R.I.P.: Peter Byrne, Lead Of Naked Eyes and Songwriter

Peter Byrne, the lead singer and co-founder of the 1980s synth-pop duo Naked Eyes, died Sept. 14 in Los Angeles after a brief illness. He was 74. The band announced his death on its website, saying Byrne died “peacefully.” A cause was not disclosed. 

A private family service is planned. Byrne was the voice of one of MTV’s signature British-invasion hits: Naked Eyes’ sleek 1983 cover of Burt Bacharach and Hal David’s “Always Something There to Remind Me,” which reached No. 8 on the Billboard Hot 100. That same year, the original Byrne-Fisher song “Promises, Promises” climbed to No. 11. 

Two more singles — “When the Lights Go Out” (No. 37 in 1983) and “(What) in the Name of Love” (No. 39 in 1984) — also reached the Hot 100’s Top 40, making the duo a fixture of early-’80s American radio and video even as they never scored a comparable hit at home in Britain. Naked Eyes formed in 1982, when Byrne and keyboardist Rob Fisher — college friends from Bath who had already played together in the short-lived new wave group Neon — decided they preferred writing and recording to running a full band. 

After Naked Eyes’ brief commercial peak, Byrne sang backing vocals on Stevie Wonder’s 1985 No. 1 hit “Part-Time Lover” and later wrote for film and television, including the 1993 Olsen twins song “I Am the Cute One.” Fisher died in 1999 at 42 after cancer surgery. 

Recently

Byrne kept working. He released the solo album The Real Illusion in 2001, then revived Naked Eyes as a recording and touring project, issuing the covers set Fumbling With the Covers in 2007 and the original album Disguise the Limit in 2021. A remastered edition of the group’s U.S. debut arrived in 2025. He continued performing into his 70s, including on 1980s package tours. 

Byrne is survived by his siblings Eileen, Sandy, Carol and Steve; his three children, Merlin, Dylan and Chloe; and his former wife, Elena Karina Byrne. The family asked that those wishing to pay respects support his music.