Missing Persons
Missing Persons were a band who played a blend of New Wave music and electronic pop rock, with a musical sensibility which set them apart from many other early 80's groups who latched onto the Blondie-style line up of radio friendly, white, accessible pop punk. The group featured Terry Bozzio on drums, Patrick O'Hearn on bass and Warren Cuccurullo on guitar - all former Frank Zappa band members. Dale Bozzio, Terry's wife was on vocals and fronted the group and although some commentators have argued that Dale's lack of stage personality ultimately resulted in the decline of the group's early popularity, many also regard Missing Persons as her finest work, despite her later scoring minor success as a solo performer, including a top 40 hit with the song 'Simon oh Simon', written and produced by Prince.
Missing Person's single release "Words" was promoted using a music video with unusual, albeit primitive by today's standards visual effects, making it popular with the suits (who in those days still wore T-Shirts) at the fledgling cable TV channel MTV, at which point the band became something of a must-see among the LA live music crowd, which in turn secured the group a place on the bill of the first US Festival.
