Thompson Twins

Starting in the early 1980s as a large ensemble of quirky, guitar-based U.K. new wavers, the Thompson Twins scaled down to a trio after their first two albums and streamlined their music to a melodic-but-danceable synth-pop sound. The slimmed-down lineup of Tom Bailey, Alannah Currie, and Joe Leeway took that sound to the top of the charts throughout the '80s on both sides of the Atlantic, with such hits as "Doctor! Doctor!" and "Hold Me Now." The Twins hung it up in the early '90s, Currie and Bailey subsequently incorporating ambient electronica influences in their duo project, Babble.

• pop