Missing Persons
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Missing Persons were a band who played a blend of New Wave music and electronic pop/rock. The band was founded in 1980 by guitarist Warren Cuccurullo, vocalist Dale Bozzio, and drummer Terry Bozzio. They went on to add bassist Patrick O'Hearn and keyboardist Chuck Wild. Dale's quirky voice and heavy makeup made the band a favorite on MTV in the early 1980s.
Dale and Terry Bozzio met and married while working with Frank Zappa, and Cuccurullo encountered the pair while contributing to the Zappa album Joe's Garage. O'Hearn was also a former member of Zappa's touring band.
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Early success
In 1980 they made their first record, a 4-song EP entitled Missing Persons, in Zappa's brand-new UMRK studios; the recording was financed by Cuccurullo's father. They toured, promoted the EP, appeared in the movie Lunch Wagon, and became a must-see band among the L.A. live music crowd. "Mental Hopscotch" was a #1 record on local radio station KROQ, and the self-promoted EP ended up selling 7,000 copies.
Two years of hard work led up to a signing with Capitol Records in 1982. With label support, the re-released EP sold another 250,000 units, and the new album Spring Session M (an anagram of "Missing Persons") went gold.
The singles "Mental Hopscotch", "Destination Unknown," "Walking in L.A.," "Words," and "Windows" all met with success. The music video for "Words" used unusual (albeit primitive by today's standards) visual effects, making it popular with the suits (who in those days still wore T-shirts) at the fledgling cable TV channel MTV.
Missing Persons appeared at the three-day Southern California concert, the US Festival in May 1983, along with Berlin, The Pretenders, U2, David Bowie, and many more.
The experimental album Rhyme & Reason (1984) was not a great success, and Capitol was not happy about the direction the band was taking. The band followed up with the more conventional Color In Your Life in June 1986, but almost before the promotional tour could begin, increasing tensions between Terry and Dale Bozzio led to the end of the tour, the couple's marriage, and the band.
Solo careers
After the breakup of the band, Cuccurullo had his greatest success as guitarist for Duran Duran for over a decade. He is credited on working on their albums Notorious ('86) and Big Thing ('88), and became an official member in 1990, appearing on the group's five following albums. He left Duran Duran in 2001 due to a reunion of the group's original members. Warren has also released several solo albums.
Dale Bozzio scored some minor successes as a solo performer, including a top 40 hit with the song "Simon oh Simon", written and produced by Prince. There has been controversy over her usage of the name of the band to promote her and her new band's performances.
Terry Bozzio played as a session drummer and sideman with numerous big acts through the 1980s, at the same time as he worked at developing his solo career. In the 1990s he recorded several albums and toured as a solo drummer, and created several instructional videos.
O'Hearn is a composer of ambient instrumental music.
Wild composes New Age and meditation music under the name Liquid Mind.
Reissues and reunions
A proposed 1994 Missing Persons reunion never came to fruition.
Beginning in 1997, Cuccurullo began a campaign to get some of the early Missing Persons material reissued. This resulted in the release of Late Nights Early Days in 1998, a live concert recorded in 1981, with the added 1980 studio track "Action/Reaction". This was followed up by a compilation of modern remixes of classic MP tracks, Missing Persons Remixed Hits (1999). Rhyme and Reason and Color In Your Life were finally issued on CD in 2000. There were two releases in 2002: Classic Remasters is a compilation of remastered tracks and dance mixes issued by Capitol Records, and Lost Tracks is another collection of old and new MP live tracks issued by One Way Records.
In late 2000, Cuccurullo and Dale Bozzio again began discussing a Missing Persons reunion. In May 2001, after Warren's split with Duran Duran, the new Missing Persons appeared, consisting of original members Warren Cuccurullo and Dale and Terry Bozzio, with new keyboardist Ron Poster and bassist Wes Wehmiller. The group did some promotional activities and live performances in July 2001, but the reunion did not last long. Two attempted additional concerts were cancelled at the last minute when first Terry and then Dale left the project. A TV appearance and three successful shows were put on in late 2002 and early 2003 (with drummer Joe Travers standing in for Terry Bozzio), but finally Cuccurullo declined to participate any further. Although Dale still often performs under the Missing Persons name with hired touring players, the band has declared that there will be no further reunions.
Television appearance
In June of 2005, Missing Persons (Bozzio and her backing band) appeared on week five of the NBC show Hit Me Baby One More Time. They performed "Words" and a cover of the Kylie Minogue dance track, "Can't Get You Out of My Head". The winner of the show (original airdate June 30, 2005) was PM Dawn.
Discography
- Missing Persons [EP] (1982)
- Spring Session M (1982)
- Rhyme & Reason (1984)
- Color in Your Life (1986)
- The Best of Missing Persons (1987)