Animotion

Animotion
Live At Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk - Santa Cruz, CA - July 27, 2012
Background information
Origin	Los Angeles, California
Genres	New wave, synthpop
Years active	1983–1990, 2001–present
Labels	Mercury Records, Polydor Records
Associated acts	Red Zone, Device
Website	Animotion Web Site
Members	Astrid Plane Bill Wadhams Don Kirkpatrick Greg Smith Kevin Rankin Chris Wadhams
Past members	Paul Antonelli David O'Brien Charles Ottavio Jim Blair Paul Engemann Cynthia Rhodes

Animotion is an American synthpop band from Los Angeles, California best known for their songs "Obsession", "Let Him Go", "I Engineer", and "Room to Move".

Formed in 1983 from the remnants of a retro science-fiction band called Red Zone, they signed a record deal with Mercury Records in 1984 and made four albums.

Animotion originally had five members, four of whom (lead singer Astrid Plane, keyboardist Antonelli, bassist Charles Ottavio (not the original bassist of Red Zone), and drummer David "Frenchy" O'Brien) had originally been members of the band Red Zone. After the demise of that band, the four aforementioned members set about creating a new group with lead singer/guitarist Bill Wadhams; who would co-front the new band with Plane. Shortly after the formation of Animotion around this nucleus, lead guitarist Don Kirkpatrick was brought on board, completing the band's most well-known line-up. They released their self-titled debut album in 1985. That year, a single from this album, "Obsession", written by hit songwriter Holly Knight and noted British singer/actor Michael Des Barres (who originally cut the song themselves as "Knight and Des Barres" for the 1983 movie A Night in Heaven), became a worldwide success and the band's first US Billboard Hot 100 Top Ten single. The follow-up single from this album, "Let Him Go" also cracked the US Top 40. The radio edit of "Let Him Go" was remixed for release in order to sound more like its predecessor, "Obsession".