Roland Orzabal

Roland Orzabal (born 22 August 1961) is a British musician, songwriter and record producer. He is known mainly as a co-founding member of Tears for Fears, of which he is the main songwriter and joint vocalist, but he has also achieved success as a producer of other artists. In 2014, Orzabal published his first novel. Orzabal met Curt Smith while both were in their early teens in Bath, Somerset. In the late-1970s, they formed a mod music group, Graduate, along with three other members. Following the release of their debut album, Acting My Age, the group disbanded and Orzabal and Smith went on to form Tears for Fears, a new wave/synthpop outfit directly inspired by the writings of the American psychologist Arthur Janov. After a decade of major international success, Orzabal and Smith had an acrimonious split in the early 1990s. Although Orzabal continued to work as Tears for Fears after he and Smith parted ways, the subsequent TFF albums Elemental (1993) and Raoul and the Kings of Spain (1995) are effectively solo works by him in all but name. Elemental was a success being certified as Gold status in the US and Silver in the UK, while Raoul took a more artistic direction but garner...