Cry Before Dawn were formed in Wexford in 1982. It was a fertile musical time in Ireland when every band was being heralded as the next U2. Cry Before Dawn’s Celtic inspired rock struck a chord with the public and their second single Gone Forever broke them through hitting number 11 in the Irish charts.
They followed this up with The Seed That’s Been Sown which hit number 17 in Ireland. Both singles were taken from their first album Crimes of Conscience. However, UK success was still eluding them. Their music had made a small impact but they hadn’t seen a proper breakthrough across the pond yet.
That would change in 1989. The title track and lead single from their second album Witness for the World landed them a coveted slot on BBC One’s hit teatime talk show Wogan, where they performed the song. It went on to reach number 13 in Ireland. While it didn’t hit the UK top 40 it was their highest chart entry there to date reaching number 67. That same year they supported Big Country on their Peace In Our Time tour.
Two more singles would be released from that album Last Of The Sun in 1989, which reached number 17, and No Living Without You in 1990, which peaked at number 13. Although they toured Ireland later that year, they decided to split. That disbanding was brief, and they reformed in 1992 only to split again later that year.
As the individual members all worked on their own projects it appeared that Cry Before Dawn were officially no more. But in November 2010 they reunited for a tour and they have continued to play together ever since.
In all they achieved seven Irish top thirty hits and spent 19 weeks in the Irish charts. They won IRMA awards for Best Newcomer in 1987, and Best Irish Group in 1989. They were a huge hit with the Forever Young audience back in 2019 so we just had to invite them back this year.
Cry Before Dawn play the ‘Forever Young’ festival in Palmerstown House Estate on Saturday July 15th, 2023. ‘Forever Young’ is a three-day celebration of the music of the 1980s featuring artists such as Andy Bell (Erasure), Bananarama, Squeeze, Billy Ocean, Tony Hadley, ABC and many more.
Full line-up and tickets are available here