Dire Straits

If only I was born in the 1980's. Dire Straits were founded in 1977 by all 4 band members;

Mark Knopfler- Lead vocals and lead guitarist

David Knopfler- Guitarist and backing vocals

John Illsley- Bass guitar and backing vocals

Pick Withers- Drums and Percussion

The band took a break in 1988 but re-grouped in 1991 to 1995. Over these years they managed to become one of the world's best selling bands and hitting records sales beyond 100 million.

I have never seen an artist with such an incredible first hit single. You might of all heard of 'Sultans of Swing' from their first self titled album, if you haven't you must take 6 minutes out of your day to do so. This hit reached the top ten in both the UK and US charts. In the next five years, they released several more hits such as 'Walk of Life', 'Tunnel of Love' and 'Money for Nothing'. Their most successful album was 'Brothers in Arms' which was released in 1985 and achieved sales of over 30 million copies.

Interesting fact= The 'Brothers in Arms' album was the first album to sell a million copies on the (at the time) new format of a CD.

Dire Straits 'Brothers in Arms' album released in 1985

My first memory of Dire Straits was their 1980 album 'Making Movies'. I remember listening to it constantly in the car with some close family friends and this is when i made my first emotional connection with a song. The song in hand is their track 'Romeo and Juliet' which is the second track on their album. Even though the lyrics describe a failing romantic relationship, it brings me so many happy memories. Unfortunately, one of my close family friends passed a few years ago but we all still like to sing this tune and remember all the amazing memories we all shared together. It's a song which will always mean a lot to me, give it a listen...