Today is the 38th birthday of Pet Shop Boys instrumentalist Chris Lowe. The

Pet Shop Boys are responsible for some of the smartest dance-pop songs ever

created, including "West End Girls," "Suburbia" and "What Have I Done To

Deserve This?" Lowe learned to play the trombone and piano at an early age

and performed with a band called One Under The Eight, covering pop

standards like "Hello Dolly" and "Moon River." At 18 he began studying

architecture at Liverpool University, and on August 19, 1981 he met Neil

Tennant, a reporter at the English pop magazine Smash Hits, in an

electronics store when Tennant went to buy some parts for his synthesizer.

The two discussed their love for synth-based music and hip-hop beats and

soon began collaborating on musical projects. They chose the name Pet Shop

Boys in honor of some friends of Lowe's who worked in a London pet shop and

because it reminded them of the names chosen by old school hip-hop crews.

In 1983, Tennant worked with producer Bobby "O" Orlando on an early version

of "West End Girls" and the completed version hit #1 all around the world

in 1985. Please was released that year and did very well based on

the strength of "West End Girls" and "Opportunities (Let's Make Lots of

Money)."

It was during this period that Lowe's image in the band was solidified:

Harpo to Tennant's Groucho, Terminator X to Tennant's Chuck D and Teller to

Tennant's Penn. In 1986, the Boys released a re-mix album entitled

Disco and 1987's Actually scored them hits with "It's A Sin,"

a cover of Willie Nelson's "Always On My Mind" and the Dusty Springfield

duet "What Have I Done To Deserve This?" 1988 saw the release of their

documentary film It Couldn't Happen Here and the album

Introspective, which contained no pop hits even though "Domino

Dancing" and "Left To My Own Devices" did well in the clubs. Tennant and

Lowe worked with Liza Minnelli for her 1989 release, Results, and

later that year Tennant sang on Electronic's "Getting Away With It." In

the '90s, the Pet Shop Boys have seen a revived career as purveyors of club

music with smart lyrics; they scored pretty well with 1990's Behavior,

their 1991 medley of U2's "Where The Streets Have No Name" and Frankie

Valli's "Can't Take My Eyes Off You" and 1993's Very. The most

striking track on Very was their remake of the Village People's "Go

West" in which the original's jovial spirit was transformed into an elegy for

victims of AIDS. The duo released Bilingual last year to very

little fanfare on the pop charts and are currently working on a release for

1998.

Other birthdays, Leroy Vna Dyke, 68; Patti LaBelle, 53; Jim Fielder (Blood,

Sweat & Tears), 50; Jon Secada, 46 and Barbara Kooyman (Timbuk 3), 40.