Limahl is back—but not as you know him.
The former Kajagoogoo frontman and king of ’80s synth-pop has dropped his first single in over five years, and it’s a surprising pivot. Swapping the neon gloss of Too Shy for something earthier and more atmospheric, Limahl has reimagined America’s 1972 classic A Horse With No Name, his first-ever cover, out now via Christopher Music.
But this isn’t a straight run-through of a soft rock staple. What Limahl has done is something far stranger and cooler: he’s taken the dusty folk-rock original and filtered it through a haze of ‘90s electronica, analogue synths and retro-futurist textures. Think campfire in cyberspace. It’s cinematic, trippy, and totally unexpected.
“The original ‘70s track has been a favourite on my evening playlist for a long time, and I had always wanted to do my own version,” Limahl explains. “The ‘90s have been enjoying a revival which prompted me to experiment with the drums and rhythms from that decade. Then the jerky, Jupiter 8 analogue synthesizer/sequencer was added with a filtering envelope and it became an important personality in the track. As an afterthought, guitar was added, and it became the icing on the cake.”
It’s the kind of genre-blending you might expect from a younger act with TikTok heat and a crate of vintage gear. But Limahl has never exactly followed the script. After all, this is the same man who, in the space of a few years, went from chart-topping glam-pop stardom to scoring a global hit with Giorgio Moroder on The NeverEnding Story—a track that’s now been immortalised again via Stranger Things, Black Mirror, and American Horror Story.
And it turns out he’s still got that star power. Earlier this year, he popped up on Comic Relief to belt out Too Shy—helping raise £34 million on the night—and went quietly viral on TikTok singing the chorus to his new single. Nearly half a million views later, Gen Z has officially clocked him.
Away from the studio, Limahl’s been just as active. He’s still playing shows across Europe and lending his profile to causes that matter. Last year alone, he co-hosted a SENSE charity gala at Westminster Church Hall with Princess Anne, performed at the National Portrait Gallery’s reopening bash, and took the stage at the Terrence Higgins Trust gala—all events raising over £100k each.
He also turned up in Madrid for the premiere of La Historia Interminable, the Spanish musical adaptation of The NeverEnding Story, which is now playing in Barcelona. Sometimes the universe just writes itself.
While some of his ‘80s peers have settled into the heritage circuit, Limahl is out here playing the long game—blending eras, twisting expectations, and refusing to be boxed in. A Horse With No Name might’ve been about getting lost in the desert, but this version sounds like someone who’s mapped the whole thing out—and brought a synthesiser.
