The Blue Nile formed in Glasgow, Scotland, in 1981 and consist of Paul Buchanan (b. Glasgow, Scotland; vocals, guitar, synthesizers), Robert Bell (b. Glasgow, Scotland; synthesizers) and Paul Joseph Moore (b. Glasgow, Scotland; piano, synthesizers). Their debut single, "I Love This Life", was recorded independently and subsequently picked up by RSO Records, which promptly folded. Eventually, their demo tapes found their way to hi-fi specialists Linn Products, so that the company could test various types of music at their new cutting plant. In spite of their lack of experience in the record retail market, Linn immediately signed the band to make A Walk Across The Rooftops, which was released in 1984 to considerable praise. Suddenly, thanks to some gently emotive synthetics and an overall mood which seemed to revel in nocturnal atmospherics, the unsuspecting trio were thrust into the limelight. Blue Nile pondered over the reasons for their success and, as a consequence, found themselves incapable of repeating the feats of the first album.
Indeed, it was to be five years before the follow up, Hats, finally continued the shimmering legacy of its predecessor, whereupon the studio-bound collective took their first tentative steps into the live arena with enthusiastically received shows in the USA and Britain before returning to the studio for another anticipated lengthy recording period. Another hold-up was caused by contractual difficulties with Linn and Virgin Records ("It's amazing how you can be generating fantastically small amounts of money and still have fantastically complicated scenarios"). In the 90s the band journeyed to California to record backing vocals for Julian Lennon, eventually working with Robbie Robertson and several others. They also signed a new contract with Warner Brothers Records in 1993, and by 1995 stated they had a large stockpile of songs written in the interim on which to draw. The greatly anticipated Peace At Last was highly praised (the UK's Q magazine bestowed five stars); however, once the dust had settled its modest success was soon forgotten and fans returned to the first two albums, both minor-masterpieces.
