Honeymoon Suite

by Tom Demalon Although the Toronto-based quintet Honeymoon Suite never managed to break through in a major way with audiences south of the border, they did find their way onto the charts a handful of times in the U.S. They also were a popular live act and opened for some of the period's biggest draws, including Heart, Journey, and Billy Idol. The band's formation can be traced to the introduction of lead vocalist Johnny Dee and guitarist Derry Grehan by the group's future manager in 1982. Within a year, Honeymoon Suite had been formed and earned the attention of WEA in Canada on the strength of the song "New Girl Now," which had won an unsigned band contest sponsored by a Toronto radio station. Their self-titled debut appeared in 1984 and established them as rising stars in their homeland, charting four Top Ten singles. One of those hits, "New Girl Now," managed to crack the U.S. charts, reaching the mid-50s, but garnered considerable airplay on rock radio. For the follow-up, they enlisted producer Bruce Fairbairn, and the resulting The Big Prize equaled the success of their debut, spawning four more Canadian Top Ten singles, including the ballad "What Does It Take," which managed to top the chart. The album also included Honeymoon Suite's sole U.S. Top 40 hit, "Feel It Again" (although "What Does It Take" would reach number 52). Despite working with another noted producer (Ted Templeman of Van Halen fame) for 1988's Racing After Midnight, the album failed to maintain their new-found momentum in the States. It didn't perform as well as past efforts in Canada, either, and the band wouldn't release an album of new material during the '90s. There would be a compilation of their biggest hits and best-known songs, including the theme from Lethal Weapon, in 1991. In 2002, the band released Lemon Tongue.