Eurythmics Icon Dave Stewart Credits Band’s Success to Visionary Bank Manager

Envisioning the 1980s music scene without the iconic presence of Eurythmics seems nearly impossible. The legendary duo, formed by the charismatic guitarist Dave Stewart and his former romantic partner, the dynamic singer Annie Lennox, left an indelible mark on pop music.

After parting ways with their initial band, The Tourists, in 1980, Stewart and Lennox embraced the burgeoning British new wave sound, introducing themselves as Eurythmics with their debut album, “In The Garden,” released in 1981.

According to Stewart, who is now 73, their journey might have concluded prematurely if not for the intervention of a perceptive bank manager. This financial lifeline of £5,000 enabled them to produce a second album after their initial release failed to make an impact, largely due to minimal backing from their label, RCA.

Stewart recounted to The Times, “Annie and I were surviving on just £8 a week in a squat. We shared a passion for creating music, but resources were scarce.”

He added, “Although we had a recording contract and made an album, it didn’t perform well commercially. The label thought we were out of our minds and considered dropping us.”

Holed up in leafy Crouch End – an otherwise affluent north London enclave – Stewart decided to gamble on a potential bank loan, much to his band-mate’s dismay. 

Dave Stewart says Eurythmics owe their success to a north London bank manager after he and Annie Lennox borrowed £5,000 to record their second album (pictured in 1983)

The enigmatic guitarist went on to become a global star with Eurythmics (pictured in 2024) 

‘I said, “Why don’t I go and see the bank manager at Barclays and explain that I want this equipment and we can make a record on that, and then make the next record too.”

‘Annie said, “The bank manager will think we’re nuts”, and we did look quirky.’ 

It was 1982, and having already failed to convince RCA of their worth with the muted reception afforded In The Garden, the penniless Stewart was determined to get a second bite of the cherry. 

‘We went to see the bank manager, he was a youngish manager,’ he recalled. ‘He listened and said “Ok, we’ll lend you £5,000”. We made the album Sweet Dreams.’ 

Modestly recorded on an 8-track tape at an old warehouse in Chalk Farm and Church Studios in Crouch End, Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of This) sold over a million copies and charted highly in the United Kingdom and United States following its release in 1983. 

The album’s title track would become one of the decade’s most enduringly popular singles, climbing to number two in the UK and number one on America’s Billboard Hot 100.

And Stewart says he never forgot the life-changing decision made by his bank manager, Geoff Edwards. 

‘On his 65th birthday I sent him a message,’ he said. ‘Without him nobody would know who we were.’ 

The duo became global stars after disbanding their original group, The Tourists, in 1980 and embracing Britain’s new wave phenomenon as Eurythmics (pictured, in 1983)

Stewart’s decision to seek a bank loan would ultimately change the band’s fortunes after their debut album, In The Garden, failed to chart (pictured, in 1984)

The musician is now hoping to pay it forward with the launch of Rare Entity, a creative start-up with the aim of helping artists, writers and performers ‘bring their ideas to life.’ 

Bandmate Lennox, 71, recently told how she deliberately created her androgynous look to show she was ‘equal’ to her Eurythmics partner Dave Stewart.

She said that she wore suits to take ‘male power’ for herself.

Lennox added that the way she dressed had ‘nothing to do with [her] sexuality’.

She told the BBC Woman’s Hour podcast: ‘It’s an evolution, you know, because when I first started, when I first came down to London, as this provincial girl wearing secondhand clothes and I was, you know, I had sort of longish hair and I wore a T-bar, little T-bar shoes.

‘I had a little edge, but it definitely grew stronger and the punk movement came in. And that had a huge effect on all of us.

‘And so things started to evolve. And I think that the way you wear your clothes says a great deal about you, particularly when you’re a performer.

The duo released seven studio albums between 1981 and 1989, reuniting in 1999 to record a final album entitled ‘Peace’.