Ian Prowse  Ian Prowse (born 10 January 1964) is an English singer-songwriter, currently frontman of Amsterdam and previously of Pele. Prowse was born at Chester City Hospital (now demolished) and grew up in Little Sutton, a suburb of Ellesmere Port, Cheshire where he attended Sutton Comprehensive School. Having performed in school bands When in Rome and Joseph Groome Towers, Prowse formed Pele in 1989 along with Dally (drums), Robbo (Hammond), Nico (violin) and Jim McCallister (bass). Signed by Michael Levy, Baron Levy in March 1991 to M&G Records/Polydor, the band went on to release two studio albums ("Fireworks" & "The Sport Of Kings"), one live album and six singles. Pele's singles never reached the Top 40 in the UK Singles Chart, with it being often remarked that Pele sold more of their famous primary colour T-shirts than they did records. However they scored a number one single in South Africa with "Megalomania", and had other hits in Holland, Portugal and Belgium. After nine tours of the UK, including those with Del Amitri and The Pogues, they split in 1996 due to problems with the record company whose efforts to make Prowse record as a solo artist were resisted by the singer. Prowse celebrated the 25th anniversary of first album "Fireworks" with a UK tour in the early 2017 with a 25th anniversary of The Sport of Kings tour announced for 2018. Prowse went on to form Amsterdam in 1999 with former Blow Monkeys drummer Tony Kiley and cousin Johnny Barlow. It was not until September 2004 that the band managed to secure a record deal in the form of London-based Beat Crazy. They released one album "The Journey" in February 2005 and three singles, "The Journey" (which hit number 32 in the UK Singles Chart) and "Does This Train Stop on Merseyside" also hit the lower reaches of the chart. The partnership was dissolved by mutual consent in 2006. The band then signed to The Stranglers management company and released their next album "Arm in Arm" on CIA Recordings in 2008. "Does This Train Stop on Merseyside" regularly elicited an emotional response from Radio 1 DJ John Peel. Peel's widow Sheila Ravenscroft went on the station after the DJ's death and confirmed that 'He was not capable of playing it without crying'.