Raised by his adoptive parents in southern New Jersey,
D.L. Byron (born
David Byron) became enamored with the
Beatles, the
Byrds, and
Bob Dylan at an early age. When he wasn't busy getting thrown out of a string of exclusive prep schools,
Byron formed several teenage garage bands and won a number of poetry competitions. Deciding to pursue his music career in earnest,
Byron moved to New York City in February of 1971. After working briefly at the Colony Record shop (located on the ground floor of the Brill Building) and living in a $45 per week fleabag hotel,
Byron managed to catch the tail-end of Tin pan alley, procuring a $75-a-week job as a staff writer for E.H. Morris. While there, he met and was influenced by greats like
Harold Arlen, and began to perform at open mike nights around New York. In 1979, Clive Davis and Arista discovered
Byron and signed him, hoping to find success with an American version of
Elvis Costello or
Graham Parker. In 1980,
Byron released
This Day and Age, which became an instant power pop classic. Produced by Jimmy Iovine and featuring members of Billy Joel's band, the record contained ten tracks of energetic pop/punk in the vein of the Jam's In the City and Elvis Costello's Armed Forces. The album spawned a Top 40 hit and popular MTV video with the first single, "Listen to the Heartbeat."
Byron toured the U.S. heavily in support of
This Day and Age, both as a headliner and as an opening act for Bob Seger (on his
Against the Wind tour) and the
Boomtown Rats (on their
Fine Art of Surfacing tour). Shortly afterwards,
Byron recorded a version of "You Can't Hurry Love" for the R.S.O. Records soundtrack to the
Tim Curry vehicle Times Square, which also included songs from the
Cure,
XTC,
Joe Jackson,
Suzi Quatro,
Lou Reed, the
Ramones,
Roxy Music, and others. Arista also released a 12" single version of
Byron's remake of "Down in the Boondocks," which featured
Billy Joel on backing vocals. Soon afterwards,
Byron began recording demos for his second Arista album. One of these songs, which he planned to use as the lead single for the album, was "Shadows of the Night." Arista, however, told
Byron that "Shadows of the Night" and the other songs were not commercial enough and promptly put him on suspension for a year. Later, several other artists recorded "Shadows of the Night," the most famous of whom was
Pat Benatar.
Benatar used the song as the opening track on her 1982
Get Nervous LP, which went on to sell over four million copies. "Shadows of the Night" won the 1982 Grammy Award for Record of the Year and has since been included on several compilations and greatest-hits packages. Disillusioned by Arista's lack of foresight,
Byron asked to be released from his contract and the label complied. He then decided to concentrate on his writing and, although plagued by personal problems and drug abuse, managed to place songs on
Never Run, Never Hide by
Benny Mardones (a gold record), Lights On by Price-Sulton, the self-titled record by
Drive She Said, and others. In the early '90s,
Byron completely renounced drugs, delved seriously into various forms of spirituality and successfully located his birth mother (interestingly enough,
Byron found that his real grandfather had owned the music store where he bought his first guitar). He then began performing and recording again, releasing
Exploding Plastic Inevitable on Zen Archer/Fountainbleu Records in 1998. The new album had a much folkier slant than
This Day and Age (drawing critical comparisons to
Marshall Crenshaw and
Tom Petty), although
Byron's pop songwriting chops were fully intact. In 1999,
Byron undertook a U.S. tour co-headlining with two other Fountainbleu artists, began writing material for a new album, and recorded a song for a
Gene Clark tribute album. ~ Pemberton Roach