Dave Stewart Says Eurythmics’ Second Rock Hall Nomination ‘Kinda Came Out of the Blue’

Eurythmics‘ second Rock and Roll Hall of Fame nomination “kinda came out of the blue,” according to the duo’s Dave Stewart.

Eligible since 2007, the synth-pop duo’s other appearance on the ballot was in 2018, prior to Stewart and Annie Lennox’s reunion for Sting’s 30th We’ll Be Together benefit concert in New York for his Rainforest Foundation Fund.

“We did quite a bit of sort of interviews with people, new photo sessions, which we hadn’t done for awhile, and little bits of film — I can’t remember everything, but we did quite a bit of stuff,” Stewart, who’s never attended a Rock Hall induction, tells Billboard. “And then we weren’t put in. So this nomination kinda came out of the blue because we haven’t actually been on tour or doing that much, Annie and I.

Speaking by phone from his studio in the Bahamas, where he’s working on a new solo album for Daryl Hall, the musician adds: “It’s one of those things where you just go, ‘Listen, it’s in the hands of the fans and the gods and the gods of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, I suppose.’”

Eurythmics is not without honors, of course. The group was inducted into the U.K. Music Hall of Fame in 2007 and into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2020. The act won a Grammy Award, a Brit Award and an MTV Music Video Award during its 16 active years from 1980 through 2005, along with Four ASCAP Awards, three Ivor Novello Awards and a Silver Clef Award.

Lennox told Billboard separately that “it’s lovely to be nominated and to be seen as a contributor to the ever-changing cultural zeitgeist.”

For Stewart, meanwhile, any honor is down to the strength of the songs he and Lennox wrote, including hits such as “Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This),” “Here Comes the Rain Again,” “Would I Lie to You?” and “Missionary Man.”

“People thought we were an electronic duo that came to America with this new way synth-pop, but actually we insisted when we were writing our songs that you could play them with just a guitar and voice, or piano and voice,” he explains. “I think the ’80s were seen as this kind of pop music, quite disposable, blah, blah, and yet it’s still heard all over the place, our music. But it was the same with Motown, wasn’t it? ‘Oh, this is a lot of throwaway pop music.’ But still, when you hear them they sound fantastic.”

He adds, “So I’m pleased that if we do get inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. It sort of puts a little spotlight on our songs once again, so that other generations hear them and pass them on.”

Stewart has quite a bit on his plate while the Rock Hall voting is being conducted into April. He’s always kept busy as an artist, with his own albums and with the all-star SuperHeavy. As a producer, he’s worked with Bob Dylan, Ringo Starr, Mick Jagger, Joss Stone, Jon Bon Jovi, Katy Perry, Stevie Nicks, Bryan Ferry and others. He also co-produced the 1991 documentary Deep Blues: A Musical Pilgrimage to the Crossroads, and operated a couple of record labels, including the current Bay Street Records imprint.

In addition to the Hall album, Stewart will be releasing new music of his own, Ebony McQueen, a “voodoo blues” set that will be accompanied by a film. Stewart has been previewing the 24 songs each Tuesday on his Instagram, with performances filmed in his native Sunderland, England.

“I’m a music addict,” Stewart says. “This is a passion project … just like most everything I do now. I’m at a point where I just want to do the things that really speak to me and make me happy, you know?”

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