We are very sad to hear that the legendary Frankie Knuckles has died. The word “legendary” is rather overused these days, but Frankie Knuckles was a true dance legend and a pioneer of house music. We were honoured to work with him in 1988 when he did his brilliant dark mix of “I want a dog”. It was so exciting to drive out to Jersey City to hear this mix for the first time in his studio and then drive back to New York with the mix on repeat. We were thrilled with it and included it on our album, Introspective. In 1990 Frankie came over to London to play at Chris’s birthday party at Brixton Academy and enthralled the crowd with his brilliant set. In the early days, House music was referred to as “Chicago House” after the city where it was invented — it was great to visit the city last year and see that a street had been named after the music’s inventor: Frankie Knuckles Way. Love and respect forever. xx
Pet Shop Boys are happy to announce the forthcoming release of their brand new studio album, “Nonetheless”, on Parlophone Records on April 26.
Recent Pet Texts
Neil and Chris will be co-hosting “An Evening In with Pet Shop Boys” along with Jo Whiley on BBC Radio 2 tonight. Tune in from 8pm BST at the link below.
Great chat with Alexis Petridis at Kings Place in London last night. Thanks to everyone who came or watched online and to The Guardian for hosting. Neil and Chris xx
Spotted in a London Underground station today.
Pet Shop Boys will be in conversation with Alexis Petridis at Kings Place London tonight, with livestream tickets available at the link below. The sold-out in-person event begins at 6:30pm BST with an exclusive “Nonetheless” album playback. See you all very soon!
It’s going to be a late night! “Pet Shop Boys: Then and Now” documentary feature presented by Alan Yentob will be shown again on BBC Four tonight at 10:30pm, along with three other PSB programmes: “Pet Shop Boys at the BBC”, “Pet Shop Boys live in Hyde Park” and “Reel Stories: Pet Shop Boys”. Full schedule at the link below.
Thanks to Alan Yentob, Louise Lockwood, Tanya Hudson and all the BBC Imagine crew who made the “Then and Now” film about us that was broadcast on BBC1 last night. We’d also like to thank all of our collaborators and friends who appeared in it. It will be repeated on BBC4 on Friday evening as part of a Pet Shop Boys Night and is available now on the BBC iPlayer.
Next Monday, April 22nd, Pet Shop Boys will appear live at Kings Place London for a conversation with Alexis Petridis, presented by The Guardian Live. The event can be attended from anywhere in the world via livestream and viewers will be able to submit questions for Neil and Chris in real-time from 7:30pm on Monday, 22nd April. Livestream tickets are available at the link below.
“Pet Shop Boys: Then and Now”, the first intimate look inside the world and creations of PSB, airs tonight at 10:40pm on BBC One. For this “Imagine” documentary feature, presenter Alan Yentob and his camera team accompanied Pet Shop Boys backstage on their Dreamworld tour and also talked to Neil and Chris about their new album “Nonetheless”, as well as the duo’s creative evolution over the past four decades. Preview clips and further details are available at the link below.