Today is the birthday of the Sisters' co-founder Andrew

Eldritch (given name: Andrew Taylor), who was born in 1959 in Ely, England.

Sisters of Mercy came to fame in the 1980s at the forefront of England's gothic

music scene, combining dark psychedelia with dance rhythms to create a potent

cocktail.

Eldritch formed the Sisters with guitarist Gary Marx as a studio

project. After a year of tooling around with keyboards and drum machines, the

duo hired on bassist Ben Gunn (who was quickly replaced by ex-Dead or Alive

bassist Wayne Hussey) and drummer Craig Adams. The group released a string of

EPs, including The Reptile House in 1983 and Body and Soul in

1984, but it wasn't until 1985 that the Sisters released their first

full-length effort, First and Last and Always, by which time guitarist

Jerry Lovelock had joined the group.

First... jumped quickly up the

charts, peaking in the top twenty. That same year the Sisters played a concert

morbidly entitled "Altamont: A Festival of Remembrance," but the group's

success couldn't prevent Marx, Hussey and Adams from leaving the group; the

former joined Ghost Dance while the latter duo formed the Mission U.K.

Eldritch suffered through this musical turmoil, managing to release an EP

titled Gift under the name Sisterhood in 1986. Soon enough he hooked up

with ex-Gun Club bassist Patricia Morrison and a new era of the Sisters was

born. They recorded 1987's Floodland as a duo, then added bassist Tony

James, guitarist Andreas Bruhn and drummer Tim Bricheno to the lineup for

1990's Vision Ting. However, the new lineup was quickly disbanded, and

as of 1994 Eldritch was again the Sisters' only member.

Other birthdays:

Brian Eno, actor Lee Horsley, Prince Be (P M Dawn), the late Eddy Arnold, Trini

Lopez, Graham Goble (Little River Band), Dennis Fredericksen (Toto), Mike

Oldfield and Dave Abbruzzese (ex-Pearl Jam). -- Beth Winegarner