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In an effort to confuse music fans and geography students everywhere, the Scottish musician Johnny McElhone decided to christen his new blues-rock band Texas. Johnny, formerly of 80's hit-makers Altered Images, has gone on record saying he took the name from the Wim Wenders' classic cult film Paris, Texas. As a band, Texas have evolved their sound from classic blues based riffs to blue-eyed soul to electronic dance pop. Texas released their debut album, Southside, in 1989 and had a hit right out of the gate with the driving "I Don't Want A Lover." The band's subsequent albums did well in Europe but failed to make much of a mainstream splash. Texas found an unlikely champion in US comedienne Ellen DeGeneres who flew them to America to re-record "So Called Friend," a track off their third album Ricks Road, to use as the theme to her sitcom Ellen. With the wide exposure, the track became a hit. In 1997 they came back with their R&B influenced album White On Blonde and had a hit single with the track "Say What You Want." The album debuted strongly on the charts and subsequent singles included "Black Eyed Boy," "Halo" and the romantic "Put Your Arms Around Me." Also on the album, an incongruous re-recording of "Say What You Want" with rapper Method Man. In 2002 Texas released Careful What You Wish For, an artistic departure for the band. Texas veer into straight-up dance pop territory but Fans were not impressed and the single "Carnival Girl" saw only moderate success.

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