The Band

Fiat Lux comprised David P Crickmore, Steve Wright and Ian Nelson (above) and were together from 1982 to 1985.

They managed to brush the edges of the Top 75 singles chart during 1984 with 'Secrets' reaching number 65 and 'Blue Emotion' reaching number 59. After six singles the band eventually went their seperate ways in 1985, 'Solitary Lovers' being their last single. Most people would probably recognise 'Secrets' without knowing the artist. May be it was just a cruel twist of fate that meant Fiat Lux never made it 'big'.

It all began at Bretton Hall College, Wakefield, during the late 70's where Steve Wright and David P Crickmore attended. They came together when Steve joined the college band that David was in called The Juveniles (2 of their tracks appeared on a compilation album 'Household Shocks' around 1980).

After college, Steve joined the Yorkshire Actors Company. One of their productions was 'The Cabinet Of Dr Calagari'. One of the company, Andrew Winters was a Bill Nelson fan and realising the Cocteau connection, he persuaded Bill to write music for the show. This is how Steve got friendly with Bill.

Steve mentioned that he had some songs, and Bill suggested that he shout them into a cassette recorder and if they were any good he would do something with them at his home studio 'The Echo Observatory'. Instead of this, Steve went to David for help and they revamped and arranged the ideas and recorded them decently on a 2 track Reel to Reel. The result so impressed Bill that he abandoned the home studio offer. Instead, he booked time at 'Ric Rac Studios' in Leeds for them to record a single for his Cocteau Label.

While waiting for this to happen, Steve and David started gigging the material locally as 'He's Dead Herman'. They used a number of local musicians to bolster Steve's vocals and David's Casio keyboard and guitar. One of these was an Ian Nelson, who they met not through Bill, but through another local musician Ada Wilson, who had used Ian in his band 'Keeping Dark'. At this stage Ian was one of a number of random musicians who turned up on an impromptu basis.

Steve and David then recorded 'Feels Like Winter Again' and 'This Illness' as a duo, with Bill as the third musician and producer. It was at this point Bill asked them what the band's name was. The reply was 'He's Dead Herman'. After some laughter he suggested a change might be in order. Steve had a little red book full of names that they'd thought up, so he handed this to Bill and he picked 'Fiat Lux' out of the list.

There was another long wait before the actual release date, the start of radio play and the NME single of the week which led to the Blancmange Tour. During this period, Ian became fully assimulated into the band's line up.

The rest they say is history....