The band became a prominent act in the US during the Second British Invasion, and in 1985 performed at Live Aid in Philadelphia, where they were joined on stage by Madonna.

Future Thompson Twins member Alannah Currie lived in another squat in the same street, which is how she met Bailey.

[6] In 1980, the band (now consisting of Bailey, Dodd, Roog and drummer Chris Bell, who had replaced Edge the previous year) released their first single, "Squares and Triangles", on their own Dirty Discs label.

In 1981, the line-up became Bailey, Dodd, Roog, Bell and two new members: former band roadie Joe Leeway on congas and percussion, and Jane Shorter on saxophone.

This line-up recorded the debut Thompson Twins studio album A Product Of... (Participation), documented in the film Listen to London (1981).

Saxophonist Jane Shorter left and was replaced by Currie (who also played percussion), and bassist Matthew Seligman, a former member of the Soft Boys and the Fallout Club, joined;[1] leaving Bailey to switch to keyboards, with Leeway starting to handle lead vocals on some tracks.

1 dance club hit in the US,[9] and an album titled In the Name of Love (consisting mainly of tracks from Set, with two others from A Product Of... (Participation)) was released in the US to capitalize on the song's popularity.

[9] After the success of "In the Name of Love", Bailey, Currie and Leeway, wanting to pursue the single's different sound, toyed with the idea of starting a new band on the side, which they planned to call 'The Bermuda Triangle'.

[10] When "In the Name of Love" (and its parent studio album Set) failed to make a substantial impact in the UK record charts, this plan was abandoned.

However, at the same time, manager Hade convinced Bailey, Leeway and Currie to downsize the Thompson Twins to a core of the three in April 1982.

The remaining Thompson Twins, who had not in fact broken up, decided to go abroad to free themselves of any UK influence, as well as to combine the songwriting for their first studio album as a trio with a long holiday.

Following the band's reduction to a trio, designer Andy Airfix created a logo consisting of outlines of their heads and respective hairstyles.

[9] The band's fourth studio album, Into the Gap, was released in February 1984 and became one of the year's biggest sellers, selling five million copies worldwide.

However, in March 1985, while promoting their new single "Roll Over" and the forthcoming studio album, Bailey collapsed in his London hotel room from nervous exhaustion.

Prior to the album's release, the Thompson Twins performed on the American leg of Live Aid in July 1985 and were joined onstage by Madonna.

[4] The planned summer 1985 tour of the UK (and a headlining appearance at the Glastonbury Festival) had to be cancelled due to Bailey's health problems (fans with tickets received a free live album as compensation), though international dates were rescheduled and the latter half of 1985 saw sell out tours for the band in the US and Japan.

Prior to this, Bailey and Currie (who were now a couple) had their first child together in 1988,[1] and in the following years they spent a lot of time writing material for other artists including the hit single "I Want That Man" for Deborah Harry of Blondie in 1989.

[1] Thompson Twins declined to follow the example of many of their contemporaries and reform in order to tie in with a trend of nostalgia for the 1980s, although Bailey, Currie and Leeway appeared together on the UK Channel 4 show Top Ten Electro Bands in 2001.

[14] Currie described this group as a "rapidly growing network of politically non-aligned women who are actively resisting the use of genetically-engineered material in our food and on our land".

During that time she designed a billboard to spark a debate on the ethics of genetically modifying cows with human genes to produce a new milk.

[23] The billboard, featuring a young woman with four breasts hooked up to a milking machine, caused huge controversy but won several international art awards.

[32] He began performing live again as Thompson Twins' Tom Bailey in 2014 and has since toured the UK, North America and Japan.

[33] After leaving the Thompson Twins in 1986, Leeway briefly dabbled in acting and attempted a solo music career, though neither were successful.

He is on the staff at the Hypnosis Motivation Institute (HMI) in the Los Angeles district of Tarzana, and is also a certified trainer in neuro-linguistic programming.

[34] The earlier members went on to do other things: Bailey performed Thompson Twins songs live for the first time in 27 years on 17 August 2014 at Temple Island Meadows, Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire, for the Rewind South Festival.

[44] He continues to tour internationally, under the moniker "Thompson Twins' Tom Bailey," performing in the UK and also in North America in 2016.

[47] On 3 September 2022, Bailey performed the entire 'Into the Gap' studio album for the first time ever along with his band consisting of Alice Offley (bass guitar and backing vocals), Charlotte Raven (keyboards and cello) and Paulina Szczepaniak (drums and percussion) collectively known as 'The Sisters of Mercy' in Aylesbury, UK (at the Aylesbury Waterside Theatre) to a sold out audience.