A few years ago Train had a hit with the song “Hey Soul Sister” that had this curious line in the chorus. The song was covered on the show “Glee” and gained another audience.
So who, or what, is Mr. Mister?
For a two-year period, from 1985 to 1987, Mr. Mister was a chart-topping band with stirring music videos to match.
Pat Mastelotto was the drummer and a founding member of Mr. Mister.
It is his birthday today, offering a great chance to look back at a band that produced some of my favourite songs of all time.
Starting out
Wikipedia reveals Pat Mastelotto was born in California, started playing drums at 10 years old. By the age of 16, he was playing in popular bands while still in high school and travelling several hours to Lake Tahoe for gigs. He moved to Los Angeles in the mid-70s and worked as a studio musician for performers such as Scandal, Al Jarreau, The Pointer Sisters, Patti LaBelle, Kenny Loggins and Canadian musician Kim Mitchell.
Wikipedia reveals Pat Mastelotto was born in California, started playing drums at 10 years old. By the age of 16, he was playing in popular bands while still in high school and travelling several hours to Lake Tahoe for gigs. He moved to Los Angeles in the mid-70s and worked as a studio musician for performers such as Scandal, Al Jarreau, The Pointer Sisters, Patti LaBelle, Kenny Loggins and Canadian musician Kim Mitchell.
Richard Page and Steve George founded the band Pages in Phoenix, Arizona in 1978. After three albums and little commercial success, Pages broke up in 1981. George and Page focused on songwriting and studio work for artists such as Laura Branigan and the Village People.
In 1982, they began putting together a new band, recruiting Mastelotto on drums and rounding out the group with guitarist Steve Farris.
Mr. Mister was born.
Debut album
Mr. Mister released their first album, “I Wear the Face”, in 1984. Their first single was “Hunters of the Night”, which peaked at number 57 on the Billboard Hot 100.
Mr. Mister released their first album, “I Wear the Face”, in 1984. Their first single was “Hunters of the Night”, which peaked at number 57 on the Billboard Hot 100.
I had never heard of the band or the song at that point, but I was just getting into music. After they had achieved international success, I was watching “Good Rockin’ Tonite” one Friday night. Mr. Mister, and Richard Page and Steve George in particular, were their guests. They played the video for “Hunters of the Night”, as they went back to the beginning of Mr. Mister.
There was a second single from “I Wear the Face”, called “Talk the Talk”, but it did not chart.
A year later, life would never be the same. Mr. Mister exploded on the charts with a new album, with some amazing songs to match.
Take these broken wings…
In the first semester of Grade 11, so September of 1985, I was taking an accounting class. We had a huge project we were given a couple months of class time to work on. I sat by a number of people, including my friend Shawn, and this girl I developed a crush on. We often talked about the music of the day.
In the first semester of Grade 11, so September of 1985, I was taking an accounting class. We had a huge project we were given a couple months of class time to work on. I sat by a number of people, including my friend Shawn, and this girl I developed a crush on. We often talked about the music of the day.
One of the songs working its way up the charts, and getting more and more airplay, was this brooding, soulful ballad called “Broken Wings”. It was accompanied by this black and white video. Lead singer Richard Page was driving in a convertible through the desert, with this crow flying around.
“Broken Wings” would go to the top of the Billboard Hot 100. Interestingly, the song it replaced at number one was “Separate Lives” by Phil Collins and Marilyn Martin from the soundtrack of the movie “White Nights”. The song that replaced “Broken Wings” at number one was “Say You, Say Me”, by Lionel Richie, which was also from the movie “White Nights”.
A few months later, CBC Channel 9 on the peasant vision dial, started airing the “Disney Sunday Movie”. The first one was called “Help Wanted: Kids”. Cindy Williams and Bill Hudson, her real-life husband of the time, played ad executives married to each other. They intended to make a good impression on their new boss, so they hire two orphans to be their children.
More than the movie, I recall in a pivotal scene, “Broken Wings” was the background music.
Down the road that I must travel
A few months after “Broken Wings” went off the charts, I was riding the bus home one day. The radio was playing a little feature of songs that were following up hit singles. There was “Sara” by Starship, following up “We Built This City”; “King for a Day” by the Thompson Twins, following up “Lay Your Hands”; “Somebody, Some Day,” by Platinum Blonde, following up “Crying Over You”; and – “Kyrie” by Mr. Mister following up “Broken Wings”.
A few months after “Broken Wings” went off the charts, I was riding the bus home one day. The radio was playing a little feature of songs that were following up hit singles. There was “Sara” by Starship, following up “We Built This City”; “King for a Day” by the Thompson Twins, following up “Lay Your Hands”; “Somebody, Some Day,” by Platinum Blonde, following up “Crying Over You”; and – “Kyrie” by Mr. Mister following up “Broken Wings”.
It was the first time I heard a song that remains one of my favourites to this day.
“Kyrie” was part of the Latin phrase “kyrie eleison”, which means God have Mercy. The whole phrase “Kyrie Eleison” is in the song. I initially did not understand what it meant, because it sounds like “Kyrie a lays on”, which does not make much sense. Then my friend David Perlich explained it was part of the Catholic mass, where parishioners say God Have Mercy, Christ Have Mercy, God Have Mercy. In Latin it is Kyrie Eleison, Christe Eleison, Kyrie Eleison.
“Kyrie” would follow “Broken Wings” and also hit number one on the Billboard Hot 100.
What’s next
There were a lot of performers who had two consecutive number one singles, but it was rare for a third consecutive number one. I wondered what Mr. Mister would have next.
There were a lot of performers who had two consecutive number one singles, but it was rare for a third consecutive number one. I wondered what Mr. Mister would have next.
Their third single did not hit number one, but it was another top 10 hit.
“Is it Love” was a great song but it did not have that intangible quality that its two predecessors had. Still, “Is it Love” went all the way to number eight on the Billboard Hot 100.
What I remember more than anything about “Is it Love”, is its appearance on an episode of the daytime soap opera “Days of our Lives”. There was this character named Melissa who was dancing with a Russian defector named Lars. One day, they were in the studio, put on some music, and the opening bars of “Is it Love” started.
The rest of the album
I used to spend a couple weeks every summer with my cousins and aunts and uncles in Brooks. The last summer was 1986, and one of my outstanding memories was waiting for my cousins and browsing through their tapes.
I used to spend a couple weeks every summer with my cousins and aunts and uncles in Brooks. The last summer was 1986, and one of my outstanding memories was waiting for my cousins and browsing through their tapes.
There, staring me in the face was “Welcome to the Real World” by Mr. Mister. It was the album, released in 1985, that contained “Broken Wings”, “Kyrie”, and “Is it Love”.
It also had a lot of other songs that I came to enjoy on their own merits.
A fourth single, “Black/White”, was released, but did not chart.
“Run to Her”, another brooding ballad made an appearance in the gymnastics movie “American Anthem”, starring Mitch Gaylord and Janet Jones, also known as Wayne Gretzky’s wife.
“Don’t Slow Down” appeared in the movie “A Fine Mess”, that starred Ted Danson and Howie Mandel.
There are no bad songs on the album. The other songs are “Uniform of Youth”; “Into My Own Hands”; “Tangent Tears”; and the title track “Welcome to the Real World”.
The album “Welcome to the Real World” ended up going all the way to number one on the Billboard Hot 200 album chart as well.
For their efforts, Mr. Mister was nominated in 1986 for a Grammy for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group for “Broken Wings”, but lost out to “We are the World” by USA for Africa.
Follow up
To be honest, I lost track of Mr. Mister. I was in my first year of university in Edmonton, living in residence. It was early September and we had MuchMusic on the TV in our lounge. While watching, they announced Mr. Mister had a new album out and the video for the first single was about to play.
To be honest, I lost track of Mr. Mister. I was in my first year of university in Edmonton, living in residence. It was early September and we had MuchMusic on the TV in our lounge. While watching, they announced Mr. Mister had a new album out and the video for the first single was about to play.
The song was called “Something Real (Inside Me/Inside You)”, and the album, the band’s third, was “Go On…” I have to admit, “Something Real (Inside Me/Inside You)” just didn’t have it the way “Broken Wings”, “Kyrie”, and the others just popped. Quite honestly, it sounded like “Hunters of the Night”, which didn’t either.
“Something Real (Inside Me/Inside You)” went all the way to number 29 on the Billboard Hot 100. It was the band’s last charting single to date.
Mr. Mister released two more singles from the album, “Healing Waters” and “The Border”, and wrote the title track for the movie “Stand and Deliver” in 1988, but none of those songs charted.
However, Mr. Mister was nominated in 1987 for a Grammy for Best Gospel Performance for “Healing Waters”.
The band broke up in 1990.
The years after
Pat Mastelotto followed his time in Mr. Mister with more session work for bands such as Hall and Oates; Cock Robin; The Rembrandts; Eddie Money; Matthew Sweet; and more.
Pat Mastelotto followed his time in Mr. Mister with more session work for bands such as Hall and Oates; Cock Robin; The Rembrandts; Eddie Money; Matthew Sweet; and more.
In fact, he played drums for The Rembrandts on their hit “I’ll Be There for You”, which was the theme song for the blockbuster comedy series “Friends”.
Since 1994, Mastelotto has been a member of the band “King Crimson”.
Parting thoughts
There was a period in the 1980s when Mr. Mister was as hot a band as there was. It was in that 1985 to 1986 period where their songs were on the top of the charts, in movies and TV, and they were touring with big bands such as Don Henley, The Bangles, the Eurythmics, Tina Turner and Heart.
There was a period in the 1980s when Mr. Mister was as hot a band as there was. It was in that 1985 to 1986 period where their songs were on the top of the charts, in movies and TV, and they were touring with big bands such as Don Henley, The Bangles, the Eurythmics, Tina Turner and Heart.
Their songs resonated and really are icons of the decade.
For me, “Broken Wings” and “Kyrie” are a big part of the soundtrack of growing up.
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