Berlin -

Berlin was an American new wave band from Los Angeles, best known for the synthpop hits “Masquerade,” “The Metro,” “No More Words,” and the 1986 Top Gun ballad “Take My Breath Away.”

Bassist-songwriter John Crawford formed the band in 1979 with teenage actress Terri Nunn (Thank God It’s Friday), who cleared for Berlin’s 1980 debut Information, recorded with singer Virginia Macolino. Nunn returned for the 1982 mini-album Pleasure Victim, a classic of US New Romantic electropop. Giorgio Moroder co-produced their 1984–86 albums Love Life and Count Three & Pray.

Members: John Crawford (bass, vocals, 1979-86), Rod Learned (drums, 1979-82), Chris Ruiz-Valesco (guitar, 1979-82), Daniel Van Patten (drums, 1979-82), Jo Julian (keyboards, 1979-80), Ty Cobb (lead vocals, 1979), Terri Nunn (lead vocals, 1979, 1981-87, 1998-present), Toni Childs (lead vocals, 1979), Virginia Macolino (lead vocals, 1980), Rob Brill (drums, 1982-87), Matt Reid (keyboards, 1982-85), David Diamond (guitar, synthesizer, vocals, 1982-84), Ric Olsen (guitar, 1982-84)

Background

Berlin formed in Orange County in 1977 when bassist John Crawford assembled guitarist Chris Ruiz-Velasco, drummer Daniel Van Patten, and singer Ty Cobb as the Toys. The quartet first played an El Dorado High School Sadie Hawkins dance, then adopted the Berlin name as Cobb departed and the remaining members sought a female singer.

Crawford cited Kiss and the Sex Pistols among his early reference points, then turned toward Ultravox as keyboardist Jo Julian joined the group. Kraftwerk supplied a second electronic model, while access to a Prophet-5 expanded the group’s synthesizer palette.

The Berlin name emerged from Ruiz-Velasco’s German family connection and interest in the city’s prewar arts culture. Crawford favored the darker continental associations and connected the name with a mechanized image of teenage confinement that suited the group’s early synthesizer material.

Crawford and Julian paired synthesizers with electric guitar and chose a female lead voice to distinguish Berlin from the male-fronted European groups behind the concept. Southern California clubs still favored punk and pop-rock, which placed the format outside the prevailing local pattern before American synthpop developed a broader audience.

Singers

Toni Childs fronted the next configuration. Her strict religious household barred rock records and films, but a 1972 Pink Floyd concert prompted her to pursue singing. Childs worked with Julian before leaving as Berlin’s direction diverged from her own, then formed Toni and the Movers. Island Music signed her to a publishing agreement in 1981 and moved her to London, where she worked with guitarist David Rhodes and musicians later associated with World Party. Childs returned to Los Angeles in the mid-1980s and released her solo debut, Union, in June 1988 on A&M.

Terri Nunn entered as a working screen actress. She started in television commercials at 15, moved into episodic roles, and auditioned for Princess Leia before joining Berlin. A February 1977 Penthouse pictorial appeared under the name Betsy Harris. After years of denial and fan speculation, Nunn identified herself as the model in a 2011 radio interview. In the 1978 film Thank God It’s Friday, she played pink-haired Jeannie, one of two underage friends who slip into the Zoo disco and enter a dance contest.

Nunn answered a Musicians Contact Service advertisement because she wanted a band with original songs. Her pre-Berlin reference points included The Beatles, Pink Floyd, David Bowie, Jefferson Airplane, and glam rock. Grace Slick supplied a direct model for female stage authority. Nunn rejected disco but responded favorably to punk. Crawford introduced her to Kraftwerk and Ultravox, and their electronic approach fit her existing interest in theatrical rock and newer club music.

In October 1979, Berlin released their Nunn-fronted debut single on Zone-H (ZON-001).

A. “A Matter of Time”
B. “Overload”

I.R.S. issued a Macolino-fronted version of “A Matter of Time” with “French Reggae” on the reverse in August 1980.

Nunn left the active lineup after the Zone-H single to concentrate on acting. Berlin recruited Virginia Macolino from the Los Angeles punk group Virginia and the Slims. Macolino joined Crawford, Ruiz-Velasco, Van Patten, Julian, and synthesist Dan Wyman for the album sessions. Julian produced and engineered the recordings, and Germany’s Vinyl Records accepted the completed masters.

Terri Nunn’s Acting Phase

Nunn guest-starred as figure-skating champion Jill Martin in “The Copy-Writer/The Figure Skater,” the May 3, 1979, broadcast of the CBS fantasy anthology Time Express. Vincent Price and Coral Browne play hosts aboard a supernatural train that lets passengers revisit pivotal episodes from their lives. Jill returns to Montreal and attempts to repair her relationship with French skater Paul Venard after his possessive coach separated the pair through deception.

Four days later, Nunn appeared as Wendy in “Loves,” the second-season finale of the CBS newspaper drama Lou Grant. Reporter Billie Newman encounters Wendy as a high-school student who plans a pregnancy as an escape from an unhappy household. Nunn returned to the series in November 1981 as Kitty Larsen in “Execution,” playing a condemned prisoner who refuses to appeal her sentence after killing a Tribune reporter in an armed robbery.

Nunn guest-starred in “Runaway,” the Oct. 24, 1979, broadcast of the ABC crime drama Vega$, where wealthy rancher Caleb Tucker hires private investigator Dan Tanna (Robert Urich) to locate Ally (Nunn), a pregnant teenager whom Tucker falsely identifies as his daughter. Tanna finds Ally and her boyfriend, uncovers Tucker’s search for a stolen coded notebook, and protects the couple before helping deliver Ally’s baby.

Nunn played Eileen Malone in the March 15, 1980, pilot of the CBS legal-adventure drama Hagen, which paired Chad Everett’s Idaho outdoorsman Paul Hagen with San Francisco attorney Carl Palmer. The story sends Hagen to San Francisco in search of a missing friend before police accuse him of murder.

Nunn next played Lucy Loring in the CBS crime docudrama Scared Straight! Another Story, a fictional treatment of a juvenile prison-intervention program. Lucy accompanies her boyfriend, small-time drug dealer Sam, and other young offenders into a confrontation session with inmates. The encounter affects both teenagers, but charges connected to Sam’s earlier crimes still send him to prison.

Nunn appeared opposite Tanya Tucker as Sue Lynn Peach in the CBS comedy-action pilot The Georgia Peaches. Sue Lynn and her sister Lorette operate an auto-repair shop before circumstances turn them and their moonshine-running companion into reluctant undercover agents. Roger Corman produced the proposed series pilot, which also circulated under the title Follow That Car.

Information

Berlin released their debut album, Information, in 1980 through Germany’s Vinyl Records.

Macolino fronts Crawford, Ruiz-Velasco, Julian, Wyman, and Van Patten, with Jim Cypherd assisting on synthesizer programming. Childs retained co-writer credit on four titles from the pre-album lineup, while Julian and Ruiz-Velasco supplied most of the remaining material.

“Mind Control” jolts through processed lead swoops, vocoder replies, and tense electronic circuitry. “Overload” jitters on a stuttering beat beneath firm acoustic-kit accents and sparse synthetic percussion. “A Matter of Time” glides on a cinematic keyboard riff with broad portamento turns. “Middle Class Suicide” pivots through angular meter changes during its recurring group passage.

A1. “Mind Control” (3:09) – Julian
A2. “Moderne Welt” [Modern World] (3:54) – Childs, Ruiz-Velasco, Julian
A3. “Overload” (4:17) – Childs, Julian
A4. “City Lights” (4:38) – Ruiz-Velasco
A5. “Information” (4:30) – Ruiz-Velasco

B1. “Talk Talk Video” (3:25) – Ruiz-Velasco
B2. “Fascination” (4:00) – Crawford
B3. “A Matter of Time” (4:09) – Crawford
B4. “Middle Class Suicide” (3:20) – Childs, Crawford, Julian
B5. “Uncle Sam” (3:45) – Childs, Julian

Jo Julian produced and engineered the album with assistants Jim Cypherd and Paul Lewis. Cypherd and Dan Wyman programmed synthesizers around Julian’s keyboard parts, while Crawford and Ruiz-Velasco supplied backing vocals behind Macolino. Julian carried the production role onto Berlin’s contemporaneous I.R.S. single.

I.R.S. issued “A Matter of Time” in August 1980 with the non-album “French Reggae” on the reverse. The album received no American counterpart and remained confined to the original German pressing.

Breakup, Acting Reformation

Berlin dissolved in 1981 after the German release. Crawford moved through the Videos and Fahrenheit before reconnecting with Nunn for a self-financed M.A.O. single. The late-1981 release paired “The Metro” with “Tell Me Why” and restored their working partnership.

Macolino returned to punk as Virginia Mac in Beast of Beast. The group issued the four-song 12-inch Sex, Drugs… And Noise through My Ass Records.

Keyboardist-guitarist David Diamond joined Crawford and Nunn as they assembled a new recording unit. Ric Olsen entered on guitar, Rod Learned took the drum chair, and Van Patten returned as drummer-producer. M.A.O. pressed the seven-song release, and Enigma handled distribution.

Pleasure Victim

Berlin released their second album, the seven-song mini-album Pleasure Victim, in October 1982 through M.A.O. and Enigma.

Nunn, Crawford, and Diamond form the core lineup with Olsen, Ruiz-Velasco, Learned, and Van Patten. Crawford wrote six selections, including the Diamond–Nunn collaboration “Sex (I’m A…),” while Ruiz-Velasco supplied “Masquerade.”

“Tell Me Why” flickers through analog stabs, taut live-kit accents, and a wiry guitar figure. “Pleasure Victim” drifts across synth strings and heavy portamento turns beneath an inward lead line. “Sex (I’m a…)” throbs on sequenced propulsion as Crawford’s flat declaration alternates with Nunn’s theatrical personae.

“Masquerade” cascades over a motorik bass-synth figure, crystalline string patches, and layered lead lines. “The Metro” surges through programmed handclaps, a pitch-bent solo, and synthetic sirens before a tritone signal closes its fade. “World of Smiles” lurches through uneven rhythmic turns and a dry spoken interlude. “Torture” grinds through a slow machine pattern, mournful piano, and a wordless male chant.

A1. “Tell Me Why” (5:34) – Crawford
A2. “Pleasure Victim” (3:50) – Crawford
A3. “Sex (I’m A…)” (5:06) – Crawford, Diamond, Nunn

B1. “Masquerade” (4:04) – Ruiz-Velasco
B2. “The Metro” (4:07) – Crawford
B3. “World of Smiles” (3:50) – Crawford
B4. “Torture” (2:36) – Crawford

Sessions took place after hours at Casbah Recording Studio in Fullerton for less than $3,000. Daniel Van Patten produced and engineered the record with assistant engineers Chaz Ramirez and Jon St. James. The Maomen prepared remixes of “Tell Me Why,” “Masquerade,” and “Torture” as the independent release moved toward national distribution.

Cadillac Graphics designed the sleeve as a neon-edged television image with a close-up of Nunn and a dark profile at left. Martin Mann supplied photography, including a fur-stole portrait for the inner sleeve.

Geffen acquired Pleasure Victim and reissued the album in January 1983 for national distribution. “Sex (I’m A…)” appeared as a February single (b/w “Tell Me Why”) and reached No. 62 on the Billboard Hot 100. In the video for “Sex (I’m A…),” director Marcelo Epstein places Nunn and Crawford at a stylized erotic party populated by friends of the band. Close views of fruit, oysters, drinking, and licking alternate with Crawford handling a nude mannequin and Nunn addressing the camera. Nunn’s mother, Joy, passes the pair in the closing scene. MTV rejected the original edit over the food imagery, which Epstein reduced for broadcast.

“The Metro” followed in April (b/w “World of Smiles”) and reached No. 58. In the video for “The Metro,” director Dominic Orlando places Nunn in an angular transit environment with patterned seating, metallic surfaces, and rain-darkened exterior passages. Trench-coated figures, isolated band shots, and tight facial close-ups fragment the implied railway journey. Nunn cries in the closing sequence after the extended production schedule left her physically exhausted.

In August, “Masquerade” became the third single (b/w “Live Sex”) and peaked at No. 82 on the Hot 100. In the “Masquerade” video, director Alan Holtzman places Nunn and the band inside theatrical studio tableaux with masked figures, posed bodies, and puppet-like movement. Nunn shifts between performance shots and direct camera address as concealed faces reinforce the song’s theme of public roles and false appearances. The song appears in the closing credits of Perfect, the 1985 drama in which John Travolta plays a Rolling Stone reporter who — on assignment to cover ’80s fitness culture and the personal activities of those involved — joins an aerobics class headed by Jamie Curtis.

Pleasure Victim reached No. 30 on the Billboard 200. Rubellan Remasters expanded the album on a 2020 CD with seven single and extended remixes. Geffen restored the seven-song LP sequence on a neon-coral pressing three years later.

Love Life

Berlin released their third album, Love Life, on March 12, 1984, through Geffen.

Keyboardist Matt Reid and drummer Rob Brill entered the six-member lineup with Nunn, Crawford, Diamond, and Olsen. Crawford wrote nine titles; Diamond and Nunn joined him on “Touch.”

“When We Make Love” surges from a bass-synth rumble into broad electronic swells and high, sweeping lines. “Touch” skitters through a frenetic machine pattern as bright figures cross beneath terse phrases. “Beg, Steal or Borrow” glides at a slower tempo through playful electronic turns and a relaxed lead. “Now It’s My Turn” pivots from a shadowed opening passage into a broad, forceful response.

“Dancing in Berlin” races through sharp keyboard figures and Linn-programmed accents. “No More Words” strides on hard electronic strikes as Nunn drives short phrases toward an emphatic release. “for All Tomorrow’s Lies” drifts through atmospheric sweeps and chiming guitar lines.

A1. “When We Make Love” (4:59) – Crawford
A2. “Touch” (3:16) – Crawford, Diamond, Nunn
A3. “Beg, Steal or Borrow” (3:55) – Crawford
A4. “Now It’s My Turn” (4:11) – Crawford
A5. “Dancing in Berlin” (4:04) – Crawford

B1. “Pictures of You” (4:34) – Crawford
B2. “In My Dreams” (4:08) – Crawford
B3. “No More Words” (3:54) – Crawford
B4. “For All Tomorrow’s Lies” (3:48) – Crawford
B5. “Fall” (4:04) – Crawford

Sessions spanned October through December 1983 at Baby-O Recorders in Hollywood, with final mixes completed at Record Plant in Los Angeles. Mike Howlett produced eight tracks with recording engineer Connie Hill and mix engineer Mike Shipley. The former Gong bassist came from recent production work with A Flock of Seagulls and Tears for Fears.

Giorgio Moroder and Richie Zito produced “Dancing in Berlin” and “No More Words” at Oasis Recording Studios. Brian Reeves engineered the former selection; Mick Guzauski and Steve Hodge handled the latter. Moroder entered the project after soundtrack work on Flashdance and Scarface, while Arthur Barrow programmed synthesizers on both Berlin recordings.

In the video for “No More Words,” directors Evan English and Paul Goldman cast Berlin as a Depression-era criminal gang modeled on Bonnie and Clyde. Nunn and Crawford rob a bank, flee by car, hide in tall grass, and face police in a final gunfight. Nunn proposed the concept from her childhood attachment to Arthur Penn’s film. MTV required a revised edit that separated fired weapons from images of falling victims.

Richard Seireeni directed the sleeve around Phillip Dixon’s portrait of Nunn looking upward against a dark field. Douglas Bryant supplied the inner-sleeve photography.

Geffen issued “No More Words” in March 1984 with “Rumor of Love” on the reverse; the single reached No. 23 on the Billboard Hot 100. “Now It’s My Turn” followed in May (b/w “Lost in the Crowd”) and peaked at No. 74. The label paired “Dancing in Berlin” with “Pictures of You” for a September release. Love Life reached No. 28 on the Billboard 200.

Rubellan Remasters expanded the album on a 2020 CD with “Rumor of Love,” “Lost in the Crowd,” and three dance mixes.

Trio Lineup and Top Gun

Diamond, Olsen, and Reid left after the Love Life cycle, reducing Berlin to Nunn, Crawford, and Brill. The trio began a fourth album with producer Bob Ezrin and a large studio cast before Giorgio Moroder offered “Take My Breath Away,” a song written with lyricist Tom Whitlock for Top Gun. Berlin recorded the soundtrack selection with Moroder and engineer Brian Reeves at Oasis Recording Studios.

Columbia issued “Take My Breath Away” in June 1986 with Moroder and Joe Pizzulo’s “Radar Radio” on the reverse. The single reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and entered the fourth album sequence before release.

In the video for “Take My Breath Away,” director Marcelo Anciano intercuts Top Gun footage with Nunn walking through a wind-lashed aircraft graveyard at night in blue flight coveralls. John Crawford and Rob Brill explore the wreckage and repeatedly glimpse Nunn before she disappears elsewhere among the dismantled planes. Anciano conceived Nunn as a ghost returning to the site, but Paramount’s film excerpts displaced much of that narrative.

Count Three & Pray

Berlin released their fourth album, Count Three & Pray, on November 10, 1986, through Geffen.

Nunn, Crawford, and Brill expanded the trio with Pink Floyd guitarist David Gilmour, Cars guitarist Elliot Easton, Ted Nugent, Alan Murphy, and Kane Roberts. Patrick O’Hearn plays fretless bass on “Pink and Velvet,” while Osamu Kitajima and Masakazu Yoshizawa add koto, biwa, and shakuhachi to “You Don’t Know.”

“Will I Ever Understand You” charges on a galloping beat beneath broad, forceful lines. “You Don’t Know” descends from a shakuhachi call into a muted tread with Japanese plucked figures and a dark bass line. “Like Flames” swells from spare electronic bars into a marching pattern, broad guitar chords, and repeated “na-na” responses. “Take My Breath Away” glides around a cycling keyboard motif and sustained upper lines.

“Trash” careens through chugging figures and competing solo passages. “When Love Goes to War” rises from a spare piano entrance into an upbeat passage with repeated harmonic turns. “Hideaway” softens into an open arrangement that exposes Nunn’s warmer lower phrases. “Sex Me, Talk Me” swirls through orchestral sweeps and gruff male interjections before a distorted solo breaks into alternating lines. “Pink and Velvet” lingers over a slow tread and soft lead phrases before an extended closing solo.

A1. “Will I Ever Understand You” (4:40) – Crawford
A2. “You Don’t Know” (4:26) – Crawford
A3. “Like Flames” (5:05) – Brill
A4. “Heartstrings” (4:12) – Crawford, Reid, Brill, Nunn
A5. “Take My Breath Away” (4:11) – Moroder, Whitlock

B1. “Trash” (3:38) – Crawford
B2. “When Love Goes to War” (4:09) – Fairweather
B3. “Hideaway” (5:08) – Crawford, Sandford
B4. “Sex Me, Talk Me” (4:41) – Crawford
B5. “Pink and Velvet” (6:38) – Olsen, Nunn

Main sessions took place at One on One Recording, Village Recorder, Producers I and II, and Amigo Studios in Los Angeles. Bob Ezrin produced eight selections with recording and mix engineer David Tickle; Mike Shipley mixed “Like Flames,” “Heartstrings,” and “Sex Me, Talk Me.” Ezrin worked in sequence with 1986 productions for Rod Stewart and Lee Aaron.

Andy Richards produced and programmed “You Don’t Know” and “Sex Me, Talk Me” at the Manor and AIR Studios in England, with Berlin and Ezrin sharing production. The group retained the Oxford demo of “Hideaway” after later rebuilds left the original performance in place. Moroder produced and mixed “Take My Breath Away” with Brian Reeves at Oasis.

Janet Levinson designed the sleeve. Dean Chamberlain’s front photograph places Nunn low within a blue field, while Matthew Rolston and Rob Nunn supplied additional images for the inner sleeve.

“Like Flames” followed the soundtrack single in October 1986 with “Hideaway” on the reverse and reached No. 82 on the Billboard Hot 100. Geffen issued “You Don’t Know” in December (b/w “Trash”). The album peaked at No. 61 on the Billboard 200. “Take My Breath Away” received the Academy Award and Golden Globe for Best Original Song at the following year’s ceremonies.

Later Years

Nunn left Berlin in 1987, and Crawford formed the Big F with Brill and guitarist Mark Christian. Nunn revived the name in the late 1990s with a new supporting lineup and resumed touring. The resulting concert album, Live: Sacred and Profane, appeared in 2000, followed by the studio set Voyeur through iMusic two years later.

4Play collected covers and revised Berlin material on a 2005 CD. The group returned with Animal under the Something-Music imprint eight years later. Crawford and Diamond rejoined Nunn for Transcendance, a 2019 release on Cleopatra. Strings Attached recast catalog songs with the City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra through Cleopatra Records.

Discography: