‘I tried to move on quickly but it’s not possible to process grief so fast. It took a long time to recover’
BACK at the height of their powers after a 14-year hiatus, Tears For Fears should have been enjoying the fruits of their longawaited reunion. Singers Roland Orzabal and Curt Smith were playing to packed out arenas and working on a new album. Then, Roland’s wife Caroline fell suddenly and terminally ill.
The couple had been married for 35 years, getting wed when Roland was 21 in 1982, just as the band who started on a Bath council estate were finding their sound.
Tears For Fears cancelled a US tour so Roland could be with Caroline but her condition worsened and she died in July 2017, aged 55. The impact, not surprisingly, was devastating and the star lost a year grieving after suffering a physical breakdown.
Roland says: “I had to watch my wife die. Like a lot of people, I went crazy afterwards. The whole of 2018 was a write-off for me. Again, like a lot of people who lose their wife or husband, I got ill.”
Incredibly, Tears For Fears resumed touring just two months after the tragedy which Roland, 58, now admits was a major mistake. “I tried to move on quickly, but it’s not possible to process grief that fast,” he explains. “I was trying to do one thing, get back to work, but the mind and the soul has its own agenda. I fell apart and it takes a long time and a lot of work to recover.
“I was in no fit state to tour or to do anything, really. But we’ve come back brighter and stronger.”
Wavy-haired frontman Roland, whose early struggles with depression inspired global hits such as Mad World and Shout, says seeing “a great grief therapist” in Los Angeles helped him recover. He is also now happy in a new relationship.
Having overcome his grief, Roland is now touring again with Curt and the “best band” they’ve ever had.
While Roland doesn’t name his new partner, he does explain: “It’s only really in the last eight months that I feel like I’m fully back. My new relationship has helped like crazy and I know I’m very lucky.”
But his loss has helped inspire Tears For Fears’ latest songs, including new single The Tipping Point, due out in April.
“The Tipping Point is about that time when the person you love is ill and it’s ‘At what point do you let someone go?’ ” he reveals. “It’s strange and it’s tough to come 360 degrees, going through the depression that inspired Mad World to arrive at the same place as a 56-year-old.”
As well as the new single,Tears For Fears are releasing a box-set edition of their 18 million-selling second album Songs From The Big Chair to mark its 35th anniversary. It reminds Roland of seeing him and Curt, also 58, take off in America.
The album and its singles Shout and Everybody Wants To Rule The World reached No 1 Stateside.
Now, Roland is relaxed and selfdeprecating talking about Tears For Fears’ incredible story.
But he admits that, in the ’80s, he was unable to entirely enjoy their success.
“I was staid, obsessive and not much fun to be around,” he admits.
“I wasn’t a party animal and I was on everyone’s back so much that I was called ‘the police’ when we were on tour.
“For other members of the band and our crew, there was a lot of excess – a lot of archetypal ’80s drugs being consumed. “It wasn’t in my nature to indulge and I think being the sober one is a good place to be.
“It was a bit like a stag do: when everyone else is having fun, you have to have one responsible adult, and I was that guy. I was the designated driver!” Ironically, Roland’s one indulgent spending habit helped his own downfall, following his and Curt’s split in 1991.
“I didn’t fall into the nouveau spending trap,” he says. “I was newly-married and living in a nice Georgian house when I was only 21. That was good enough for me. The