For much of the '80s, Paul Young rivaled arists as the top blue-eyed soul/pop singer in the U.K. In America, Young was known primarily for his lone chart-topping cover of Hall & Oates' "Every time You Go Away," but was able to sustain his commercial success at home for much of the decade. He was chiefly an interpretive singer, and although he did write some of his own material, his greatest strengths lay in covering R&B classics and rescuing forgotten chestnuts from obscurity. His debut solo single, "Iron Out the Rough Spots," was released in late 1982, and was followed by a cover of Nicky Thomas' reggae-pop hit "Love of the Common People." Neither single did particularly well on the charts, but his version of the lesser-known Marvin Gaye number "Wherever I Lay My Hat (That's My Home)" was a roaring success, topping the U.K. charts and pushing his debut album, No Parlez, to the same position later that year. No Parlez gave Young his first Top 40 hit in the U.S. with the Jack Lee-penned "Come Back and Stay" (a U.K. Top Ten), and also drew attention with its left-field cover of Joy Division's "Love Will Tear Us Apart." Young mounted an international tour in support of the album, which sold several million copies worldwide; afterwards, however, he suffered the first of numerous throat ailments which would pop up throughout his career.Kept out of action for much of the latter-half of 1984, Young nonetheless made a contribution to the Band Aid "Do They Know It's Christmas?" single, and returned to the U.K. Top Ten with a version of Ann Peebles' "I'm Gonna Tear Your Playhouse Down." The latter appeared on his sophomore album The Secret of Association, released in 1985. That year, Young scored the biggest hit of his career with "Every time You Go Away," a previously obscure Hall & Oates album track from 1980. "Every Time You Go Away" topped the pop charts in both the U.K. and U.S., ending up as far and away his biggest success in the latter. Young followed it with another U.K. Top Ten hit in the original "Everything Must Change," and watched The Secret of Association become his second U.K. chart-topping album.Young concentrated mostly on original material (co-written with Kewley) on his third album, 1986's Between Two Fires. A slicker, less soul-flavored outing, Between Two Fires sold respectably to Young's U.K. fan base, but didn't produce any major hits, and slowed his momentum somewhat. In its wake, Young took several years off from recording, chiefly for personal reasons but also to rest his voice. He didn't return until 1990, when Other Voices restored his commercial standing with a reading of the Chi-Lites' classic "Oh Girl," his only other U.S. Top Ten. He returned to the U.K. Top Five in 1991 with "Senza Una Donna (Without a Woman)," a duet with Italian pop singer Zucchero that appeared on Young's hits comp From Time to Time: The Singles Collection. In 1992, Young's version of Jimmy Ruffin's "What Becomes of the Brokenhearted" rose from the Fried Green Tomatoes soundtrack to top the U.S. adult contemporary charts, even though it missed the pop Top 20.
