Quick, how many husband and wife teams can you name in music that are still together? Not only is it hard to keep a band together, it's hard to keep a romantic relationship together. Imagine attempting to do both at once. On paper, it seems kinda like juggling with hand grenades. In real life, the results have often been just as combustible and/or downright unstable at times. While we've never personally had the honor of being in a band with a married couple, we sure have enjoyed the many hilarious horror stories from fellow musicians who have.
While we go off to write THAT article, here's four husband and wife bands and one that isn't. Can you guess the one that isn't?
Captain And Tennille
When people mention "husband and wives" in the music business, the first couple many people probably still think of first is the bubbly L.A. pop duo that shot to the top of the charts in 1975 with "Love Will Keep Us Together".
Surely, if anybody could weathered the ups and downs of keeping a relationship afloat in the music business, it would be The Captain (Daryl Dragon) and (Toni) Tennille, right? Not according to Toni Tennille's 2016 memoir that saw her throw much shade at The Cap'n.
Timbuk 3
After the meteoric Top 20 success of their quirky first single, "The Future's So Bright (I Gotta Wear Shades)" and first album Greetings From Timbuk 3, this Madison, WI duo suddenly found themselves on a first-name basis with America. Troubadour Pat and guitarist/wife Barbara K. seemed fully aware the novel nature of the song's appeal and, while they no doubt enjoyed the ride, have chosen to actively not exploit the song in the years since.
In doing so, they've turned down substantial amounts of money from brands such as Ray Ban and AT&T. Even without such usage, the song's popularity remains high and no "Eighties Lunch" is truly complete without it.
Flash quiz: Can you name the title of their second album?
Talking Heads/Tom Tom Club
Together prior to the formation of Talking Heads, drummer Chris asked girlfriend Tina to learn the bass in order to join his band. While the band they formed with singer David Byrne ended in 1991, the three albums Tom Tom Club have released since - Dark Sneak Love Action; The Good, The Bad And The Funky; and 2012's Downtown Rockers - make us almost wish David Byrne had never entered the picture.
There, we said it.
Blondie
Forming the band Blondie after they became a committed couple, Debbie Harry and Chris Stein soon went from anonymous members of a fading folk community to the leaders of a burgeoning worldwide musical movement that first took root at New York's CBGB's.
While the band's music shot up the charts in the U.S. and around the world, Harry's popularity began to overshadow the rest of the band. Despite a few rocky periods - like The Hunter - Harry & Stein wound up outlasting the band, who split up after the failure of said album in 1982.
In fact, Chris Stein and Debbie Harry are still together today, albeit as bandmates only. They, along with original drummer Clem Burke, will release their eleventh studio album Pollinator on May 5.
The Cramps
Much like Blondie, Poison Ivy and husband Lux Interior were already together before forming the Cramps. In a way, the Ivy and Lux were like a decomposing version of Debbie Harry and Chris Stein, making the Cramps a sort of deep-rigor Blondie. The best single snapshot of the band's ramshackle glory can be found on 1983's live Smell Of Female, the last album before Kid Congo Powers split.
The band would continue, in one configuration or another, until 2009, brought to an end only by the untimely death of Lux Interior.
So, which of the above couples were never married?
If you said Poison and Lux, you are WRONG!
Correct answer: Chris and Debbie from Blondie.
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husband and wife bands