A string of hits with Classix Nouveaux; a classic 'religious' single "San Damiano"; but then SAL SOLO retired from music. Mike Fearon found out why he left... and why he's come back.

The News' line-up was in flux: but it wasn't a gigging band, so that was relatively unimportant. Sal's big brake came after The News had folded and, coincidentally, Poly Styreen had just left X-Ray Specs to join the Hari Krishna movement. The rest of the band now needed a singer-songwriter who could give them a direction. Enter, guitar in hand, Sal Solo...

"I went along, met them, and played them some songs. There was one other candidate for the band's new singer; two of the band wanted to go with him, and the other two preferred my approach.

"That was how Classix Nouveaux was born. At our very first gig, we were billed as 'Classix Nouveaux, ex X-Ray Specs'. When we rang around record companies, there was considerable interest. Several A&R men turned up, and were made offers, but we didn't take them. We felt the band should develop, and build a following for eighteen months."

Much of the material the band played had emerged during Sal's days with The News. It was really glam rock, perpetuated from the Marc Bolan era by bands like Ultravox and Japan, who didn't really fancy being punks. The media latched onto a new name, The New Romantics, and Classix Nouveaux found themselves pushed onto the bandwagon. "It was as much a surprise to us as to anyone else."

Sal felt they were an indie band, even when they signed to EMI. The company gave them their first single on their own indie label, though it wasn't a hit outside the indie charts. In February 1981, "Guilty" gave Classix their first sniff at the charts. It peaked at 43, though it would probably have done better with an appearance on Top Of The Pops, were it not for a six-week electricians strike that kept the programme off the air. The record did, however, top the charts in Bolivia, Yugoslavia and all sorts of other unlikely territories.

"I'm glad about the strike, really. We could have become a new teenybopper attraction and lasted only six months!"
Three more minor hits followed, "Tokyo" (No 67), "Inside Out" (No 45) and "Never Again" (No 44) until "Is It A Dream" gave them their biggest British hit, in March 82, selling 160,000 copies and spending nine weeks in the charts, peaking at number 11. Their first two albums, 'Night People' and 'La Verite', reached numbers 66 and 44 respectively.

Sal had contacts with an Italian record company who had once made overtunes for a solo deal - at ridiculously low rates of remuneration. Sal did eventually record English vocals on two albums by the Italian band Rocketz, in 1984, and scored some hit singles in Italy.

Classix were much more successful abroad than in the UK, where they were far less fashionable than the likes of Culture Club or Spandau Ballet. Though Britain accounted for most of their record sales - with figures that would have pushed them high into the charts in today's market - they scored No 1's on the Continent, and became one of the biggest groups ever in Poland, playing the biggest tour the country had ever seen. Portugal, Israel and Iceland, of all places, were other key territories where they scored number ones.

"I was a kind of odd creature in a way," says Sal of that time. "I used to go out to clubs a lot, but I was never a partying kind of animal. Almost reclusive, I didn't do a lot of drugs; I've never drunk, and I was never much into casual sex. I suppose I was more of an honest romantic than some; I always believed in real relationships. A one-night stand cheapens yourself and the other person. Ruthlessly ambitious, I was narrow and absorbed in my outlook, interested only in what related to my career."

Sal, when he first left home, went to church occasionally; but gradually the effort of making a choice to accept a religious faith and become part of a congregation came to seem unhelpful to the furtherance of his ambitions. Most people in the music business didn't have religion on their agendas. Sal's churchgoing became restricted to the odd Christmas.

His friends were becoming alcoholics, breaking up relationships, sleeping around - in one instance catching VD - and Sal saw they were becoming increasingly unhappy. Even big star contemporaries such as Duran Duran and Boy George seemed to lack true happiness. Sal came to question the importance of the success he had gained. Sitting in a hotel one day, he simply said aloud, 'God, if you're really there, please let me know.'

Nothing much happened until six months later when his friend Nick Beggs of Kajagoogoo suggested they visit the North Italian town of San Damiano, a place of pilgrimage for many Catholics.

"The prayerful atmosphere turned out to be very catching, and people's personal stories, explaining how they found God, were infectious too. The final part is that God really touched me in my heart and let me know that he was there - about six months after I had made my prayer.

"Eight years later, I look back and realise that my conversation had nothing directly to do with the place at all. In my Catholic tradition people rush off to Lourdes, Medjugorje or Rome, with the idea that a place will do something for you. Going on a pilgrimage works because you are giving something - some time - to God. It's the openness of heart - going the extra mile - that makes it work for people."