‘Light On’ is the exquisite new single from Lighthouse Family, available today on Polydor Records. ‘Light On’ was premiered this morning on Radio 2 by Ken Bruce, and is the second single to be taken from the multi-platinum duo’s new album ‘Blue Sky In Your Head’ following lead single ‘My Salvation’, which was playlisted at the station.
Their first studio album since 2001, ‘Blue Sky In Your Head’ sees Lighthouse Family – Tunde Baiyewu (vocals) and Paul Tucker (keys) – back on their original label Polydor and reunited with Colin Barlow, the A&R that discovered them, and Keith Armstrong, their first manager; the same team that was around them when they were at their globe-straddling peak in the late 90s.
A beautiful balm of a song, ‘Light On’ is a worthy addition to a single catalogue that includes the bona fide FM Radio classics ‘Lifted’, ‘High’, and ‘Ocean Drive’.
“It’s about somebody you love turning their back and walking away,” says Tunde of ‘Light On’. “And it expresses the spiritual principal of that presence that is always with you. This unseen thing looking after your best interests, pointing you in the right direction, lighting the path.”
‘Blue Sky In Your Head’ will come packaged with ‘Essentials’, ten classic Lighthouse Family songs remastered for the very first time to celebrate their 25-year recording history.
Lighthouse Family recently added a second run of tour dates for February 2020 in addition to their sold-out run in November 2019.
HEADLINE TOUR
2019:
November 11 Birmingham Symphony Hall SOLD OUT
November 13 Glasgow Royal Concert Hall SOLD OUT
November 14 Newcastle upon Tyne Newcastle City Hall SOLD OUT
November 15 Nottingham Royal Concert Hall SOLD OUT
November 17 Halifax The Victoria Theatre SOLD OUT
November 18 Manchester Bridgewater Hall SOLD OUT
November 20 Bexhill De La Warr Pavilion SOLD OUT
November 21 Bournemouth Pavilion Theatre SOLD OUT
November 22 London London Palladium SOLD OUT
2020:
February 16 Dublin Olympia Theatre
February 17 Sheffield City Hall
February 18 Liverpool Philharmonic Hall
February 20 Edinburgh Usher Hall
February 21 Newcastleupon Tyne Newcastle City Hall
February 22 Hull Bonus Arena
February 24 Ipswich Regent
February 25 Brighton Dome
February 27 London Palladium
February 28 Cardiff St David’s Hall
February 29 Portsmouth Guildhall
March 1 Southend Cliffs Pavilion SOLD OUT
Tickets on sale now
Tunde and Paul formed Lighthouse Family after meeting at Newcastle University in the early 1990s. Their 1995 debut album ‘Ocean Drive’ was a slow-burning success, going six times platinum while staying in the album charts for almost three years. ‘Lifted’ became one the defining songs of the era, a pop-soul classic that was inescapable on radio, becoming the soundtrack of high street Britain, drivetime Britain and night-out Britain.
The 1997 follow-up, ‘Postcards From Heaven’, featured three Top Ten singles – ‘Raincloud’, ‘High’ and ‘Lost in Space’ – and also went six-times platinum, charting across Europe, the Far East, Australia and New Zealand. Their third album, ‘Whatever Gets You Through The Day’ (2001) produced another Top Ten single in the shape of ‘(I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel to Be) Free/One’, but by this time the band were at breaking point, their friendship burnt out after years on the road living in each others’ pockets.
In the intervening years Paul formed a band, The Orange Lights, while Tunde released two solo albums, but the old connection between the pair remained strong. In 2016 they reunited, determined to make a new record, something that was classic Lighthouse Family, but also sounded like it could be made today – which perfectly describes ‘Blue Sky In Your Head.’ And the new album has something that has always been present with Lighthouse Family: a sense of optimism and renewal.
“We’re trying to create something anthemic and uplifting but real,” says Paul. “That idea of: ‘I know the sun’s gonna shine again’, it’s quintessential Lighthouse Family.”
Messages of hope and uplift. Sentiments of community and communion. Songs of love and connection. Tunes to sing, loudly, from the heart. It can only be Lighthouse Family, back to dream up the magic all over again.