Pete Byrne, Naked Eyes Vocalist Who Sang ‘Always Something There to Remind Me,’ Dies at 74 — SkimNews
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- Pete Byrne, co-founder and vocalist of British new wave duo Naked Eyes, died in Los Angeles on Sept. 14 after a brief illness at age 74.
- Naked Eyes was formed in 1982 by Byrne and college friend Rob Fisher and landed four Billboard Hot 100 top 40 hits across two studio albums in 1983–84, including the Burt Bacharach cover 'Always Something There to Remind Me,' 'Promises, Promises,' 'When the Lights Go Out,' and '(What) In the Name of Love.'
- Their debut album 'Burning Bridges' reached No. 32 on the Billboard 200, though the duo never toured and split after their second album.
- Byrne sang backing vocals on Stevie Wonder's 1985 hit 'Part-Time Lover' and wrote music for film, television, and the Olsen twins.
- After Fisher's 1999 death, Byrne released a solo album, 'The Real Illusion,' in 2001 and later reformed Naked Eyes in 2005, with the reimagined group putting out 'Fumbling with the Covers' (2007), 'Disguise the Limit' (2021), and a 2025 remaster of the original self-titled album.
- Byrne's earlier band Neon (1979–1982) included Fisher alongside future Tears for Fears members Curt Smith, Roland Orzabal, Neil Taylor, and Manny Elias — a lineage most obituaries underplay.
Why it matters: Naked Eyes never toured yet scored four top 40 hits off a pair of studio albums, an unusually efficient chart footprint for a duo that disbanded after their second record. Byrne outlived co-founder Rob Fisher by 25 years and kept recording through 2025, meaning his death closes a working catalog that stretched nearly five decades from his early-1980s bandmates' future Tears for Fears lineup to last year's remaster.
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