Fade to Grey (Visage song)

"Fade to Grey"
Single by Visage
from the album Visage
B-side	"The Steps"
Released	10 November 1980
Format	7" vinyl, 12" vinyl
Recorded	Genetic Sound Studios, 1980
Genre	Synthpop, New Wave
Length	3:47 (Single edit)
Label	Polydor
Writer(s)	Billy Currie, Chris Payne, Midge Ure
Producer	Midge Ure, Visage
Visage singles chronology
"Tar" (1979) "Fade to Grey" (1980) "Mind of a Toy" (1981)

"Fade to Grey (Bassheads mix)"
Single by Visage
Released	16 August 1993
Format	12" vinyl, 2x12" vinyl, CD
Recorded	Genetic Sound Studios, 1980
Genre	Techno
Length	3:22 (Single edit)
Label	Polydor
Writer(s)	Billy Currie, Chris Payne, Midge Ure
Producer	Midge Ure, Visage
Visage singles chronology
"Beat Boy" (1984) "Fade to Grey (Bassheads mix)" (1993)

"Fade to Grey" is the second single by the British New Wave group Visage, released on Polydor Records in November 1980.

The song was the band's most successful single. It became a huge dance floor hit and entered the singles charts in early 1981, peaking at #8 in the UK Singles Chart and reaching #1 in both Germany^{[citation needed]} and Switzerland.

History

The song's structure was primarily composed by Billy Currie and Chris Payne. While setting the track listing of the Visage album, Midge Ure composed the song's lyrics after Billy Currie suggested the use of the melody for the album. Steve Strange had singing lessons with Ure in order to maintain himself in tune and be recorded. Gary Numan commented in interview for the Numan Digest: "As far as I'm concerned Chris and Billy were the driving force behind writing 'Fade to Grey'. They used to work on it during the sound checks on my '79 tour. Cedric [Sharpley, who was the drummer of the Gary Numan's backing band] was also heavily involved. In those days it was called 'Toot City'".

On the UK Channel 4 show "Top Ten New Romantics" in 1999, Steve Strange claimed to have been the one who came up with the idea for the French vocal in the track (a statement disputed by Midge Ure who claims this idea was his). However the original recording by Currie and Payne had featured a French vocal well before Ure and Strange were involved, and this was written by Payne who now lives in France. The French vocal was performed by Brigitte Arendt (Arens?), a young student from Luxembourg who was Rusty Egan's girlfriend at the time.

A remix by Bassheads/Andy Stevenson was released in 1993 to promote the compilation album with the same title, becoming a modest Top 40 hit. Several other artists have made their own versions of this song.

In 2008, Strange appeared on the BBC series Ashes to Ashes performing the song in the Blitz nightclub.

"Fade to Grey" and "One Word"

In 2005, a copyright dispute arose over similarities between "Fade to Grey" and the Kelly Osbourne single, "One Word". Billy Currie accused "One Word" writer Linda Perry of copyright infringement and had discussions with co-writers Midge Ure and Chris Payne with a view to taking legal action. However, the matter was resolved after Perry agreed to pay them a share of the royalties from the single. Visage's second incarnation have announced their intention to release a "One Word" remix, but this has not yet materialised. They have, however, produced a reworked version of "Fade to Grey" in 2005.

To further accentuate the point, British mashup artist Mixomatosis released the track "Fade To Kelly", mixing an acapella edit of "One Word" with the extended mix of "Fade to Grey".

Ironically, Italian pop star Tiziano Ferro had a hit in Italy in 2006 with "Stop! Dimentica", a song which is essentially an unauthorized Italian version of the Kelly Osbourne single.^{[citation needed]}

Track listings

7" version

1. "Fade to Grey" - 3:49
2. "The Steps" - 3:14

12" version

1. "Fade to Grey (Extended)" – 6:14
2. "The Steps" – 3:14

Visage 1993 Mixes

1. Fade to Grey (Bassheads 7" edit) – 3:22 (remixed by Bassheads aka Desa Basshead & Nick Murphy) & Andy Stevenson
2. Fade to Grey (7" remix) – 3:37 (remixed by Tim Wedge/Daryl Stickley)
3. Fade to Grey (original 7" mix) – 3:49
4. Fade to Grey (Bassheads 12" Dub) – 7:35 (remixed by Bassheads aka Desa Basshead & Nick Murphy)
5. Fade to Grey (Bassheads 12" Trance) – 7:28 (remixed by Bassheads aka Desa Basshead & Nick Murphy) & Dave Ralph
6. Fade to Grey (Subliminal Mix) – 5:16 (remixed by Tim Wedge/Daryl Stickley)
7. Fade to Grey (Wild Cat Mix) – 7:48 (remixed by Tim Wedge/Daryl Stickley)

B-sides

The B-side to the original "Fade to Grey" single is "The Steps", an instrumental track taken from the Visage album. The B-side to the French release of the single was a different album track, "Moon Over Moscow".

Chart performance

Chart (1981)	Peak position
UK Singles Chart	8
Australian Singles Chart	6
Austrian Singles Chart	3
Dutch GfK chart	24
Dutch Top 40	22
French Singles Chart	3
German Singles Chart	1
Irish Singles Chart	7
Italian Singles Chart	4
Swedish Singles Chart	12
Swiss Singles Chart	1
Chart (1993)	Peak position
UK Singles Chart 1	39

¹Bassheads mix

Personnel

• Steve Strange (vocals)
• Brigitte Arendt (Arens?) (French vocals)
• Midge Ure (backing vocals)
• Billy Currie (synthesizer, electric violin)
• Chris Payne (synthesizer, viola)
• Cedric Sharpley (drums, electronic drums programming)
• Rusty Egan (backing vocals)

The Datura version

"Fade to Grey"
Single by Datura featuring Steve Strange
from the album Eternity
B-side	"El Sueno"
Released	1994
Format	12" vinyl, CD
Genre	Techno
Length	3:40 (Single edit)
Label	Trance, ZYX Music
Writer(s)	Billy Currie, Chris Payne, Midge Ure
Producer	Datura
Datura chronology
"Eternity" (1993) "Fade to Grey" (1994) "The 7th Hallucination" (1994)

In 1994, the Italian electronic group Datura made a distinctive version of "Fade to Grey" with a rerecorded vocal track by Steve Strange singing lyrics specifically for this version. The single peaked at #5 in the Italian singles chart.

Track listing

1. Fade to Grey (Kama Edit) – 3:40
2. Fade to Grey (Kama) – 4:40
3. Fade to Grey (Lila Instrumental) – 4:26
4. Eternity (Datura's Seed) – 4:30
5. Eternity (Datura's Leaf) – 4:44

Other cover versions

• In the official U2 autobiography, Bono claims that Adam Clayton was trying to work out how to play the bassline of "Fade to Grey" and his initial attempt became "New Year's Day", U2's first top 10 single.
• French group Goûts de Luxe covered the song in 1987 on their album Omaha Beach.
• The 1992 song "I Wanna Be a Kennedy" by German eurodance project U96 uses the synth riff of "Fade to Grey".
• "Fade to Grey" was recorded by Gregorian for their album Masters of Chant (1999).
• The song was covered by Nouvelle Vague on their album Bande à Part in 2006.
• It was also covered by Mark 'Oh in 1996.
• "Fade to Grey" was remixed by Noisia (in an uncredited remix) in 2005.
• In 2007 "Fade to Grey" was sampled on the Kylie Minogue song "Like a Drug" from her album X^{[citation needed]}.
• "Fade to Grey" was also covered by former Information Society singer Christopher Anton for a maxi single to commemorate the song's 30th anniversary in 2010.
• Italian gothic metal band Monumentum covered the song on their album In Absentia Christi (1995).
• Mandragora Scream, another Italian gothic metal band, also covered "Fade to Grey" on their album Volturna (2009).
• In 2008 German metal band Atrocity also covered "Fade to Grey" on their album "Werk 80 II".

External links

• Fansite with Bravo magazine's quote
• Information on Datura's version of "Fade to Grey"