Platinum Blonde

Platinum Blonde was a Canadian New Wave group in the 1980s. The band originally consisted of Mark Holmes (vocals, bass), Sergio Galli (guitar) and Chris Steffler (drums). Kenny MacLean later joined the group. The name of the band was inspired by the 1931 Jean Harlow movie Platinum Blonde. They were known also for their stylish glam rock-like appearance dressing in pastel colour outfits and music videos. History In 1983, with the release of the album Standing in the Dark, the band invaded the airwaves in Canada with four hit singles, a double platinum album, and two Juno (Canada's national music Awards) nominated songs: "Standing in the Dark" and "It Doesn't Really Matter". Their music videos were placed into high rotation on the newly created Much Music, Canada's national music video network. Within months some were calling Platinum Blonde "Canada's Duran Duran" because of their similar glamorous image and cutting-edge, futuristic New Wave videos. In 1985, the band released a second album called Alien Shores, featuring the addition of a fourth member, Kenny MacLean. "Alien Shores" went quintuple platinum, the group's high-water mark of success. Hits from the second album included "Situation Critical", "Crying Over You", "Somebody Somewhere", and "Hungry Eyes". The band's next album, Contact, though an unsuccessful breakthrough attempt in the United States, was still a hit in Canada in 1988, going platinum (though just barely). The title track charted well, and the video for "Fire" grabbed attention by featuring the Canadian pop duo Tu as back-up singers. Renaming themselves "The Blondes" for their last release, 1990's Yeah Yeah Yeah, the group switched to their own label, "Justin Entertainment". By 1991 the effort was deemed a failure and the band decided to venture into solo projects. In 1999 and 2001, Mark Holmes toured again with Dave Barrett and Sasha Tukatch to promote the release of Seven Year Itch: 1982-1989, a Platinum Blonde best-of compilation. Rumors of a reunion of the original band, and possibly some new material, have continued to swirl. As of July, 2006, the band has played a few charity concerts only. A DVD video compilation entitled Platinum Blonde: The Complete DVD Collection which was originally scheduled for release in 2005 is now scheduled for 2007. According to the band's official website, the compilation consists of nine music videos as well as several bonus features.