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Pet Shop Boys

Pet Shop Boys are an English synth-pop duo formed in London in 1981. Consisting of primary vocalist Neil Tennant and keyboardist Chris Lowe, they have sold more than 100 million records worldwide, and were listed as the most successful duo in UK music history in the 1999 edition of The Guinness Book of Records.

Three-time Brit Award winners and six-time Grammy nominees, since 1984 they have achieved 42 top 30 singles, 22 of these being top 10 hits on the UK Singles Chart, including four UK number ones: "West End Girls" (also number one on the US Billboard Hot 100), "It's a Sin", a synth-pop version of "Always on My Mind", and "Heart". Other hit songs include a cover of "Go West", and their own "Opportunities (Let's Make Lots of Money)", and "What Have I Done to Deserve This?" in a duet with Dusty Springfield. With five US top ten singles in the 1980s, they are associated with the Second British Invasion.

At the 2009 Brit Awards in London, Pet Shop Boys received an award for Outstanding Contribution to Music. In 2016, Billboard newspaper named Pet Shop Boys the number one dance duo/group over the 40 years since the chart's inception in 1976. In 2017, the duo received NME Godlike Genius Award.

Early years (1981–1984)
Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe met in a hi-fi shop, Chelsea Record Centre, on 203 King's Road, in Chelsea, London on 19 August 1981. Tennant had purchased a Korg MS-10 synthesizer which sparked a conversation with Lowe. Discovering that they had a mutual interest in disco and electronic music, they became friends. In particular, the pair drew inspiration from two synth-pop records: "Souvenir" by Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark (OMD); and "Bedsitter" by Soft Cell, which reflected their lifestyles at the time. According to Tennant, he and Lowe would listen to "pioneers of electronic music", including OMD, Soft Cell, Kraftwerk, the Human League, and Depeche Mode.

The duo began to work together on material, first in Tennant's flat in Chelsea, then, from 1982, in a small studio in Camden Town. They briefly labelled their demo tapes under the band name West End before settling on Pet Shop Boys. They say that their band name was taken from friends who worked in a pet shop in Ealing and were known as the "pet shop boys". They also noted a naming similarity with the recently formed rap rock group Beastie Boys. In August 1983, Tennant, who was an assistant editor at Smash Hits, went to New York to interview Sting. While there, he arranged to meet hi-NRG producer Bobby Orlando and gave him a demo tape containing "It's a Sin" and "Opportunities (Let's Make Lots of Money)".

From 1983 to 1984, Orlando recorded 11 tracks with Tennant and Lowe, including "West End Girls", "Opportunities (Let's Make Lots of Money)", "It's a Sin", "I Want a Lover", "I Get Excited", "Two Divided by Zero", "Rent", "Later Tonight", "Pet Shop Boys", "A Man Could Get Arrested" and "One More Chance". In April 1984, the Orlando-produced "West End Girls" was released, becoming a club hit in Los Angeles and San Francisco. On 2 November, it was voted "Screamer of the Week" by listeners of Long Island, New York, radio station WLIR. It was a minor dance hit in Belgium and France, but was only available in the United Kingdom as a 12" import.

Please (1984–1986)
In March 1985, after long negotiations, Pet Shop Boys cut their contractual ties with Bobby O, with a settlement giving Bobby O significant royalties for future sales. Hiring manager Tom Watkins, they signed with the London-based Parlophone label. In April, Tennant left Smash Hits magazine—where he had progressed to the position of deputy editor—and in July, a new single, "Opportunities (Let's Make Lots of Money)", was released, reaching number 116 in the UK. The B-side to this single, "In the Night", later resurfaced, in a longer remixed version, as the opening track to the duo's first remix album, Disco, in 1986. This version was also used as the theme for the UK television series The Clothes Show.

They returned to the studio in August to re-record "West End Girls" with producer Stephen Hague. Released in October 1985 it rose slowly in the British charts to become number one in January 1986. It subsequently replicated this success in the United States, Canada, Finland, Hong Kong, Lebanon, Israel, New Zealand and Norway and sold an estimated 1.5 million copies worldwide.

After the success of "West End Girls", Pet Shop Boys released a follow-up single, "Love Comes Quickly", on 24 February 1986. The single reached number 19 on the UK Singles Chart and was followed by their debut album, Please, on 24 March. In June 1986, the band announced a European tour; however, their plans for a theatrical extravaganza proved to be too expensive and the tour was cancelled. Please started Pet Shop Boys' penchant for choosing one-word album titles, which Neil Tennant has since stated is now a Pet Shop Boys "signature thing", akin to e. e. cummings' use of exclusively lower case letters. New versions of their second single, "Opportunities (Let's Make Lots of Money)", and the album track "Suburbia" were also released in 1986, followed by Disco. In September 1986, Pet Shop Boys performed "Love Comes Quickly" and "West End Girls" at the 1986 MTV Video Music Awards in Los Angeles.

Actually (1987–1988)
1987 started with Pet Shop Boys receiving both a BRIT Award and Ivor Novello Award for "West End Girls". Later, on 15 June, they released what became their second number one single, "It's a Sin". The single caused some controversy: Tennant's school, St. Cuthbert's Grammar School, in Newcastle upon Tyne, chastised him in the press, while pop impresario Jonathan King accused them of plagiarising the Cat Stevens song "Wild World". King recorded a version of "Wild World" in the style of Pet Shop Boys to prove his point. The group later sued King and won damages, which were donated to charity. The video to "It's a Sin" also saw their first collaboration with director Derek Jarman.

The continued success of "It's a Sin" was followed by the release of "What Have I Done to Deserve This?" on 10 August. Co-written with Allee Willis and also featuring Dusty Springfield on vocals, the single reached number two on the UK Singles Chart and the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart. Although the duo had wanted to release this track on their debut album, they had been unable to track down Springfield and were reluctant to record it with any other female singer, despite their record company's suggestions. Springfield's manager finally contacted them in 1986, following the release of Please, and towards the end of that year, she travelled to London to record "What Have I Done to Deserve This?" with them. It was the first track to be recorded for the duo's second album. Pet Shop Boys had been told that Springfield was difficult to work with and even that she could no longer sing; however, her performance on the track put any such concerns to rest and they began a collaboration with her, which lasted until the end of the decade. Included on their second album Actually, the song became a massive worldwide hit and resurrected Springfield's career, leading to her 1990 album, Reputation, on which Pet Shop Boys were major contributing writers and producers. This duet was also the start of a series of collaborations with high-profile musicians, going on throughout the band's career.

Also in August 1987, Pet Shop Boys appeared on Love Me Tender, a UK television programme, on ITV, commemorating the tenth anniversary of Elvis Presley's death. They were asked to perform one of their favourite Elvis tracks and they narrowed it down to two options, "Baby Let's Play House" and "Always on My Mind", eventually settling on the latter. Their Presley cover would later be re-released in a 12" version, consisting of a medley, along with an acid house track by the duo, titled "In My House". September 1987 saw the release of the duo's second studio album, Actually, followed by the single "Rent" in October, which reached number 8 in the UK. The final song on the album, "King's Cross" accidentally anticipated the King's Cross fire at the London Underground section of the station in November of that year (part of the lyrics read: "Dead and wounded on either side/You know it's only a matter of time"). The Sun newspaper in the UK subsequently tried to get the track released as a charity single, but Pet Shop Boys would not allow this.

Towards the end of 1987, Pet Shop Boys started work on an hour-long film that would incorporate the songs from Please and Actually. Working with director Jack Bond, the short film grew into a full-scale movie, It Couldn't Happen Here, starring Barbara Windsor, Joss Ackland and Gareth Hunt. The film was eventually released in 1988 to mixed reviews. Footage from the film was also used for the music video to "Always on My Mind", now released as a single on 30 November; it became both the duo's third number one single in the UK and the Christmas number one single for 1987, beating "Fairytale of New York" by The Pogues and Kirsty MacColl. In November 2004, The Daily Telegraph newspaper placed Pet Shop Boys' version of "Always on My Mind" at number two in a list of the fifty greatest cover versions of all time.

1988 started with another collaboration. Pet Shop Boys wrote and produced the song "I'm Not Scared" for Patsy Kensit's band, Eighth Wonder. The song became her biggest hit single and Pet Shop Boys included their own extended version of the track on their Introspective album. March 1988 saw the duo achieve their fourth UK number one single (and their last to date), with a remixed edit of "Heart", different from the album version. This single version would be included on their first and third greatest hits albums, Discography: The Complete Singles Collection and Ultimate, whereas the album version would be used for their second retrospective, the double PopArt: Pet Shop Boys – The Hits. The video to the single, directed by Jack Bond, starred Ian McKellen as a vampire who steals Neil Tennant's wife.

Introspective and Behaviour (1988–1992)
In the 1996 BBC Radio 1 documentary About Pet Shop Boys, Neil Tennant noted that their "Imperial Phase" ended in 1988. On 12 September 1988, Pet Shop Boys released a new single, "Domino Dancing", and in the documentary Tennant recounts his disappointment when hearing the news that the single had reached number 7 on the UK Singles Chart. He felt that their major success was now over and that it was going to be a challenge to maintain their level of success in the future.

Their third album, Introspective, was released on 10 October 1988. Unusually, this was a six-track album of previously unheard remixes and new tracks in extended form. It was followed by the Trevor Horn–produced top-five single "Left to My Own Devices", and a cover version of the Sterling Void single "It's Alright", in 1989. 1989 also saw the start of Pet Shop Boys' first tour, in which they performed in Hong Kong, Japan, and Britain. The tour followed the ideas of the extravaganza that could not have been afforded earlier in their careers. Derek Jarman returned to direct the performance and he provided several films that were projected during the shows.

The September 1990 single, "So Hard" reached No. 4 in the UK and was followed by their fourth studio album, Behaviour (1990), which was recorded in Munich with producer Harold Faltermeyer. The album was not intended to reflect a dramatic change in mood from their earlier albums; however, it is noticeably subdued. It included the fan favourite "Being Boring", the second single from the album, which only reached No. 20 on the UK Singles Chart, their lowest placing at the time. The song was inspired by a quote by Zelda Fitzgerald: "...she refused to be bored chiefly because she wasn't boring", and was widely thought to be a commentary on the AIDS epidemic. The music video was directed by filmmaker Bruce Weber. By this time, the duo had also parted ways with manager Tom Watkins, replacing him with Jill Carrington, who had previously been marketing director at Polydor.

In March 1991, a cover of U2's "Where the Streets Have No Name" as a medley with "Can't Take My Eyes Off You", the 1960s pop song by Frankie Valli/the Four Seasons, was released as a double-A-sided single with a remix of the album track "How Can You Expect to Be Taken Seriously?" by Brothers in Rhythm. This was followed by the duo's first world tour. Named Performance, the tour kicked off in Tokyo, on 11 March 1991. The tour also visited the United States, Canada, France, Belgium, Germany, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Czechoslovakia, Austria, Hungary, Yugoslavia, Switzerland, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands, Ireland and the United Kingdom. The shows were designed by David Alden and David Fielding, who had designed several sets for the Royal Opera House.

Before taking a break in 1992, in 1991 Pet Shop Boys released an 18-track compilation called Discography, which included all of their single releases up until then and two new singles—"DJ Culture" and "Was It Worth It?"—omitting only "How Can You Expect to Be Taken Seriously?" (although it did appear on the video companion Videography). While "DJ Culture" had some success, "Was It Worth It?" became the duo's first single to miss the UK top 20 since their two Bobby O debut singles.

During this period, Pet Shop Boys continued to collaborate with many high-profile musicians. They worked again with Dusty Springfield, on the singles "Nothing Has Been Proved" (which was a song written for their soundtrack for the film Scandal about the Profumo political scandal in Britain) and "In Private". The duo later went on to produce half of the tracks on her 1990 solo Reputation album. Pet Shop Boys were also asked to write and produce an album for Liza Minnelli, in 1989. The album, Results, generated four singles, including the hit single "Losing My Mind", a cover version of the Stephen Sondheim song from the 1971 Broadway musical "Follies". The duo's own demo of this appeared on their "Jealousy" single as a B-side.

Tennant worked with Bernard Sumner and Johnny Marr on their first album as Electronic, whose first single, "Getting Away with It", co-written and co-produced by Tennant, was released on 4 December 1989. In 1991, Lowe also contributed to the Electronic project, contributing the chord sequence to "The Patience of a Saint" on their 1991 album. In 1992, Tennant sang lead vocals on the non-album single "Disappointed", which was featured on the soundtrack to the film Cool World. Pet Shop Boys set up the Spaghetti Records label in 1991. Their most successful release was the soundtrack to the 1992 film The Crying Game, which featured Boy George performing the title song. The song was produced by Pet Shop Boys and featured Tennant on backing vocals. Other artists on the label included Scottish singer Cicero, the Ignorants, and Masterboy.

In 1992, they were the subjects of a South Bank Show documentary on ITV with contributions from Liza Minnelli, Eric Watson (photographer and video director), Simon Frith (music critic), David Alden and David Fielding.

Very and Disco 2 (1993–1995)
In June 1993, Pet Shop Boys re-invented their image and made a strong return to the UK Singles Chart with "Can You Forgive Her?". Taking its title from the Anthony Trollope novel of the same name, the single reached number 7 on the UK Singles Chart, while its iconic music video featured the duo in orange body suits and tall dunce caps, in a world of computer-generated imagery. The theme was continued with the follow-up single, often considered as their signature song, a cover of the Village People single "Go West", which reached number 2 in the UK, with another computer-generated music video, this time inspired by the Soviet Union, with shots of the duo filmed in Moscow. The tune was adopted into a football chant at Arsenal Football Club (which Chris Lowe supports) and is heard at grounds throughout Europe to this day.

The duo's fifth studio album, Very, followed on 27 September and is the only Pet Shop Boys album to reach number one on the UK Albums Chart. It was produced by Pet Shop Boys and mixed with additional production by Stephen Hague, who had produced their first album and had subsequently produced records by OMD, New Order and Erasure. The other singles from Very, "I Wouldn't Normally Do This Kind of Thing", "Liberation" and "Yesterday, When I Was Mad", continued the theme of CGI videos, peaking with the "Liberation" video, which contained almost no real-life elements at all. All these videos were directed by Howard Greenhalgh, who continued to work with Pet Shop Boys well into the next decade. Very was also released in a limited edition including an entirely new album, Relentless, which was composed of six all-new progressive house tracks, with a darker tone to the perky Very.

In 1994, Pet Shop Boys offered to remix fellow Parlophone act Blur's single "Girls & Boys"; it was a club hit throughout Europe and started a sporadic trend for Pet Shop Boys to remix other artists' music. Also in 1994, Pet Shop Boys released the 1994 Comic Relief single, "Absolutely Fabulous". The song started when Tennant and Lowe were playing around with samples from the BBC sitcom Absolutely Fabulous in the studio. They wanted to release a single, so approached lead actors Jennifer Saunders and Joanna Lumley and suggested releasing it as a charity single. The single was released under the artist name of 'Absolutely Fabulous' too. Tennant and Lowe do not consider it as a Pet Shop Boys single release and it was not included on their next best-of album. The video to the single featured clips from the sitcom, along with newly recorded footage of Tennant and Lowe with the characters of Edina (Saunders) and Patsy (Lumley).

On 12 September 1994, Pet Shop Boys released the follow-up to their 1986 remix album Disco, in the form of Disco 2. The album featured club remixes of the singles released from Very and Behaviour, in a continuous megamix by Danny Rampling. Then, in October, Pet Shop Boys began their Discovery tour, which would see them visit areas that they had never performed in before: Singapore, Australia, Puerto Rico, Mexico, Colombia, Chile, Argentina and Brazil. The following year, a new version of "Paninaro", the 1986 B-side to "Suburbia", was released to promote the B-sides collection Alternative. The single, called "Paninaro '95", is based on the live version from the Discovery tour.

Bilingual and Nightlife (1996–2001)
The Pet Shop Boys remix of the David Bowie song "Hallo Spaceboy" featured Tennant on backing vocals and was released in the UK on 19 February 1996. Pet Shop Boys then joined Bowie during his performance of the song at the 1996 Brit Awards ceremony, as well as an appearance on the Top of the Pops television program.

In April, Pet Shop Boys released the single "Before" which reached number 7 in the UK Singles Chart. That month, Tina Turner also released her Wildest Dreams album, which featured the Pet Shop Boys-produced track "Confidential". In August, Pet Shop Boys released a follow-up single, "Se a vida é (That's the Way Life Is)", a Latin American music-inspired track, featuring a drum sample from a track called "Estrada da paixão" by Brazilian act Olodum. This preceded the sixth Pet Shop Boys album Bilingual, which was released in September.

The majority of 1998 was spent with a series of live dates and minor releases, including a charity album of Noël Coward songs, called Twentieth Century Blues. The album included Pet Shop Boys' version of "Sail Away", along with songs performed by Elton John, Texas, Marianne Faithfull, The Divine Comedy, Suede, Damon Albarn, Vic Reeves and Robbie Williams. Tennant also co-produced the Williams track and provided backing vocals for Elton John. Tennant provided backing vocals on Robbie Williams' "No Regrets" single, along with Neil Hannon from The Divine Comedy. Meanwhile, the band switched managers again as Carrington resigned and was succeeded by Mitch Clark, who had previously worked for EMI International as Head of Promotion.

During this time, Pet Shop Boys began to work with playwright Jonathan Harvey on a stage musical project. In 1999, many of the tracks recorded ended up on the duo's seventh studio album, Nightlife, which included the Top 20 singles "I Don't Know What You Want But I Can't Give It Any More" and "New York City Boy", the Top 10 hit "You Only Tell Me You Love Me When You're Drunk", "Closer to Heaven"—which would later become the title of Pet Shop Boys' musical—as well a duet with Kylie Minogue, "In Denial", about a father coming out to his daughter. Minogue later performed the track live, during her 2005 Showgirl tour, singing to a pre-recorded Neil Tennant. This is not the first time that Pet Shop Boys have worked with Minogue: in 1994, they wrote a song for inclusion on her eponymous Kylie Minogue album, called "Falling", which was based on an unreleased remix of "Go West" with new lyrics by Tennant; however, Minogue and her record company did not like the production sound of Pet Shop Boys' demo and asked Farley & Heller to finally produce the track.

In 2000 the duo made their debut performance at the Glastonbury festival on the pyramid stage on Saturday 24 June as the sun was setting, before Travis headlined. Cerys Matthews (of band Catatonia) took the part of Dusty Springfield for the duet on "What Have I Done to Deserve This?". The performance was heralded as one of the weekend's most triumphant.

Release (2002–2005)
After the mixed fortunes of Closer to Heaven, Pet Shop Boys returned to the studio to start work on their eighth album. After toying with genres including hip hop, they went for a stripped back acoustic sound as a complete change from the over-the-top dance music of the musical. In 2002, they released the modestly successful album Release. Most of the tracks were produced by the duo themselves and many featured Johnny Marr on guitar. The first single, "Home and Dry", featured a very peculiar video, directed by Wolfgang Tillmans, mostly consisting of raw camcorder footage of mice filmed in the London Underground. The follow-up single "I Get Along" had a video filmed by Bruce Weber, and after this they embarked on another world tour, although this time it was a stripped back affair, with no dancers, backing singers, costumes or lavish sets. They used two extra guitarists, Bic Hayes and Mark Refoy, a percussionist (Dawne Adams) and regular programmer (Pete Gleadall) alongside Chris Lowe (keyboards) and Neil Tennant (vocals and guitar).

The tour took them first to several universities around the UK; these dates saw them perform at Bristol University, Keele University, University of East Anglia in Norwich, University of Teesside, Middlesbrough and De Montfort University, Leicester. Subsequent dates took them to Germany, the U.S., Canada, Spain, Italy, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden, then another series of dates in the UK again, Switzerland and onto Japan, Singapore, Hong Kong and then a first-ever date in Thailand as the final show, at the large Bangkok Impact Arena, in front of 9,000 fans. A third single, "London", was only released in Germany, at the request of EMI Germany. It was never planned for release in the UK, although a promotional video was shot by the distinguished photographer Martin Parr and it was serviced to some UK radio stations. Following a live stint on the John Peel show on Radio 1, Pet Shop Boys released Disco 3, in February 2003. The album followed their previous Disco albums, but this one also included new songs as well as remixes.

In 2003, Pet Shop Boys launched two new labels, Olde English Vinyl and Lucky Kunst, their Spaghetti Records label becoming defunct. The first release on Olde English Vinyl was Atomizer's "Hooked on Radiation", followed by Pete Burns' "Jack and Jill Party" in 2004. The only Lucky Kunst release to date is the mentioned Kiki Kokova's version of "Love to Love You Baby". They also remixed Yoko Ono's "Walking on Thin Ice" in 2003 and Rammstein's "Mein Teil" in 2004. Another new manager, David Dorrell, was brought on board to replace Clark. In November 2003, Pet Shop Boys released a second greatest hits album, PopArt: The Hits, a double compilation with two new singles: "Miracles" and "Flamboyant". Not chronologically arranged, the tracks were divided into two discs: Pop including the more traditional pop songs and Art containing those works which were considered more experimental.

In September 2004, Pet Shop Boys appeared at a free concert in Trafalgar Square in London, where they performed, with the Dresdner Sinfoniker orchestra, a whole new soundtrack to accompany the seminal 1925 silent film Battleship Potemkin. There were four further live performances of the work with the Dresdner Sinfoniker in Germany in September 2005. The Battleship Potemkin soundtrack was then released on 5 September 2005. In November 2004, Pet Shop Boys played at the Prince's Trust concert titled Produced by Trevor Horn with other artists who had worked with the British producer Trevor Horn, including Grace Jones, ABC, Seal and Frankie Goes to Hollywood. In 2005, Pet Shop Boys was selected as the headline act for the Moscow Live 8 concert, in Red Square. They were received extremely well by the crowd in Moscow. Also in 2005, Pet Shop Boys were asked to put together the twentieth release in the Back to Mine series, an ongoing anthology showcasing artists' favourite music selections, with an emphasis on afterhours chill-out music. As a condition, Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe were given one disc each, whereas all previous releases in the series consisted of only a single disc per group (see Back to Mine: Pet Shop Boys).

In July 2017, Pet Shop Boys reissued Release as part of their Catalogue: 1985–2012 series. It features the remastered album, plus bonus tracks, demos and Pet Shop Boys' remixes of their tracks.

Fundamental (2006–2008)
Pet Shop Boys began 2006 remixing Madonna's single "Sorry", for release in February. The single reached number one in the UK and the Pet Shop Boys remix included new backing vocals performed by Tennant. Madonna subsequently used the Pet Shop Boys remix, including Tennant's vocals, on her 2006 Confessions Tour. In April, Pet Shop Boys released a new single that reached No. 8 in the UK, "I'm with Stupid", a commentary on the relationship between George W. Bush and Tony Blair. The promo video featured Matt Lucas and David Walliams, better known as the team behind Little Britain. Lucas and Walliams portray Tennant and Lowe, parodying two of the duo's previous videos, "Go West", and "Can You Forgive Her?". The ninth Pet Shop Boys studio album, Fundamental, followed in May, reaching a strong No. 5 in their home country. The album was produced by Trevor Horn, who Pet Shop Boys had previously worked with on "Left to My Own Devices", in 1988. The album was also released with a limited edition remix album called Fundamentalism, which included a version of "In Private" as a duet with Elton John and "Fugitive", a new track produced by Richard X.

The week that Fundamental was released, a documentary, titled Pet Shop Boys – A Life in Pop, was broadcast on Channel 4, directed by George Scott and produced by Nick de Grunwald. The original broadcast was less than an hour in duration; a 140-minute version was released on DVD in October 2006. Contributors to the programme included Robbie Williams, Brandon Flowers, Tim Rice-Oxley, Jake Shears and Bruce Weber. The DVD also contained promo videos that had been made since the release of PopArt, although the promo for "Flamboyant" only appeared on early pressings of the DVD.

The second single to be taken from the album was the UK top twenty "Minimal". The duo filmed the video to the single in Paris with Dan Cameron. The single was the first of theirs to be playlisted by London's biggest radio station, Capital Radio, in a decade. Pet Shop Boys began a worldwide tour in support of Fundamental in June 2006 in Norway. The show was designed and directed by Es Devlin, the award-winning British theatre designer, and choreographed by Hakeem Onibudo. Between 15 June and 10 September 2006, Pet Shop Boys played a series of concert dates across Europe, mainly at assorted festivals and outdoor venues. These included two dates at the Tower of London on 28 June and 29, and a single show at Thetford Forest. These dates also included performances of Battleship Potemkin, in Germany and Spain. On 1 May 2006, Battleship Potemkin was also performed at the Swan Hunter shipyard, in Newcastle upon Tyne, with Pet Shop Boys accompanied by the Northern Sinfonia orchestra.

On 3 October 2006, the long-delayed U.S. release of their PopArt hits package was issued by Capitol Records. During 2006, Pet Shop Boys worked with Robbie Williams on his then-new album, Rudebox, producing two tracks: a cover version of "We're the Pet Shop Boys", written by My Robot Friend (which they have also recorded themselves and released as a B-side to "Miracles", in 2003) and "She's Madonna", a duet with Tennant, allegedly about Guy Ritchie's affair with Tania Strecker, prior to his relationship with Madonna. On 10 October 2006, Pet Shop Boys embarked on the North and Central American leg of their world tour, which took them through Canada, the United States and Mexico, concluding on 16 November. A DVD of the show in Mexico City was released on 21 May 2007, titled Cubism. It was recorded on 14 November 2006, in the Auditorio Nacional, and was directed by David Barnard.

On 16 October, Catalogue was published by Thames & Hudson, a 336-page hardcover book, written by Philip Hoare and Chris Heath, detailing their entire visual output (photography, as well as the design of albums, videos, concert tours, books and fan club magazines) from 1984 to 2004. Neil Tennant comments in the book: "In the beginning we made a decision – and it was in our EMI contract – that that we would have control over how everything worked; that obviously the songs mattered hugely, but the way they were presented was going to matter hugely as well; and that we were never going to give up on that." Pet Shop Boys supported the publication of the book with signings in London, New York City, Los Angeles and Berlin. To coincide with the publication of Catalogue, a small exhibition of portraits of Pet Shop Boys opened in the Bookshop Gallery of London's National Portrait Gallery, on 30 October 2006 and ran to 28 February 2007.

Also on 16 October, the third single from Fundamental, "Numb", was released, following its appearance at the end of the BBC's coverage of England at the World Cup. It was written by Diane Warren and is the only song on the album not written by Tennant and Lowe. "Numb" became only the second Pet Shop Boys single in their career to miss the Top 20.

On 23 October 2006, Concrete was released. It is a double CD of the complete Mermaid Theatre concert, with the BBC Concert Orchestra (musical director: Trevor Horn), featuring guests Rufus Wainwright, Frances Barber and Robbie Williams. A 90-minute "director's cut" of the concert aired on BBC 6 Music, on 28 August 2006. On 7 December 2006, Pet Shop Boys were nominated for two 2007 Grammy Awards. These were 'Best Dance Recording' for "I'm with Stupid", and 'Best Electronic/Dance Album' for Fundamental.

During the latter part of 2006 and early 2007, Neil Tennant served as executive producer on Rufus Wainwright'salbum, Release the Stars, recorded in Berlin. He sang backing vocals on a number of tracks, including "Do I Disappoint You", and "Tiergarten". They continued their world tour, albeit with a slightly different production and set-list, on 14 March 2007, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil then played concerts in Argentina, Chile, New Zealand and Australia (as co-headliners of the V Festival 2007), Norway, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Germany, Switzerland, France, the Netherlands, Great Britain, Denmark, Ireland, Sweden, Italy, Spain, Belgium and Singapore. Pet Shop Boys "played" at the free festival Secondfest, in the online virtual world Second Life, on 30 June.

On 8 October 2007, Pet Shop Boys released Disco 4, the latest in their series of remix albums; the fourth in the set differed in that it was largely made up of remixes, completed by Pet Shop Boys, of other artists' work over the past decade. These include The Killers, David Bowie, Yoko Ono, Madonna, Atomizer and Rammstein. Only two tracks by Pet Shop Boys, remixed versions of Fundamental tracks "Integral" and "I'm with Stupid", were included. The Fundamental tour ended in Bucharest, Romania, in November 2007.

In October 2008, Pet Shop Boys released the single "I'm in Love with a German Film Star" featuring famous British photographer Sam Taylor-Wood on vocals. This single was made for her exhibition in London and it was released by Kompakt records in Germany, on both CD and 7" and 12" vinyl. The most notable remixes were by Gui Boratto, Juergen Paape and Mark Reeder, who also made a special mix in 5.1 surround.

In July 2017, Pet Shop Boys reissued Fundamental as part of their Catalogue: 1985–2012 series. It features the remastered album, plus bonus tracks, demos and Pet Shop Boys' remixes of their tracks.

Yes (2009–2011)
Pet Shop Boys completed their next album in late 2008. Recorded with Xenomania and released in UK on 23 March 2009, Yes was a critical success and hit No. 4 in the UK, their highest album chart position in more than a decade. Pet Shop Boys also appeared on Girls Aloud's new album Out of Control, collaborating on the Top-10 track "The Loving Kind", released on 12 January 2009 as a single. Originally written for Yes, The Loving Kind was deemed too bubblegum pop by Lowe and given to the popular girl group to record instead.

On 4 November 2009, Pet Shop Boys celebrated the Brazilian leg of the tour by releasing a compilation titled Party, including songs that were heavily featured in the following TV Globo soap operas: "Being boring" (Meu Bem Meu Mal OST), "Domino dancing" (O Salvador da Patria OST), "West End Girls" (Selva de Pedra OST) and "King of Rome" (Viver a Vida). On 14 December 2009, Pet Shop Boys released an EP of covers, remixes, and new material, titled Christmas. On 20 December the EP entered the UK chart at No. 40.

On 15 February 2010, Pet Shop Boys released a live album/DVD double-pack called Pandemonium. It contains the soundtrack and footage recorded from their 21 December 2009 show at the O2 Arena in London. Pet Shop Boys released their version of "Love life" in April 2010, a song they originally recorded during the Release sessions in 2001 and subsequently gave to Swedish band Alcazar. Released as a limited edition 7-inch dinked vinyl single available only in independent UK record stores, its B-side was "A Powerful Friend", a song originally composed in the early 1980s and subsequently recorded in late 2002 during the recording sessions that would contribute to the Disco 3 album.

In June 2010, Pet Shop Boys headlined the Other Stage on the Saturday evening of the 40th anniversary Glastonbury Festival (their second appearance after previously playing there in 2000) and were heralded as dazzling with "one of the most spectacular Glastonbury moments ever.". This set included a surprise cover of Coldplay's Viva La Vida, which Tennant described as basically a Pet Shop Boys song when he first heard it.

In November they released their third compilation album Ultimate, (a limited edition version of this featured the entire Glastonbury festival performance from that same year on an additional dvd) preceded by the single "Together". On 15 November 2010, they adapted The Most Incredible Thing, a fairy tale by Hans Christian Andersen, opened at Sadlers Wells in London on 17 March 2011. The story has been adapted by Matthew Dunster and features choreography by Javier de Frutos. It features former Royal Ballet star Ivan Putrov, animated films created by Tal Rosner, and orchestrations by German composer Sven Helbig, who worked with the band in 2005 as a co-producer for Battleship Potemkin.

Elysium and Electric (2011–2015)
On 28 September 2011, Pet Shop Boys announced that they had written 16 songs for their next studio album and expected to start recording the new songs in November 2011 for release in Autumn 2012. In the meantime, Format, an album of the duo's B-sides from 1996 to 2009, was released on 6 February 2012 as a sequel to their earlier B-side collection Alternative. Format entered the UK charts at No.26 on 12 February 2012.

On 21 November 2011, the Beyond Theatre Award was presented to Pet Shop Boys and the director of The Most Incredible Thing, Javier de Frutos. The award was introduced and presented by the artist, film director and occasional PSB collaborator Sam Taylor-Wood.

In January 2012, Pet Shop Boys announced on their official website that they had started recording their new album in Los Angeles with producer Andrew Dawson. On 9 June 2012, a film by renowned Los Angeles artist/film-maker Brian Bress for the album track "Invisible" began to circulate on the web and was posted to the official site and the band's YouTube page on 11 June, at which time Elysium was revealed to be name of the new album. That June "Winner" became the first single from the album Elysium. On 27 June 2012, Pet Shop Boys performed three songs before the Olympic tennis games in Henman Hill, Wimbledon: "Always On My Mind", "What Have I Done to Deserve This?", and "Winner".

The twelfth album, entitled Electric, was released on 12 July 2013. The album was the biggest-selling record among the UK's independent record shops during the week of its release, and went straight to the number 1 position on the Official Record Store Chart. The album was produced by Stuart Price and the release coincided with the Electric World Tour that included Chile, Argentina, Paraguay, Brazil, Colombia, Asia (the duo performed in the Philippines, Indonesia, and China for the first time), Lebanon, Israel, Turkey, Europe and North America.

Super, Hotspot, and Nonetheless (2016–present)
On 21 January 2016, Pet Shop Boys announced that their thirteenth album, Super, would be released on 1 April. The announcement was accompanied by the release of an album teaser track, "Inner Sanctum". The lead single from the new album, entitled "The Pop Kids", was released on 18 March 2016. "The Pop Kids" was the duo's eleventh number one on the US Dance Club Songs chart. The album debuted at number three on the UK Albums Chart, selling 16,953 copies in its first week, becoming their 13th consecutive top 10 studio album. In the United States, Super debuted at number 58 on the Billboard 200 with first-week sales of 10,000 copies. It also debuted at number one on Billboard's Dance/Electronic Albums chart, becoming Pet Shop Boys' first number-one album on the chart since Disco 3 (2003).

Pet Shop Boys announced their Further Listening reissues project, called Catalogue: 1985–2012 in June 2017. The first batch was released that July with a remaster of Nightlife, Release and Fundamental. On 31 August 2017, Pet Shop Boys announced that the reissues for Yes and Elysium would be released on 20 October 2017. Previously released Further Listening albums would also be remastered for 2018, with Please, Actually and Introspective reissues being released on 2 March 2018. The fourth and final batch of reissues—Behaviour, Very and Bilingual—was released on 31 August 2018.

Pet Shop Boys announced a live album/DVD/Blu-ray release, Inner Sanctum, in April 2019. It followed February's EP Agenda. which contains four new songs with a political and pop culture angle. Neil Tennant said the release "contains three satirical songs and one rather sad song. I think it's because of the times we're living through".

In 2020, their fourteenth album, Hotspot, was released on x2 Records/Kobalt. The corresponding Dreamworld tour was planned to start mid-2020, but was postponed twice due to the COVID-19 pandemic; it finally got underway in May 2022 and included their third appearance at the Glastonbury festival (and second time headlining the other stage, this time on the Sunday night, closing the stage). The performance was another success with a lot of opinions saying they were one of the major highlights that year.

In September and October 2022, the band co-headlined the Unity Tour with New Order, playing twelve arenas across Canada and the US.

On 31 December 2022, Pet Shop Boys headlined Edinburgh's Hogmanay celebrations with a special Dreamworld show. In 2023 they continued their Dreamworld tour, among other headlining the Primavera Sound festivals in Barcelona, Madrid, Porto, Santiago, Sao Paulo and Lima.

In March 2023, the duo announced on their website that they had started working on their fifteenth studio album with producer James Ford. In the interim, the EP Lost, made up of music recorded during Super sessions was released. On 24 January 2024, the album title Nonetheless and its cover art was announced with an 26 April release date, along with its first single, "Loneliness", whose music video was released on YouTube.

Style and image
In 2020, BBC journalist Nick Levine noted that Pet Shop Boys still maintain a somewhat "detached and ambivalent approach" to their success, which also shows in their low profile on social media. Music journalist Steve Harnell described them as having both an "ear for commerciality" and the desire to create "something more highbrow". He also described Tennant's lyrics as showing a "love for language", which Tennant sparkles with sometimes quite-obscure cultural references. Their music in the 1980s was inspired by dance music in gay clubs but transformed into a "very British and brainy brand of pop music, shot through with a streak of social comment so subtly done that people frequently missed the point entirely."

Lowe said in a 1986 Entertainment Tonight interview that he doesn't "like country and western. I don't like rock music, I don't like rockabilly or rock and roll particularly. I don't like much, really, do I? But what I do like, I love passionately. The quote was subsequently sampled in the song "Paninaro". The 1997 B-side "How I Learned to Hate Rock and Roll", and their early 1990s songs "DJ Culture", "Can You Forgive Her?" and "How Can You Expect to Be Taken Seriously?" continued this sentiment. They are still known for openly criticising trends in the music business, such as reality television music shows in 2010 ("it's so awful and negative and stifling, and so un-pop").

Their band dynamic has played a role in their public image. Early in their career, the duo were frequently accused of lacking stage presence, said to be a deliberate reaction to the hyper-cheerful music of the time, demonstrated by bands such as Wham!. A typical early performance featured Lowe in the background playing the bassline on a Fairlight synthesiser keyboard and Tennant singing, but otherwise passive, in the foreground. Tennant and Lowe both became well known for standing still throughout performances. In a 2016 interview, Chris Lowe said the duo's live performances were a response to the music scene in the 1980s: "Everyone was so active. It was a big party where everyone was having a great time and smiling at the camera. Thumbs aloft! We just didn't want to do that. So we ignored the cameras and the jollity of the situations. Let's face it, it's easier to stand stock-still isn't it?".

When they first began touring, in 1989, they were heavily influenced by opera and theatre staging. Derek Jarman staged their first tour, making a series of films to be projected behind the costumed singers and dancers. In 1991, they brought in David Alden and David Fielding, from the English National Opera, to create the staging and costume design, for a show which made little attempt to involve or even acknowledge the audience and pushed the choreography and staging centre-stage. Subsequent tours have used artist Sam Taylor-Wood and architect Zaha Hadid for stage design. The Fundamentalism tour in 2006–2007 was conceived and designed by theatre designer Es Devlin, with choreography by Hakeem Onibudo. Es Devlin also conceived the 2009–2010 Pandemonium Tour as well as the Electric Tour beginning in 2013.

Typically, Pet Shop Boys have favoured avant-garde tailored fashions. Tennant has referenced the designers of his suits in certain interviews and Lowe has often sported outfits and glasses made by Issey Miyake, Stüssy and Yohji Yamamoto's Y-3 for Adidas. Presentation has always been a major theme for Pet Shop Boys and the duo have dramatically "re-invented" their image twice in their career. In 1993, when promoting their Very album, they wore brightly-coloured costumes and used state-of-the-art computer technology to place themselves in a modern computer graphic world. This concept of re-invention was revisited for the promotion of their Nightlife album, in which they transformed their look, wearing wigs and glasses, with stylised futuristic urban wardrobes. In 2006, both Tennant and Lowe were seen on stage and in photographs wearing clothes designed by Hedi Slimane/Dior Homme.

They have always been interested in the artwork, design and photography of their own releases. Photographer Eric Watson helped shape the original image of Pet Shop Boys, creating many of their photographs and videos from 1984 to 1991. In design they have primarily worked with Mark Farrow, who designed the cover of their first Parlophone album release in 1986. The collaboration between Mark Farrow and Pet Shop Boys is comparable to the designer/band relationship of Peter Saville and New Order, Anton Corbijn and Depeche Mode, or the epic-length collaboration of Simon Halfon and Paul Weller. Their record sleeves are quite often very minimal and the attention to detail is obvious. In October 2006, British art publisher Thames & Hudson published a 336-page hardcover book titled Pet Shop Boys Catalogue, by Chris Heath and Philip Hoare, showcasing the group's accomplishments in artwork, design and music. A German-language edition was also published. An exhibition of photographs of Pet Shop Boys was organised at the National Portrait Gallery in London to coincide with the publication.

Even the band's fan base has been subject to commentary. In 2001, music theorist Fred Everett Maus wrote that, contrary to the ideologies of anti-commercialism and authenticity embodied by "serious" discussions of popular music such as rock, Pet Shop Boys fans exhibit "an undisguised love of commercial success". This was demonstrated through mailing list discussions from 1998 onwards, in which fans voiced concern over the "most commercially promising selection and marketing of singles" for the then-upcoming Nightlife, and debated the quality of the then-recent Bilingual, spurred by the album's poorer performance in sales. Most posters, Maus summarised, feared that the band's appeal would become essentially limited to a cult following; "dissent, along the lines that the fans would always have the Pet Shop Boys, no matter what happened commercially, was scarce and ineffectual". Noting the fact that Pet Shop Boys "began their career with hits", Maus made the point that this early success was valued by fans: the band's "large audiences" were just as important to "many fans" as the making of "distinctive music that individual fans loved".

Pet Shop Boys have been noted for keeping their fingers on the musical pulse to date, while "maintaining the mystique of performers from a different era". Lynn Barber, writing for the London Observer on 1 July 1997 stated that "The genius of the Pet Shop Boys was to combine these polar opposites: Neil's wistful introspective lyrics and Chris's mindless, cheerful, upbeat rhythms. They would never have been in the Top 10 without Chris; they would never have engaged an intelligent audience without Neil."

Influence
As of 2003, Pet Shop Boys were ranked by Billboard's Joel Whitburn (in his book Billboard's Hot Dance/Disco 1974–2003) as the fourth most successful act on the U.S. Dance/Club Play charts, behind only Madonna, Michael Jackson and Donna Summer.

The history between Madonna and Pet Shop Boys goes back to 1988, with the song "Heart". In the liner notes to their 1991 greatest hits album, Discography, the band states that: "When we wrote this song ("Heart") we wanted to submit it to Madonna but didn't dare risk disappointment." Pet Shop Boys kept the song for themselves and it ended up going to number one in the UK. Later, in 1991, Madonna was referenced in a tongue-in-cheek lyric, in the song "DJ Culture", soon after she and Sean Penn had divorced. Tennant writes: "Like Liz before Betty / She after Sean / Suddenly you're missing / Then you're reborn". Madonna's album Confessions on a Dance Floor, released November 2005, includes a track called "Jump", which has close similarities to "West End Girls". An interview at Popjustice with Stuart Price, who produced Madonna's album, revealed that the track was a complete Chris Lowe inspiration. Pet Shop Boys then remixed "Sorry", the second single from the album. Madonna has used their version in her 2006 Confessions tour. Lady Gaga stated that she listened regularly to Pet Shop Boys while working on her debut album The Fame, and that they were an influence on her music.

In October 2005, a Swedish tribute band called West End Girls had a number three hit single in their home country, with a cover version of "Domino Dancing". In January 2006, they released their own version of "West End Girls" and an album was also released in June. In August 2014, Pet Shop Boys appeared in the BBC Radio 4 series The Archers as last-minute headliners at the fictional festival Loxfest. Both Tennant and Lowe had speaking roles in the show.

Sexuality
Neil Tennant, who neither denied nor confirmed gay rumours throughout the 1980s, "came out" in a 1994 interview for Attitude, a UK gay lifestyle magazine. He has stated that his lyrics are not specifically gay. Many of the duo's songs are written using gender-neutral language, so that they could refer to any gender.

Discography
Studio albums

 * Please (1986)
 * Actually (1987)
 * Introspective (1988)
 * Behaviour (1990)
 * Very (1993)
 * Bilingual (1996)
 * Nightlife (1999)
 * Release (2002)
 * Fundamental (2006)
 * Yes (2009)
 * Elysium (2012)
 * Electric (2013)
 * Super (2016)
 * Hotspot (2020)
 * Nonetheless (2024)

Tours

 * MCMLXXXIX Tour (1989)
 * Performance Tour (1991)
 * Discovery Tour (1994)
 * Somewhere Residency (1997)
 * Nightlife Tour (1999–2000)
 * Uni/Release Tour (2002)
 * Fundamental Tour (2006–2007)
 * Pandemonium Tour (2009–2010)
 * Electric Tour (2013–2015)
 * Super Tour (2016–2019)
 * Dreamworld: The Greatest Hits Live (2022–2024)
 * Unity Tour (with New Order) (2022)

Billboard Music Awards
!Ref.
 * rowspan=11|1986
 * rowspan=6|Themselves
 * Top New Artist
 * Nominated
 * rowspan=11|
 * Top Billboard 200 Artist
 * Nominated
 * Top Hot 100 Artist
 * Nominated
 * Top Hot 100 Artist – Duo/Group
 * Nominated
 * Top Dance Club Play Artist
 * Nominated
 * Top Dance Sales Artist
 * Nominated
 * Please
 * Top Billboard 200 Album
 * Nominated
 * rowspan=3|"West End Girls"
 * Top Hot 100 Song
 * Nominated
 * Top Dance Sales Single
 * Nominated
 * rowspan=3|Top Dance Club Play Single
 * Nominated
 * "Opportunities (Let's Make Lots of Money)"
 * Nominated
 * rowspan=3|1987
 * "It's a Sin"
 * Nominated
 * rowspan=3|
 * rowspan=2|Themselves
 * Top Hot 100 Artist
 * Nominated
 * Top Dance Club Play Artist
 * Nominated
 * 2007
 * "Minimal"
 * Top Dance Club Play Single
 * Nominated
 * "It's a Sin"
 * Nominated
 * rowspan=3|
 * rowspan=2|Themselves
 * Top Hot 100 Artist
 * Nominated
 * Top Dance Club Play Artist
 * Nominated
 * 2007
 * "Minimal"
 * Top Dance Club Play Single
 * Nominated
 * "Minimal"
 * Top Dance Club Play Single
 * Nominated

Brit Awards

 * style="text-align:left;" rowspan=2|1987
 * Themselves
 * Best British Group
 * Nominated
 * "West End Girls"
 * Best British Single
 * Won
 * style="text-align:left;" rowspan=3|1988
 * Themselves
 * Best British Group
 * Won
 * "Always on My Mind"
 * Best British Single
 * Nominated
 * Actually
 * rowspan=2|Best British Album
 * Nominated
 * style="text-align:left;" rowspan=2|1989
 * Introspective
 * Nominated
 * rowspan=2|Themselves
 * rowspan=2|Best British Group
 * Nominated
 * style="text-align:left;"|1992
 * Nominated
 * style="text-align:left;"|1994
 * "Go West"
 * Best British Video
 * Nominated
 * style="text-align:left;"|2009
 * Themselves
 * Outstanding Contribution to Music
 * Won
 * style="text-align:left;"|2010
 * "Go West"
 * Live Performance of 30 Years
 * Nominated
 * Nominated
 * style="text-align:left;"|2009
 * Themselves
 * Outstanding Contribution to Music
 * Won
 * style="text-align:left;"|2010
 * "Go West"
 * Live Performance of 30 Years
 * Nominated
 * Live Performance of 30 Years
 * Nominated

Grammy Awards

 * style="text-align:left;"|1994
 * Very Relentless
 * Best Recording Package
 * Nominated
 * style="text-align:left;"|1995
 * "Go West"
 * Best Music Video, Short Form
 * Nominated
 * style="text-align:left;"|1995
 * "Alternative"
 * Best Recording Package – Boxed
 * Nominated
 * style="text-align:left;"|1998
 * "To Step Aside"
 * rowspan="2" | Best Dance Recording
 * Nominated
 * rowspan="2" | 2006
 * "I'm with Stupid"
 * Nominated
 * Fundamental
 * rowspan="2" | Best Dance/Electronic Album
 * Nominated
 * style="text-align:left;"|2010
 * Yes
 * Nominated
 * Fundamental
 * rowspan="2" | Best Dance/Electronic Album
 * Nominated
 * style="text-align:left;"|2010
 * Yes
 * Nominated
 * Nominated

Ivor Novello Awards

 * style="text-align:left;" rowspan=2|1987
 * rowspan=2|"West End Girls"
 * International Hit of the Year
 * Won
 * rowspan=2|Best Contemporary Song
 * Nominated
 * style="text-align:left;" rowspan=2|1988
 * "What Have I Done to Deserve This?"
 * Nominated
 * "It's A Sin"
 * International Hit of the Year
 * Nominated
 * style="text-align:left;"|1990
 * "Nothing Has Been Proved"
 * Best Film Theme or Song
 * Nominated
 * style="text-align:left;"|2000
 * Themselves
 * Outstanding Contribution to British Music
 * Won
 * Nominated
 * style="text-align:left;"|2000
 * Themselves
 * Outstanding Contribution to British Music
 * Won
 * Won

Lunas del Auditorio

 * 2005
 * rowspan=3|Themselves
 * rowspan=3|Best Foreign Pop Artist
 * Nominated
 * 2006
 * Nominated
 * 2010
 * Nominated
 * 2010
 * Nominated
 * Nominated

Smash Hits Poll Winners Party

 * 1986
 * rowspan=4|Themselves
 * rowspan=3|Best Group
 * Nominated
 * 1987
 * Nominated
 * rowspan=3|1988
 * Nominated
 * Worst Group
 * Nominated
 * "Heart"
 * Best Pop Video
 * Nominated
 * 1990
 * Themselves
 * Best Group
 * Nominated
 * Nominated
 * 1990
 * Themselves
 * Best Group
 * Nominated
 * Nominated

Other awards
{| class=wikitable ! Year !! Awards !! Work !! Category !! Result
 * rowspan=2|1986
 * Music Week Awards
 * Themselves
 * Top Music Week/Studio Week Advertisement Mono
 * Nominated
 * MTV Video Music Awards
 * rowspan=3|"West End Girls"
 * Best New Artist
 * Nominated
 * rowspan=4|1987
 * American Music Awards
 * Favorite Pop/Rock Song
 * Nominated
 * ASCAP Pop Music Awards
 * Most Performed Song
 * Won
 * Bravo Otto Awards
 * rowspan=3|Themselves
 * Best Rock Band (Silver)
 * Won
 * Silver Clef Award
 * Best Newcomer
 * Won
 * rowspan=3|1988
 * Berolina Awards
 * Group of the Year
 * Won
 * Houston Film Festival
 * "It Couldn't Happen Here"
 * Gold July Award
 * Won
 * Billboard Music Awards
 * rowspan=2|"What Have I Done to Deserve This?"
 * Top Dance Club Play Single
 * Nominated
 * 1989 |
 * ASCAP Pop Music Awards
 * Most Performed Song
 * Won
 * rowspan=2|1991
 * MTV Video Music Awards
 * rowspan=2|"Being Boring"
 * Viewer's Choice (Europe)
 * Nominated
 * Music Week Awards
 * Music Video of the Year
 * Won
 * 1992
 * Pollstar Concert Industry Awards
 * Performance Tour
 * Most Creative Stage Production
 * Nominated
 * rowspan=5|1994
 * D&AD Awards
 * rowspan=2|"Go West"
 * Pop Promo Video
 * Wood Pencil
 * MTV Europe Music Awards
 * Best Cover
 * Won
 * Effects and Nomination Festival
 * rowspan=2|"Liberation"
 * rowspan=2|Best Music Video
 * Won
 * Siggraph Wave Awards
 * Won
 * Billboard Music Awards
 * rowspan=2|Themselves
 * Top Hot Dance Music Club Play Artist
 * Nominated
 * rowspan=2|1999
 * GAFFA Awards (Denmark)
 * Best Foreign Band
 * Nominated
 * Viva Comet Awards
 * "I Don't Know What You Want"
 * Best International Video
 * Won
 * 2000
 * RSH Gold Awards
 * Themselves
 * Best International Band
 * Won
 * rowspan=2|2003
 * GLAAD Media Awards
 * Release
 * Outstanding Music Artist
 * Nominated
 * World Music Awards
 * rowspan=4|Themselves
 * The World Arts Award
 * Won
 * 2004
 * Q Awards
 * Inspiration Award
 * Won
 * rowspan=3|2007
 * International Dance Music Awards
 * Best Dance Artist (Group)
 * Nominated
 * Webby Awards
 * Websites – Celebrity/Fan
 * Nominated
 * GLAAD Media Awards
 * Fundamental
 * Outstanding Music Artist
 * Nominated
 * 2008
 * Cannes International Advertising Festival
 * "Integral"
 * Gold Cyber Lion Award
 * Won
 * 2009
 * Popjustice £20 Music Prize
 * rowspan=3|"Love Etc."
 * Best British Pop Single
 * Nominated
 * rowspan=3|2010
 * rowspan=3|International Dance Music Awards
 * Best Pop Dance Track
 * Nominated
 * Best Music Video
 * Nominated
 * rowspan=6|Themselves
 * Best Dance Artist (Group)
 * Nominated
 * 2011
 * Evening Standard Theatre Awards
 * Beyond Theatre Award
 * Won
 * 2012
 * Hungarian Music Awards
 * Foreign Electronic Music Production of the Year
 * Nominated
 * 2013
 * Q Awards
 * Outstanding Contribution to Music
 * Won
 * rowspan=2|2015
 * Mnet Asian Music Awards
 * Worldwide Inspiration Award
 * Won
 * British LGBT Awards
 * Best Music Artist
 * Nominated
 * rowspan=4|2016
 * rowspan=2|Gay Music Chart Awards
 * "The Pop Kids"
 * Best Lyric Video
 * Nominated
 * "The Pop Kids" (Offer Nissim Remix)
 * Best Music Video from Israel
 * Nominated
 * Abilu Music Awards
 * rowspan=2|Super
 * International Electronic Album of the Year
 * Won
 * AMFT Awards
 * Best Dance/Electro Album
 * Won
 * rowspan=2|2017
 * NME Awards
 * Themselves
 * Godlike Genius Award
 * Won
 * San Diego Film Awards
 * "Twenty-Something"
 * Best Music Video
 * Won
 * 2019
 * rowspan=2|Classic Pop Reader Awards
 * Further Listening 1984–1986
 * Reissue of the Year
 * Nominated
 * 2020
 * rowspan=2|Themselves
 * Group of the Year
 * Nominated
 * rowspan=2|2021
 * rowspan=2|GAFFA Awards
 * Best International Band
 * Pending
 * Hotspot
 * Best International Album
 * Pending
 * "The Pop Kids"
 * Best Lyric Video
 * Nominated
 * "The Pop Kids" (Offer Nissim Remix)
 * Best Music Video from Israel
 * Nominated
 * Abilu Music Awards
 * rowspan=2|Super
 * International Electronic Album of the Year
 * Won
 * AMFT Awards
 * Best Dance/Electro Album
 * Won
 * rowspan=2|2017
 * NME Awards
 * Themselves
 * Godlike Genius Award
 * Won
 * San Diego Film Awards
 * "Twenty-Something"
 * Best Music Video
 * Won
 * 2019
 * rowspan=2|Classic Pop Reader Awards
 * Further Listening 1984–1986
 * Reissue of the Year
 * Nominated
 * 2020
 * rowspan=2|Themselves
 * Group of the Year
 * Nominated
 * rowspan=2|2021
 * rowspan=2|GAFFA Awards
 * Best International Band
 * Pending
 * Hotspot
 * Best International Album
 * Pending
 * rowspan=2|2021
 * rowspan=2|GAFFA Awards
 * Best International Band
 * Pending
 * Hotspot
 * Best International Album
 * Pending
 * Best International Album
 * Pending

title: Pet Shop Boys


text:
Michael Gross

Michael Gross may refer to:
 * Michael Gross (artist) (1920–2004), Israeli painter, sculptor and conceptual artist
 * Michael L. Gross (chemist) (born 1940), American professor of chemistry, medicine, and immunology
 * Michael Gross (actor) (born 1947), American actor
 * Michael Gross (American writer) (born 1952), American author and journalist
 * Michael L. Gross (ethicist) (born 1954), political and medical ethicist
 * Michael Gross (science writer) (born 1963), British science journalist
 * Michael Joseph Gross (born 1970), American author and journalist
 * Michael Gross (editor), television editor, writer, and director
 * Michael C. Gross (1945–2015), American artist, film producer, art director of National Lampoon magazine
 * Michael Gross (swimmer) (born 1964), German swimmer, multiple Olympic champion

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Michael Gross


text:
Primo

Primo may refer to:

Arts, entertainment and media

 * Primo, sitting on the right side of the secondo in music for piano four hands
 * Primo!, an Australian band
 * Primo (film), a 2005 film recording of Antony Sher's play Primo
 * Primo, or barriles, [List of Caribbean drums|a type of Caribbean drums]] of Puerto Rico
 * Primo (album), by Rifle Sport, 1991
 * Primo, a 1991 album by Dr. Feelgood
 * Primo (Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's), a fictional character in Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's
 * Primo (TV series), a 2023 American comedy

Business and brands

 * Primo Brewing & Malting Company, based in Honolulu, Hawaii
 * Primo Filmes, a Brazilian film production company

 * Primo Foods, an Australian company
 * Primo (milk), New Zealand flavoured milk brand
 * Primo Water, an American-Canadian water company
 * Primo, a brand of lenses by Panavision

Given name

 * Primo (footballer) (born 1989), São Toméan football goalkeeper
 * Primo Brown (1976–2016), Italian rapper
 * Primo Carnera (1906–1967), Italian boxer, World Heavyweight champion 1933–1934
 * Primo Capraro (1873–1933), Argentine-Italian businessman
 * Primo Cassarino (born 1956), enforcer for the Gambino crime family
 * Primo Colón (born 1982), ring name of wrestler Eddie Colón
 * Primo Conti (1900–1988), Italian Futurist artist
 * Primo Levi (1919–1987), Italian chemist, Holocaust survivor, and author
 * Primo Miller (1915–1999), American football player
 * Primo Riccitelli (1880–1941), Italian composer
 * Primo Zamparini (born 1939), Italian boxer
 * Primus and Felician (Primo e Feliciano), Italian saints

Surname

 * Al Primo (1938–2022), American TV news executive
 * Catalina Primo (born 2000), Argentine footballer
 * Gefen Primo (born 2000), Israeli judoka
 * Giancarlo Primo (1924–2005), Italian basketball player
 * Joshua Primo (born 2002), Canadian basketball player

Other uses

 * Primo TV, an American English-language television channel for Latino children
 * Primo, the first course in Italian meal structure
 * Duplo Primo and Lego Primo, now known as Lego Baby, Lego blocks for small children
 * Plaxton Primo, a type of small bus produced by Plaxton

title: Primo


text:
Primera, Texas

Primera is a town in Cameron County, Texas, United States, near Combes. The population was 5,257 at the 2020 census, up from 4,070 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Brownsville–Harlingen–Raymondville and the Matamoros–Brownsville metropolitan areas.

Geography
Primera is located in western Cameron County at 26.22306°N, -97.75139°W (26.223152, –97.751470). It is 3 mi northwest of the center of Harlingen.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 6.8 km2, all land.

2020 census
As of the 2020 United States census, there were 5,257 people, 1,537 households, and 1,165 families residing in the town.

2000 census
As of the census of 2000, there were 2,723 people, 735 households, and 659 families residing in the town. The population density was 1,772.4 /mi2. There were 780 housing units at an average density of 507.7 /mi2. The racial makeup of the town was 81.60% White, 0.66% African American, 0.44% Native American, 0.04% Asian, 0.04% Pacific Islander, 14.03% from other races, and 3.20% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 89.57% of the population.

There were 735 households, out of which 54.4% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 69.4% were married couples living together, 15.4% had a female householder with no husband present, and 10.3% were non-families. 8.8% of all households were made up of individuals, and 4.2% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 3.70 and the average family size was 3.90.

In the town, the population was spread out, with 36.2% under the age of 18, 11.1% from 18 to 24, 28.8% from 25 to 44, 17.4% from 45 to 64, and 6.5% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 27 years. For every 100 females, there were 99.2 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 88.6 males.

The median income for a household in the town was $26,841, and the median income for a family was $27,292. Males had a median income of $19,167 versus $16,667 for females. The per capita income for the town was $8,897. About 28.8% of families and 29.9% of the population were below the poverty line, including 37.2% of those under age 18 and 33.2% of those age 65 or over.

Education
Primera is within the Harlingen Consolidated Independent School District.

Primera has one elementary school, Wilson Elementary School.

In addition, South Texas Independent School District operates magnet schools that serve the community.

title: Primera, Texas


text:
Harlingen, Texas

Harlingen is a city in Cameron County in the central region of the Rio Grande Valley of the southern part of the U.S. state of Texas, about 30 mi from the coast of the Gulf of Mexico. The city covers more than 104 km2 and is the second-largest city in Cameron County, as well as the fourth-largest in the Rio Grande Valley. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 71,892.

Harlingen is a principal city of the Brownsville–Harlingen metropolitan area, which is part of the larger Brownsville–Harlingen–Raymondville combined statistical area, included in the Matamoros–Brownsville metropolitan region.

History
Harlingen's strategic location at the intersection of U.S. Route 77 and U.S. Route 83, co-designated as Interstate 69 East and Interstate 2, respectively, in northwestern Cameron County, fostered its development as a distribution, shipping, and industrial center. In 1904, Lon C. Hill (a man of Choctaw ancestry ) envisioned the Rio Grande as a commercial waterway. He named the town he founded on the north bank after the Frisian city of Harlingen, in the Netherlands. The town's post office was established that year. The first school opened with 15 pupils in 1905 near the Hill home, the first residence built in Harlingen. Harlingen incorporated on April 15, 1910, when the population totaled 1,126. In 1920, the census listed 1,748. The local economy at first was almost entirely agricultural, with the chief crops vegetables and cotton.

World War II military installations in Harlingen caused a jump in population from 23,000 in 1950 to 41,000 by 1960. Harlingen Army Air Field preceded Harlingen Air Force Base, which closed in 1962. The city's population fell to 33,603 by 1972, then climbed to 40,824 by 1980. Local enterprise, focused on the purchase and use of the abandoned base and related housing, laid the groundwork for continuing progress through a diversified economy. The estimated population in July 1985 was 49,000, of which about 80% was Hispanic. In the late 1980s, income from tourism ranked second only to citrus fruit production, with grain and cotton next in order. The addition of wholesale and retail trade, light and medium manufacturing, and an array of service industries has broadened the economic base. Large-scale construction for multifaceted retirement communities is a new phase of industrial development.

The City of Harlingen operates a busy industrial airpark where bombers used to land. At Valley International Airport, the Confederate Air Force (now Commemorative Air Force) occupied hangar and apron space until 1991. The first hospital in Harlingen opened in 1923, and consisted of little more than two barracks as wings. The Valley Baptist Hospital was built nearby a few years later, and eventually the older hospital closed. The Valley Baptist Hospital has grown into the Valley Baptist Medical Center. The city's outstanding network of health-care specialists and facilities parallels the growth of the still-expanding center. Also serving regional health needs are the South Texas State Chest Hospital, the State Hospital for Children, and the Rio Grande State Mental Health and Mental Retardation Center.

Besides public and church-affiliated schools, Harlingen students attend the University Preparatory School, the Marine Military Academy, Texas State Technical College, or Rio Grande Vocational and Rehabilitation classes. Civic and cultural development in Harlingen has kept pace with the growth of the community. Fraternal orders and civic organizations operating in the community include Rotary, Kiwanis, Lions, Optimist, 20–30, VFW, American Legion, and the Lower Valley Cotillion Club; a woman's building is maintained as a center for the activities of the many woman's clubs active in the city. Development and appreciation of the fine arts are encouraged by organizations such as the Rio Grande Valley Art League, the Art Forum, and the Rio Grande Valley Civic Association, which stages its winter concert series at the 2,300-seat Harlingen Municipal Auditorium. Each March, Harlingen is the site of the Rio Grande Valley International Music Festival. The city has two newspapers—the Harlingen Press, a weekly paper established in 1951, and the Valley Morning Star, a daily established in 1911. In 1990, the population was 48,735. In 1992, the city was named an All-America City, cited especially for its volunteer spirit and self-help programs. In 2000, the community had 57,564 inhabitants and 2,549 businesses.

Geography
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 104.4 km2, of which 103.1 km2 is land and 1.3 km2, or 1.22%, is covered by water.

Soils in Harlingen range in texture from fine sandy loam to clay. They are neutral to moderately alkaline with pH of 7.2 to 8.5 (most commonly around 8.2), and are moderately well drained or well drained in most cases, with small areas of poorly drained, saline clays.

Climate
Harlingen has a humid subtropical climate (Köppen Cfa). Summers are long, and very humid with hot days and warm nights. Winters are very dry with warm days and cool nights. Precipitation peaks during September, with an average of 5.76 in precipitation falling.

2020 census
As of the 2020 United States census, there were 71,829 people, 21,752 households, and 15,548 families residing in the city.

2000 census
As of the census of 2000, 57,564 people, 19,021 households, and 14,360 families resided in the city. The population density was 1,689.6 /mi2. The 23,008 housing units averaged 675.3 /mi2. The racial makeup of the city was 78.68% White, 0.92% Black, 0.52% Native American, 0.88% Asian, 0.03% Pacific Islander, 16.39% from other races, and 2.58% from two or more races. About 72.76% of the population was Hispanic or Latino of any race; most are of Mexican descent.

As in other cities in the Lower Rio Grande Valley, a significant part of Harlingen's transient population and a significant contributor to its economy consists of "Winter Texans", generally retirees from the northern Midwestern states and Canada, who come to escape the northern winter weather between roughly November and April.

Of the 19,021 households, 38.6% had children under the age of 18, 55.6% were married couples living together, 16.2% had a female householder with no husband present, and 24.5% were not families; 20.9% of all households were made up of individuals, and 10.3% had someone living alone 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.94, and the average family size was 3.44.

In the city, the population was distributed as 30.7% under the age of 18, 9.6% from 18 to 24, 26.5% from 25 to 44, 18.0% from 45 to 64, and 15.0% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 32 years. For every 100 females, there were 90.8 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 85.0 males.

The median income for a household in the city was $30,296, and for a family was $34,015. Males had a median income of $27,014 versus $21,795 for females. The per capita income for the city was $13,886. About 19.3% of families and 24.9% of the population were below the poverty line, including 34.7% of those under age 18 and 16.2% of those age 65 or over.

City government
Harlingen is governed by a mayor elected at-large and a five-member city commission representing five individual single-member districts. All seats are eligible for election every three years. The current mayor is Norma Sepulveda, who was elected in 2022. The city commissioners are District 1 Ford H. Kinsley, District 2 Daniel N. Lopez, District 3 Mike Mezmar, District 4 Frank Morales, and District 5 Rene Perez.

City commission
The commission meets on the first and third Wednesdays of each month at 5:30 pm at City Hall.

Police department
The Harlingen Police Department embraces the community policing philosophy. The police force consists of nearly 160 sworn police officers. The department receives more than 50,000 911 calls per year. The department's Mission Statement is, "It is the mission of the Harlingen Police Department to provide services with integrity and dedication, to preserve life, to enforce the law, and to work in partnership with the community to enhance the quality of life in the City of Harlingen."

State government
The Texas Department of Criminal Justice operates the Harlingen Parole Office in Harlingen.

Federal representation
The United States Postal Service operates two post offices in Harlingen, including the Harlingen Post Office and the Downtown Harlingen post office.

U.S. Department of Justice
Harlingen is home to the U.S. Immigration Court, one of 52 such courts in the U.S. that adjudicate immigration cases in the United States. The chief function of the Immigration Court is to conduct removal proceedings, which are administrative proceedings to determine the removability of noncitizens present within the United States.

U.S. Homeland Security Agencies
The United States Border Patrol Harlingen Station is located at 3902 S. Expressway 77 Harlingen, Texas.

Military installations
The Harlingen Armed Forces Reserve Center (AFRC) is located at 1300 W Teege Ave, Harlingen, Texas. This facility hosts Reserve components of the United States Armed Forces units from the United States Army Reserve 319th Combat Sustainment Support Battalion, 4th Team, 1st Judge Advocate General Detachment, 5th Team, 1st Judge Advocate General Detachment, and 812th Quartermaster Company (Supply). The United States Navy Reserve Navy Operations Support Center Harlingen (NOSC Harlingen) and the United States Marine Corps Reserve Charlie Company (Det) 1st Battalion 23rd Marines 4th Marine Division. This facility is mostly used for monthly drills. A Military Retiree Activities Office is located at the Harlingen AFRC.

Primary and secondary education
The city is covered by the Harlingen Consolidated Independent School District and South Texas Independent School District. Harlingen is home to four high schools – Harlingen Collegiate High (formerly Early College High School before its deal with UTRGV), Harlingen High School, Harlingen High School South, and Harlingen School of Health Professions, and a freshman Academy, Dr. Abraham P. Cano Freshman Academy. The Saint Anthony Catholic School is a parochial school for grades K–8 (with a Montessori program for 3- and 4-year-olds). It is one of the few Catholic schools in the city of Harlingen and has an enrollment of approximately 220 students.

The Marine Military Academy is a private, all-male, college preparatory school located in Harlingen.

Universities and colleges
In 1967, a branch of Texas State Technical College was established in Harlingen. The two-year technical state college currently offers more than 30 programs to over 5,000 students.

In 2002, the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio opened the Regional Academic Health Center (RAHC) Medical Education Division in Harlingen. In 2012, the UT System Board of Regents approved the merger of the University of Texas at Brownsville and the University of Texas-Pan American to form the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) and the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley School of Medicine, the latter using resources from the RAHC.

The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley School of Medicine welcomed its first students in the summer of 2016. UTRGV's psychiatry program and Institute for Neurosciences are based in Harlingen.

Southern Careers Institute has a campus located in Harlingen as well.

Sports and recreation
Most recently, Harlingen was the home of the Rio Grande Valley WhiteWings, a minor league baseball team that existed from 1994 to 2003 and from 2006 to 2015. In 2000, the WhiteWings won the Texas-Louisiana League championship. Previously, Harlingen was home to the Harlingen Capitals, who were members of the Class D Rio Grande Valley League (1950) and Class B Gulf Coast League (1951–1953). Earlier, the Harlingen Ladds were members of the Rio Grande Valley League (1931) and the Harlingen Hubs were members of the Texas Valley League (1938). The Rio Grande Valley Giants, based in Harlingen, played in the Class AA Texas League (1960–1961) as an affiliate of the San Francisco Giants. Baseball Hall of Fame inductee Gaylord Perry played for the Rio Grande Valley Giants in 1960. In 1976, the Rio Grande Valley WhiteWings played as members of the Gulf States League and the Harlingen Suns (1977) played in the Lone Star League. Beginning in 1950, all Harlingen teams played at Harlingen Field.

Valley Race Park is a racetrack for Greyhound dogs. It was the first Greyhound track in Texas to accept parimutuel wagering. The facility is fully air-conditioned and the grandstands totals over 80000 sqft. The grandstand has over 400 monitors to pick up the 50-plus Simulcast Live Racing signals from the top Greyhound and horse tracks from all around the United States. Valley Race Park shut down in the fall of 1995, but reopened five years later, in the spring of 2000.

The World Birding Center (Harlingen Arroyo Colorado) has a location in Harlingen's Hugh Ramsey Nature Park. Work continues on designs for a new 7250 sqft visitors' center at Hugh Ramsey Nature Park. The two-story center will include a gift shop, observation tower, meeting rooms, and enclosed viewing areas. Also, visitors at both Ramsey Park and the Thicket will find parking and extensive trails, as well as maps, information, and public restrooms.

The Rio Grande Valley Birding Festival occurs each November in Harlingen, attracting up to 3,000 participants per year. In 2018, the multi-day festival celebrated its 25th year, drawing 600 participants in guided birding tours, 80 to 90 paid guides, and 100 volunteers. 10,000-capacity

J. Lewis Boggus Stadium has an all-weather artificial playing surface and is located in downtown Harlingen. It is used for football, soccer, and other outdoor athletic events.

Healthcare
Harlingen Medical Center (HMC) is a nationally recognized general acute-care hospital. HMC medical services include: bariatric, cardiac surgery, cardiology, emergency, gastroenterology, imaging services, internal medicine, neurology, obstetrics and gynecology, orthopedics, orthopedic surgery, pediatrics, sleep apnea treatment, vascular and endovascular surgery, and wound-healing care. The facility opened in October 2002 and has 112 beds.

Valley Baptist Medical Center (VBMC), with 586 beds, is the Rio Grande Valley's only Level II Trauma Center. With a 38-room emergency department and a heliport, Valley Baptist serves as the lead trauma center in the region, and is the only hospital in the area offering comprehensive stroke services, including advanced endovascular neurology procedures. Valley Baptist has the only newborn intensive-care unit in Harlingen, the only pediatric intensive-care unit in Cameron County, private labor/delivery/recovery suites, a family-centered maternity-care unit, women's surgery suites, day surgery, and outpatient services. In addition, Valley Baptist has a diabetes-education program, and a wound-care center and foot-care institute, and a surgical and medical weight-loss program.

Solara Specialty Hospital Harlingen is a long-term acute-care facility where patients can receive treatment for as long as a month, compared to general hospitals where patients are treated for shorter periods. The 41–bed hospital is owned by Solara Healthcare of Dallas, Valley Baptist Health System, and local physicians.

The Regional Academic Health Center is a teaching hospital that serves as an extension campus of the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio.

Su Clinica Familiar offers services tailored to the border region, concentrating in the areas of dentistry, internal medicine, women's health, and pediatrics. Services are mostly tailored for the poor. It has a teaching partnership with the nearby Regional Academic Health Center.

The Harlingen VA Outpatient Clinic and VA Health Care Center are two Veteran Administration (VA) facilities in Harlingen. Both of these facilities fall under the VA Texas Valley Coastal Bend Health Care System.

The Harlingen Ambulatory Surgery and Specialty Outpatient Center opened in January 2011 and provides care to veterans. Orthopedics, urology, gastroenterology, otolaryngology, infectious disease, dermatology, cardiology, oncology, neurology, rheumatology, amputee/prosthetics, and endoscopy services are offered.

The Rio Grande State Center offers outpatient medical healthcare and in-patient mental health services. The center's psychiatric hospital is a 55-bed, in-patient facility and the long-term program is a 75-bed, residential facility. The outpatient medical clinic provides out-patient services which including primary care, women's health, diagnostic services, psychiatric consults and prescription assistance.

A Ronald McDonald House opened in 1998. It offers a place to stay for families of children being treated for serious illness or injury. It is funded by private donations, grants, and fundraising events.

Palms Behavioral Health, a 94-bed mental and behavioral health facility which opened in Harlingen in 2016.

Airports
The city's airport, Valley International Airport, has a service area that encompasses the lower Rio Grande Valley and northern Mexico, serving more than two million people on both sides of the US-Mexico border. Valley International Airport lies in the northeastern portion of Harlingen and offers a border-crossing option via the Free Trade Bridge at Los Indios. The airport has aligned itself as the air cargo hub of the Rio Grande Valley and works closely with carriers such as DHL, FedEx and Southwest Airlines Cargo. In 1975, Southwest Airlines began to fly to the Rio Grande Valley via Valley International Airport with four roundtrips each business day. Southwest currently offers nonstop flights between Harlingen and Austin and Houston Hobby. Additional airlines that serve the airport include United Express to Houston Intercontinental, American Airlines with daily nonstop service to Dallas DFW, Frontier Airlines with weekly nonstop service to Chicago and Denver, and Delta Air Lines and Sun Country Airlines with seasonal, nonstop service to Minneapolis-St. Paul.

Public transit
The city is working to build a public transit center as a hub for bus lines to Harlingen. The project is currently on hold due to funding issues.

Highways
The city of Harlingen is at the junction of U.S. Route 77 and U.S. Route 83, designated as Interstate 69E and Interstate 2, respectively. Interstate 69E runs through north–south through Harlingen, while the city serves as the eastern terminus of Interstate 2. U.S. Route 77 connects the Rio Grande Valley to Interstate 37 at Corpus Christi. U.S. Route 83 connects the Rio Grande Valley with Interstate 35 at Laredo.

International trade bridges
The Free Trade Bridge at Los Indios is a state-of-the-art international bridge located just 10 mi south of Harlingen. With a full U.S. Customs inspection facility that accommodates up to 75 trucks simultaneously, the Free Trade Bridge is acclaimed as the most time-efficient border crossing in the valley. The bridge accesses a four-lane highway in northern Mexico, offering a fast route to the border cities of Matamoros and Reynosa, as well as the industrial city of Monterrey. With the completion of Mexico's State of Tamaulipas new 'autopista', the Free Trade Bridge will provide a seamless highway connection for more efficient distribution of industrial products to and from interior Mexico.

Ports
The Port of Harlingen is located 4 mi east of Harlingen on Highway 106. It is 25 mi west of mile marker 646 on the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway, which stretches from the Mexican border at Brownsville, along the entire coast of the Gulf of Mexico to St. Marks, Florida. The Gulf Intracoastal Waterway provides over 1300 mi of protected waterway, 12 ft deep and 125 ft wide. The Harlingen Channel is maintained to a width of 125 ft and a depth of 12 ft and is supplied by the Arroyo Colorado, a freshwater river.

Railroads
Union Pacific Railroad has a local terminal and switching yard in Harlingen. The Harlingen Industrial Parks and Port of Harlingen have direct rail access. Harlingen has a rich history as a railroad town. The Southern Pacific depot has been razed, but it was one of four SP depots in the Rio Grande Valley (the others are Brownsville, now a museum; McAllen, now a law office; and Edinburg, now the home of the Chamber of Commerce).

Harlingen was served by the Missouri Pacific Railroad night train on a Houston, Texas-Brownsville, Texas route, the Pioneer (#315/316) until 1964 and day train on that route, the Valley Eagle (#321/322) until 1962.

Culture and points of interest
The Harlingen Public Library serves local residents.

 * Harlingen Arts and Heritage Museum
 * Harlingen Performing Arts Theater
 * Iwo Jima Memorial & Museum
 * Hugh Ramsey Nature Park

Newspapers

 * Valley Morning Star
 * The Brownsville Herald
 * The Monitor

Television

 * KGBT-TV (Channel 4, Harlingen, Texas, licensee: Mission Broadcasting, Inc., Antenna TV Affiliate)
 * KRGV-TV (Channel 5, Weslaco, Texas, licensee: Mobile Video Tapes, Inc., ABC affiliate)
 * XHAB-TV (Channel 8 Televisa/Matamoros Mexico, McAllen, Harlingen-Brownsville)
 * XERV-TV (Channel 9 Televisa/Matamoros Mexico, McAllen, Harlingen-Brownsville)
 * XHREY-TV (Channel 12 TV AZTECA NORESTE/Reynosa Mexico, Rio Grande City-McAllen-Weslaco)
 * XHOR-TV (Channel 14 TV AZTECA NORESTE/Reynosa Mexico, Rio Grande City-McAllen-Weslaco)
 * KHGN-TV (Cable Channel 17, Harlingen, Texas, operator: Harlingen Consolidated independent school District, Public Relations Office.)
 * KVEO (Channel 23, Brownsville, Texas, licensee: Nexstar Media Group, NBC/CBS affiliate)
 * KTLM (Channel 40, Rio Grande City, Texas, licensee: NBCUniversal Telemundo Station Group, Telemundo owned and operated station)
 * KNVO (Channel 48, McAllen, Texas, licensee: Entravision Holdings, LLC., Univision affiliate)
 * XHVTV (Channel 54 Multimedios TV/Reynosa/Matamoros Mexico, McAllen-Weslaco/ Harlingen-Brownsville)
 * KFXV (Channel 60, Harlingen, Texas, licensee: RGV Educational Broadcasting, Inc. FOX)

Radio

 * FM
 * KHID 88.1 FM PBS/NPR
 * KBNR 88.3 FM Radio Manantial (Spanish Christian)
 * KOIR Radio Esperanza 88.5 (Spanish Christian)
 * KJJF 88.9 FM PBS/NPR
 * XMLS 91.3 FM (Top-40)
 * KTER 90.7 FM (Religious)
 * KCAS The New 91.5 / "Know Christ As Savior" (English Traditional Christian ad Southern Gospel)
 * KESO 92.7 FM (Spanish)
 * KFRQ Q94.5 (Classic/Modern/Hard Rock)
 * KBTQ Recuerdo 96.1 FM (Mexican Oldies)
 * KVMV Family Friendly & Commercial Free 96.9 FM (Adult Contemporary Christian)
 * KGBT-FM Solamente Exitos 98.5 FM (Mexican Norteña)
 * KKPS Fuego 99.5 FM (Puro Trancazos)
 * KTEX South Texas Country 100.3 FM (Country)
 * KNVO-FM Jose 101.1 FM (Spanish Hits)
 * KBUC 102.1 FM Super Tejano (Tejano)
 * KBFM Wild 104.1 FM (Hip-Hop/R&B)
 * KJAV Ultra 104.9 (Spanish Adult Hits)
 * KQXX 105.5 FM "The X" (Classic Rock)
 * XHNA 105.9 FM (Spanish)
 * KBIC 105.7 FM (Spanish)
 * KHKZ Kiss 106.3 FM (Hot AC)
 * KVLY 107.9 RGV FM (AC)

 * AM
 * KURV 710 AM Talk
 * KVJY 840 AM Spanish Pop
 * KRIO 910 AM Spanish
 * KUBR 1210 AM Spanish
 * KSOX 1240 AM Spanish
 * KRGE 1290 AM Spanish
 * XRDO 1450 AM Spanish Talk
 * XEMS 1490 AM Spanish
 * KGBT 1530 AM Spanish
 * KIRT 1580 AM Spanish
 * KVNS 1700 AM Fox Sports

Notable people

 * Gloria E. Anzaldúa (1942–2004), writer
 * Leo Araguz (born 1970), American football player
 * Thomas Haden Church (born 1960), actor
 * Parker Coppins, YouTuber
 * Danielle Doty (born 1993), Miss Texas Teen USA 2011, Miss Teen USA 2011
 * Carlos Elizondo, event planner and political aide
 * Cayetano Garza (born 1972), cartoonist
 * Bill Haley (1925–1981), rock and roll musician
 * Gina Haley (born 1975), singer-songwriter
 * Harry Holt, professional football player
 * Rose Wilder Lane (1886–1968), journalist, travel writer, novelist, political theorist, and daughter of American writer Laura Ingalls Wilder
 * Bobby Morrow (1935–2020), American sprinter who won three gold medals at the 1956 Olympics
 * Harry Nyquist (1889–1976), electronics engineer
 * Emmy Ruiz, political advisor
 * Nick Stahl (born 1979), actor
 * Jeffrey Thompson (born 1963), Idaho state representative
 * Blanca Vela (1936–2014), first female mayor of Brownsville, Texas (1999–2003), born and raised in Harlingen
 * Filemon Vela Jr., U.S. Representative
 * Larry Warner (1943–2022), lawyer and politician
 * Randy Williams (born 1975), former Major League Baseball and Nippon Professional Baseball player
 * Kim Young (born 1955), professional golfer

title: Harlingen, Texas


text:
Burali-Forti paradox

In set theory, a field of mathematics, the Burali-Forti paradox demonstrates that constructing "the set of all ordinal numbers" leads to a contradiction and therefore shows an antinomy in a system that allows its construction. It is named after Cesare Burali-Forti, who, in 1897, published a paper proving a theorem which, unknown to him, contradicted a previously proved result by Georg Cantor. Bertrand Russell subsequently noticed the contradiction, and when he published it in his 1903 book Principles of Mathematics, he stated that it had been suggested to him by Burali-Forti's paper, with the result that it came to be known by Burali-Forti's name.

Stated in terms of von Neumann ordinals
We will prove this by contradiction.

 * 1) Let $Ω$ be a set consisting of all ordinal numbers.
 * 2) $Ω$ is transitive because for every element $x$ of $Ω$ (which is an ordinal number and can be any ordinal number) and every element $y$ of $x$ (i.e. under the definition of Von Neumann ordinals, for every ordinal number $y < x$), we have that $y$ is an element of $Ω$ because any ordinal number contains only ordinal numbers, by the definition of this ordinal construction.
 * 3) $Ω$ is well ordered by the membership relation because all its elements are also well ordered by this relation.
 * So, by steps 2 and 3, we have that $Ω$ is an ordinal class and also, by step 1, an ordinal number, because all ordinal classes that are sets are also ordinal numbers.
 * 1) This implies that $Ω$ is an element of $Ω$.
 * 2) Under the definition of Von Neumann ordinals, $Ω < Ω$ is the same as $Ω$ being an element of $Ω$. This latter statement is proven by step 5.
 * 3) But no ordinal class is less than itself, including $Ω$ because of step 4 ($Ω$ is an ordinal class), i.e. $Ω ≮ Ω$.

We have deduced two contradictory propositions ($Ω < Ω$ and $Ω ≮ Ω$) from the sethood of $Ω$ and, therefore, disproved that $Ω$ is a set.

Stated more generally
The version of the paradox above is anachronistic, because it presupposes the definition of the ordinals due to John von Neumann, under which each ordinal is the set of all preceding ordinals, which was not known at the time the paradox was framed by Burali-Forti. Here is an account with fewer presuppositions: suppose that we associate with each well-ordering an object called its order type in an unspecified way (the order types are the ordinal numbers). The order types (ordinal numbers) themselves are well-ordered in a natural way, and this well-ordering must have an order type $$\Omega$$. It is easily shown in naïve set theory (and remains true in ZFC but not in New Foundations) that the order type of all ordinal numbers less than a fixed $$\alpha$$ is $$\alpha$$ itself. So the order type of all ordinal numbers less than $$\Omega$$ is $$\Omega$$ itself. But this means that $$\Omega$$, being the order type of a proper initial segment of the ordinals, is strictly less than the order type of all the ordinals, but the latter is $$\Omega$$ itself by definition. This is a contradiction.

If we use the von Neumann definition, under which each ordinal is identified as the set of all preceding ordinals, the paradox is unavoidable: the offending proposition that the order type of all ordinal numbers less than a fixed $$\alpha$$ is $$\alpha$$ itself must be true. The collection of von Neumann ordinals, like the collection in the Russell paradox, cannot be a set in any set theory with classical logic. But the collection of order types in New Foundations (defined as equivalence classes of well-orderings under similarity) is actually a set, and the paradox is avoided because the order type of the ordinals less than $$\Omega$$ turns out not to be $$\Omega$$.

Resolutions of the paradox
Modern axioms for formal set theory such as ZF and ZFC circumvent this antinomy by not allowing the construction of sets using terms like "all sets with the property $P$", as is possible in naive set theory and as is possible with Gottlob Frege's axioms – specifically Basic Law V – in the "Grundgesetze der Arithmetik." Quine's system New Foundations (NF) uses a different solution. showed that in the original version of Quine's system "Mathematical Logic" (ML), an extension of New Foundations, it is possible to derive the Burali-Forti paradox, showing that this system was contradictory. Quine's revision of ML following Rosser's discovery does not suffer from this defect, and indeed was subsequently proved equiconsistent with NF by Hao Wang.

title: Burali-Forti paradox