Cutting Crew rose to overnight fame when its synth-driven power ballad "(I Just) Died in Your Arms" topped the Billboard Hot 100 in mid-1987.
Cutting Crew was led by British singer/guitarist Nick Van Eede, a former solo artist for Chas Chandler's Barn label who later formed the group the Drivers. Van Eede founded Cutting Crew in 1985 with guitarist Kevin MacMichael, formerly of Canadian band Fast Forward, alongside drummer Martin "Frosty" Beedle and bassist Colin Farley, signing to Virgin Records to release their debut LP Broadcast, issued in 1986.
Van Eede wrote "(I Just) Died in Your Arms" in the afterglow of a sexual encounter with an ex-girlfriend; the single peaked at number four on the U.K. charts in September 1986, and the following March, Virgin Records America issued Broadcast in the U.S. After "(I Just) Died in Your Arms" hit number one stateside, Cutting Crew returned to the Top Ten with "I've Been in Love Before," but the group's commercial window was closing fast. MacMichael died of lung cancer on New Year's Eve 2002, but Van Eede continues recording and touring under the Cutting Crew name.
