Editing Dexys Midnight Runners (section)

====''Too-Rye-Ay'', stardom, and turnover====
[[File:Dexys Midnight Runners (1982).png|thumb|Dexys Midnight Runners in Zürich in 1982.]]
As Dexys prepared to record their first album for Mercury, Rowland decided that he needed more proficient string players to achieve the sound he envisioned. He sent Speare to invite Bevington to join Dexys,<ref name="White" /> which she agreed to do, and Rowland gave her the Irish-sounding stage name of Helen O'Hara.<ref name="BBC" /> Rowland also asked her to recruit two other violinists; she brought fellow students Steve Shaw and Roger Huckle, whom Rowland renamed as Steve Brennan and Roger MacDuff, and Rowland named the violin section "The Emerald Express". However, the need to rearrange all the songs for both strings and horns left the brass section of Paterson and Maurice (and to a lesser extent Speare) feeling that their role in the band had diminished. Thus, just prior to the recording sessions, Paterson and Maurice quit.<ref>Record Mirror 3 July 1982</ref> Rowland was able to persuade them to remain in Dexys long enough to record the next album .<ref name="White">Richard White, ''Dexys Midnight Runners: Young Soul Rebels'' (2005), p. 121-22.</ref>  Shortly thereafter, Speare also joined their planned departure.<ref name="White" />

This fractured line-up recorded ''[[Too-Rye-Ay]]'' in early 1982 with producers Rowland, [[Clive Langer]] and [[Alan Winstanley]]. The album featured a hybrid of soul and Celtic folk, similar to Archer's new direction. All of the post-breakup singles and the ''Projected Passion Revue'' material were re-arranged and re-recorded with the new lineup. The new sound was accompanied by the band's third new look, with the band attired in [[Overall|dungarees]], scarves, leather waistcoats, and what was described as "a generally scruffy right-off-the-farm look", or "a raggle-taggle mixture of [[Gypsy (term)|gypsy]], rural Irish and [[John Steinbeck|Steinbeck]] [[Okie]]".<ref name="Gimarc" /><ref name="Reynolds" /><ref>Raggett, Ned "[{{AllMusic|class=album|id=r35271/review|pure_url=yes}} ''Too-Rye-Ay'' Review]", ''[[AllMusic]]'', Macrovision Corporation</ref>  Rowland jokingly said of the new image: "These are my best clothes. Again it just feels right for the music. Everybody else is dressing up sort of straight-laced and pretty down-to-earth and we come in wearing these and it's like, y'know here we are, a bit of hoedowning is even possible".<ref name="Gimarc" />

The first single, "The Celtic Soul Brothers" (cowritten by Rowland and Paterson with Mickey Billingham), which was released before the album, only reached number 45 on the UK charts.<ref>British Hit Singles & Albums (Guinness World Records)</ref>  After the failure of this single, O'Hara said that the band believed that they immediately needed a hit single to survive.<ref name="White" />  To help create momentum, the band performed a live BBC Radio 1 concert in Newcastle on 6 June 1982, which was the last appearance of the horn section of Paterson, Maurice, and Speare with Dexys.<ref name="bio" />

Released right after the live appearance, Dexys' follow-up single, "[[Come On Eileen]]" (cowritten by Rowland and Paterson with Billy Adams), became that much-needed hit – a Number One hit in the UK, which also became Dexys' first single released in the United States (and second in North America, after "Seven Days Too Long", which was only released in Canada)<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.dexys.org/rarities.htm |title=Truly Precious Possessions |publisher=dexys.org |access-date=8 April 2016 }}{{dead link|date=July 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> – where it peaked at #1 in April 1983 on the [[Billboard Hot 100|''Billboard'' Hot 100]] chart. The third UK single from the album, [[Van Morrison]]'s "[[Jackie Wilson Said (I'm in Heaven When You Smile)#Dexys Midnight Runners' version|Jackie Wilson Said (I'm in Heaven When You Smile)]]", also reached the top 5 in the UK singles chart.<ref name="Gimarc" /> The band sang this song on the UK comedy ''[[The Young Ones (TV series)|The Young Ones]]''.<ref name="Gimarc" /> When the band performed this single on the BBC TV music show ''Top of the Pops,'' instead of a picture of [[Jackie Wilson]], the American soul singer, the band performed in front of a photo of [[Jocky Wilson]], the Scottish darts player.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/pressreleases/stories/2006/06_june/20/totp.shtml |title=Press Office – BBC says fond farewell to Top of the Pops |publisher=[[BBC]] |access-date=30 January 2020 |date=20 June 2006 |archive-date=13 November 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191113042631/http://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/pressreleases/stories/2006/06_june/20/totp.shtml |url-status=live }}</ref>

The horn section became known as [[the TKO Horns]] and continued working with ''Too-Rye-Ay'' producers Langer and Winstanley, just as The Bureau and The Blue Ox Babes had continued working with Pete Wingfield. To replace them, Dexys added saxophonist [[Nick Gatfield]] and used various session musicians, including Kevin Gilson (saxophone) and Mark Walters and [[Spike Edney]] (trombone).<ref name="bio" />  Soon thereafter, Billingham also left the band but continued to appear with Dexys on a session basis until the end of the year, when he joined [[General Public]].<ref name="bio" />