BLUE ANGEL

Lest anyone be getting the wrong idea, the concept of "The Other 80's" is not limited to "punk" bands, un-commercial bands, or bands on indie labels.  No, this net is meant to capture any band that was American, played musically that was not initially mainstream (regardless if it became mainstream during the band's lifetime) scuffled its way through the clubs, and was active primarily in the 1980's.

 Blue Angel was the kind of band that would get labelled "new wave" at the time.  They were an NYC-based outfit primarily influenced by rockabilly and 60's girl-group sounds, making them somewhat kin to Blondie.  And, like Blondie, they had a flashy female lead singer - Cyndi Lauper, who of course ended up being Top 40 material (without her bandmates) a few years later.

For the record, the rest of the band John Turi on keyboards and sax, Arthur "Rockin' A" Neilson (guitar), Lee Brovitz (bass) and Johnny Morelli (drums).  Apparently they had a following and were kind of popular, and the ended up signed to Polydor, for whom they recorded one album, released in 1980.  Nothing came of it, and the band dissolved a couple years later.  They reformed, sans their lead singer, for awhile in 1987 as Boppin' the Blues.  We all know what happened to Cyndi.

Incidentally, the album, which can be heard on Spotify, isn't half bad.