The Pet Shop Boys command an impressive critical and popular following. They have consistently if unintentionally imbued their music with the "open secret" of their homosexuality, while maintaining an ambivalent public stance in relation to gay culture.

Chris Lowe was born in 1959 and grew up in Blackpool. He played in a seven-piece jazz band, "One Under The Eight", in the late 1970s. Neil Tennant, born in 1954 into a Catholic family in Newcastle, was a contributor and deputy editor for British pop magazine Smash Hits. They met in a hi-fi store in the early 1980s, and were soon writing songs together.

They parted company with their first producer Bobby "O" Orlando after the general failure of their debut single, West End Girls. This same song, however, earned the duo widespread recognition when it was re-produced by Strephen Hague, who also helmed the debut album Please (1986).

Their output disrupted conventional codes of gender and sexuality, with allusion to homosexuality proliferating. The duo have attracted adverse publicity from gay critical quarters, with several journalists decrying their public reticence on all matters sexual. Tennant eventually relented by officially "coming out" to British gay magazine Attitude in August 1994; Lowe remained tipically silent.

The singer drew a useful distinction between the outlook of gay activist Jimmi Somerville (who had been one of their detractors) and the Pet Shop Boys: whereas the former used pop simply as a political platform, the latter's primary concern was producing pop music.

Source: excerpts from: Aldrich R. & Wotherspoon G., Who's Who in Contemporary Gay and Lesbian History, from WWII to Present Day, Routledge, London, 2001

Their work includes:

Albums: Please (1986) Disco (1986) Actually (1987) Introspective (1988) Behaviour (1990) Very (1993) Very Relentless (1993) Disco 2 (1994) Bilingual (1996) Bilingual remixed (1997) Nightlife (1999) Release (2002) Disco 3 (2003)

Compilations: In depth (1989) Discography (1991) Alternative CD1 (1995) Alternative CD2 (1995) Essential (1998) Mini (2000) Other productions: Positive Role Model (1991) Always (2002) Sexy Northerner (unreleased) Website: http://www.petshopboys-online.com/