Lighthouse Family were a British duo of Vocalist Tunde Baiyewu and keyboard player Paul Tucker. Lighthouse Family was active from the circa 1995-2003. The two men formed the act in 1993 in Newcastle upon Tyne, UK after meeting at university. Their 1995 debut album Ocean Drive sold more than 1.6 million copies in the UK alone and established them as a popular easy listening duo throughout Europe.
Although none of their singles reached number one on the UK Singles Chart, they did reach number one on the Australian Singles Chart with the song “High”.
The voice of Tunde Baiyewu is pleasing to listen to. I have a theory that singers are born lucky, with the “right” voice; it must be pleasing to listen to as a speaking voice, and it must be controllable by pitch as a singing voice.
I have a please speaking voice, and have done voiceovers for radio commercials here in Ireland, but alas I think I am not blessed with a singing voice. I can hear the sounds in my head but I cannot make my voice output what I want. This is a common complaint, I suppose I am lucky I realise my weaknesses.
At secondary school I was exposed to the Lighthouse Family in my friends first car. It was an old Volvo with no aerial and so the radio could only receive long wave, in Ireland there were only two stations receivable on long wave; BBC Radio 4 (Long wave version), and Long Wave 252. The latter was actually broadcast from Ireland, but was peopled by american accents talking to a British audience. In 1995/1996 the station must have suffered from budget cuts because they played Lighthhouse family constantly; or was it just how it seemed?
Getting back to facts Lighthouse Family split up in early 2003 because of what they called a “heavy promotional schedule” following the release of Whatever Gets You Through the Day in 2002. This led to both men pursuing individual projects. Baiyewu is now a solo artist, while Tucker joined a rock band, The Orange Lights.
According to their manager, the band has not split up despite being inactive; “there is always the possibility of another Lighthouse Family album one day.”
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