released the track "Fade To Kelly", mixing an acapella edit of "One Word" with the extended mix of "Fade to Grey".
Ironically, Italian pop star Tiziano Ferro had a hit in Italy in 2006 with "Stop! Dimentica", a song which is basically an unauthorized Italian version of the Kelly Osbourne single.
