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{{Short description|1970s British rock band}}
{{Other uses|Tourist (disambiguation)}}
{{Use British English|date=May 2011}}{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2020}}
{{Infobox musical artist  <!-- See Wikipedia:WikiProject Musicians -->
| name              = The Tourists
| image             = The Tourists 1980.jpg
| landscape         = yes
| caption           = The Tourists, 1980—L-R: Jim Toomey, Eddie Chin, Annie Lennox, Peet Coombes, and Dave Stewart
| background        = group_or_band
| origin            = [[London]], England
| genre             = {{flatlist|
*[[New wave (music)|New wave]]
*[[power pop]]
}}
| years_active      = 1976–1980
| label             = {{flatlist|
*[[Logo Records|Logo]]
*[[RCA Records|RCA]]
*[[Epic Records|Epic]] (US/Canada)
}}
| spinoffs          = [[Eurythmics]]
| website           = 
| current_members   = 
| past_members      = [[Dave Stewart (Eurythmics)|Dave Stewart]]<br>[[Peet Coombes]]<br>[[Annie Lennox]]<br>[[Eddie Chin]]<br>Jim Toomey
}}

'''The Tourists''' were a British [[rock music|rock]] and [[pop music|pop]] band. They achieved brief success in the late 1970s before the band split in 1980. Two of its members, singer [[Annie Lennox]] and guitarist [[Dave Stewart (Eurythmics)|Dave Stewart]], went on to international success as [[Eurythmics]].<ref name="Larkin">{{cite book|title=[[Encyclopedia of Popular Music|The Virgin Encyclopedia of Popular Music]]|editor=Colin Larkin|editor-link=Colin Larkin (writer)|publisher=[[Virgin Books]]|date=1997|edition=Concise|isbn=1-85227-745-9|page=1186}}</ref>

==Early history==
Guitarists [[Peet Coombes]] and [[Dave Stewart (Eurythmics)|Dave Stewart]] were members of the folk rock band Longdancer,<ref name="Larkin"/> which was on [[Elton John]]'s [[The Rocket Record Company|Rocket Records]] label.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Farber |first1=Jim |title=Dave Stewart: 'What Annie Lennox and I went through was insane' |url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2016/feb/13/dave-stewart-interview-annie-lennox-eurythmics-sweet-dreams-are-made-of-this |website=The Guardian |access-date=2 October 2018 |date=13 February 2016}}</ref> They moved to London, where they met singer Annie Lennox, who had dropped out of a course at the [[Royal Academy of Music]] to pursue her ambitions in pop music.<ref name="Larkin"/>

Forming a band in 1976, the three of them initially called themselves The Catch. In 1977, the band released a single named "Borderline/Black Blood" on [[Logo Records]].<ref name="Larkin"/> It was released in the UK, the Netherlands, Spain, and Portugal, but was not a commercial success.

==The Tourists==
By 1976, they had recruited bass guitarist [[Eddie Chin]] and drummer Jim Toomey (without exception, billed throughout his time with the Tourists as Jim "Do It" Toomey), and renamed themselves The Tourists.<ref name="Larkin"/> This was the beginning of a productive period for the band and they released three albums: ''[[The Tourists (album)|The Tourists]]'' (1979), ''[[Reality Effect]]'' (1979), and ''[[Luminous Basement]]'' (1980), as well as half a dozen singles, including "Blind Among the Flowers" (1979), "The Loneliest Man in the World" (1979), "Don't Say I Told You So" (1980), and two hits, the [[Dusty Springfield]] cover "[[I Only Want to Be with You]]" (1979)<ref>{{cite web |last1=Mason |first1=Stewart |title=The Tourists: Artist Biography |url=http://www.allmusic.com/artist/the-tourists-mn0000921200/biography |publisher=AllMusic|access-date=2 October 2018}}</ref> and "[[So Good to Be Back Home Again]]" (1980), both of which reached the top 10 in the UK.<ref name=occ/>

"I Only Want to Be with You" was also a top-10 hit in Australia<ref name=aus/> and reached number 83 on the US [[Billboard Hot 100|''Billboard'' Hot 100]].<ref name=billboard/> Coombes was the band's main songwriter, although later releases had the first compositions by Lennox and Stewart.<ref name="Larkin"/>

In 1980, the band signed to the UK branch of [[RCA Records]].<ref name="Larkin"/> They toured extensively in the UK and abroad, including as support for [[Roxy Music]] on their 1979 Manifesto Tour.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://eurythmics-ultimate.com/tourists-support-for-roxy-music/|title=Tourists - Support For Roxy Music|website=Eurythmics-ultimate.com|access-date=29 September 2019|archive-date=8 November 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191108024646/https://eurythmics-ultimate.com/tourists-support-for-roxy-music/|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Tours: 1979 Roxy Music Manifesto |url=http://www.vivaroxymusic.com/tours_8.php |website=VivaRoxyMusic.com |access-date=2 October 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Ellis |first1=Lucy |title=Annie Lennox: The Biography |date=2001 |publisher=[[Omnibus Press]] |location=London |isbn=0711979863 |page=109 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BzwKfkQS1QwC&pg=PT109}}</ref> The group disbanded in late 1980.<ref name="Larkin"/>

==After the break-up==
Coombes and Chin began a new project named Acid Drops<ref>{{cite web |last1=Rose |first1=Cynthia |title=Eurythmics: We're Not Tourists, We Live Here |url=http://www.eurythmics-ultimate.com/interview-1980-03-the-tourists-were-not-tourists-we-live-here-nme |website=NME|publisher=TI Media Limited |access-date=2 October 2018 |date=7 March 1981}}</ref> but this met with little success, and Coombes, despite originally being the main artistic force behind The Tourists, drifted out of the music business after the disbanding. 
Lennox and Stewart soon split as a couple, but decided to continue working as an experimental musical partnership, under the name [[Eurythmics]].
They retained their RCA recording contract and links with [[Conny Plank]], who produced their first album ''[[In the Garden (Eurythmics album)|In the Garden]]'' in 1981.
 
Coombes' death in March 1997 acted as a catalyst for Lennox and Stewart to revive their friendship and musical partnership, after they had previously disbanded Eurythmics in 1990.
 
Drummer Jim Toomey (no longer using his "Do It" nickname) published the book ''We Were Tourists'' in 2018, describing the band's career.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.austinmacauley.com/search/content/we+were+tourists+type:blog,book,post|title=Search &#124; Austin Macauley Publishers|website=austinmacauley.com}}</ref>

Bassist Eddie Chin died in 2023.

== Members ==
* [[Peet Coombes]] – [[vocals]], [[guitar]]
* [[David A. Stewart]] – guitar, backing vocals
* [[Annie Lennox]] – vocals, [[Keyboard instrument|keyboards]]
* [[Eddie Chin]] – [[bass guitar]]
* Jim "Do It" Toomey<!-- This is how he is billed on all Tourists releases. Do not change this. --> – [[drum kit|drums]]

== Discography ==
=== Albums ===

{| class="wikitable"
!Year
!Title
![[UK Albums Chart|UK]]<br><ref name=occ>{{cite web|url=http://www.officialcharts.com/artist/17717/tourists/|title=Official Charts > Tourists|publisher=[[Official Charts Company|The Official UK Charts Company]]|access-date=2016-11-16}}</ref>
![[Kent Music Report|AUS]]<br><ref name=aus>{{cite book|first=David|last=Kent|author-link=David Kent (historian)|title=Australian Chart Book 1970–1992|publisher=Australian Chart Book|location=St Ives, N.S.W.|year=1993|page=311|isbn= 0-646-11917-6}}</ref>
![[Sverigetopplistan|SWE]]<br><ref>{{cite web|url=http://swedishcharts.com/showinterpret.asp?interpret=The+Tourists|title=swedishcharts.com > The Tourists in Swedish Charts|publisher=Hung Medien|access-date=2009-09-19}}</ref>
! scope="col" style="width:12em;"| [[List of music recording certifications|Certifications]]
|-
| rowspan="2" |1979
|''[[The Tourists (album)|The Tourists]]''
|align="center"|72
|align="center"|—
|align="center"|—
|
|-
|''[[Reality Effect]]''
|align="center"|23
|align="center"|62 
|align="center"|45
|
|-
|1980
|''[[Luminous Basement]]''
|align="center"|75
|align="center"|—
|align="center"|—
|
|-
|1984
|''Should Have Been Greatest Hits''
|align="center"|—
|align="center"|—
|align="center"|—
|
|-

|1997
|''Greatest Hits''
|align="center"|—
|align="center"|—
|align="center"|—
|
|-
|colspan="8" style="font-size:80%" align="center" | "—" denotes a recording that did not chart or was not released in that territory.
|-
|}

=== Singles ===
{| class="wikitable"
!Year
!Title
![[UK Singles Chart|UK]]<br><ref name=occ/>
![[Kent Music Report|AUS]]<br><ref name=aus/>
![[RPM (magazine)|CAN]]
![[Irish Singles Chart|IRE]]<br><ref>{{cite web|url=http://irishcharts.ie/search/placement?page=1&placement&#91;artist&#93;=Tourists|title=The Irish Charts – All there is to know > Search results for 'Tourists'|access-date=2016-11-16|archive-date=10 May 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170510064239/http://irishcharts.ie/search/placement?page=1&placement%5bartist%5d=Tourists|url-status=dead}}</ref>
![[Billboard Hot 100|USA]]<br><ref name=billboard>{{cite magazine|url=http://www.billboard.com/artist/419304/tourists/chart|title=Billboard > Artists / The Tourists > Chart History > The Hot 100|magazine=[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]]|access-date=2016-11-16}}</ref>
! scope="col" style="width:12em;"| [[List of music recording certifications|Certifications]]
!Album
|-
|rowspan="3"|1979
|"Blind Among the Flowers"
|align="center"|52
|align="center"|—
|align="center"|—
|align="center"|—
|align="center"|—
|
|rowspan="2"|''The Tourists''
|-
|"The Loneliest Man in the World"
|align="center"|32
|align="center"|—
|align="center"|—
|align="center"|—
|align="center"|—
|
|-
|"[[I Only Want to Be with You#The Tourists version|I Only Want to Be with You]]"
|align="center"|4
|align="center"|6
|align="center"|50
|align="center"|13
|align="center"|83
|
*UK: Gold<ref name=bpi>{{cite web|url=http://i.imgur.com/o0J1HHi.jpg|title=BPI > Certified Awards > Search results for 'Tourists' (from bpi.co.uk)|publisher=Imgur.com (original source published by [[British Phonographic Industry]])|access-date=2016-11-16}}</ref>
|rowspan="2"|''Reality Effect''
|-
|rowspan="3"|1980
|"[[So Good to Be Back Home Again]]"
|align="center"|8
|align="center"|—
|align="center"|—
|align="center"|9
|align="center"|—
|
|-
|"Don't Say I Told You So"
|align="center"|40
|align="center"|—
|align="center"|—
|align="center"|—
|align="center"|—
|
|''Luminous Basement''
|-
|"From the Middle Room"<ref>[[Promotional single]], only released as a bonus with ''Luminous Basement'' album.</ref>
|align="center"|—
|align="center"|—
|align="center"|—
|align="center"|—
|align="center"|—
|
|Promo single
|-
|colspan="9" style="font-size:80%" align="center" | "—" denotes a recording that did not chart or was not released in that territory.
|-
|}

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

== External links ==
*{{discogs artist|artist=291650-The-Tourists}}
{{The Tourists}}
{{Annie Lennox}}
{{Eurythmics}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tourists, The}}
[[Category:English power pop groups]]
[[Category:English new wave musical groups]]
[[Category:Musical groups established in 1977]]
[[Category:Musical groups disestablished in 1980]]
[[Category:Rocket Records artists]]
[[Category:RCA Records artists]]
[[Category:Epic Records artists]]
[[Category:Eurythmics]]
[[Category:Mixed-gender bands]]