Bananarama are an English pop group formed in London in 1980. The group, originally a trio, consisted of friends Sara Dallin, Siobhan Fahey, and Keren Woodward.[2] Fahey left the group in 1988 and was replaced by Jacquie O'Sullivan until 1991, when the trio became a duo. Their success on both pop and dance charts saw them listed in the Guinness World Records for achieving the world's highest number of chart entries by an all-female group.[3] Between 1982 and 2009, they had 32 singles reach the Top 50 of the UK Singles Chart.
Fahey left the group in 1988 and formed Shakespears Sister, best known for the UK No. 1 "Stay" (1992). She was replaced by Jacquie O'Sullivan. This line-up had UK Top 5 hits with "I Want You Back" (1988) and a cover of The Beatles' "Help!" (1989) recorded with comedy duo French and Saunders and comedian Kathy Burke for the charity Comic Relief. They also charted with "Love, Truth and Honesty" and "Nathan Jones". In 1989, they embarked on their first world tour and had another hit with a new remixed version of "Cruel Summer". In 1990 and 1991, they had Top 30 hits with "Only Your Love", "Preacher Man", and "Long Train Running" and their new studio album Pop Life, which featured these singles and a fourth, "Tripping on Your Love", which was released soon after the album. After O'Sullivan's mid 1991 departure, Dallin and Woodward continued Bananarama as a duo, with further Top 30 hits including "Movin' On" (1992), "More, More, More" (1993), "Move in My Direction" (2005), and "Look on the Floor (Hypnotic Tango) (2005)". Fahey temporarily rejoined Bananarama in 2017, and they toured the UK and North America between November and August 2017.
Career
1980–1982: early years
Bananarama formed in September 1980 when teenagers and childhood friends Sara Dallin and Keren Woodward moved from Bristol to London and met Siobhan Fahey. Dallin and Fahey were studying journalism at the London College of Fashion (University of Arts) and Woodward was working at the BBC in Portland Place. Dallin and Woodward were living at the YWCA and were about to be made homeless until Paul Cook, with whom they had become friends after meeting at a club, offered them a place to live above the former Sex Pistols rehearsal room in Denmark Street, Charing Cross. They took their name, in part, from the Roxy Music song "Pyjamarama".[7]
The trio were ardent followers of the punk rock and post-punk music scenes during the late 1970s and early 1980s. They often performed impromptu sets or backing vocals at gigs for such bands as The Monochrome Set, The Professionals, Subway Sect, Iggy Pop, Department S, The Nipple Erectors, and The Jam.[8][9] In 1981, Bananarama recorded their first demo, "Aie a Mwana", a cover of a song by Black Blood, sung in Swahili. The demo was heard at Demon Records, who consequently offered Bananarama their first deal. The song was an underground hit (UK No. 92) and Bananarama were signed by Decca (later London Records) and remained on the label until 1993. UK music magazine The Face featured an article on Bananarama after the release of their first single. This caught the attention of ex-Specials member Terry Hall, who invited them to collaborate with his new vocal group Fun Boy Three on their album and the single "It Ain't What You Do (It's The Way That You Do It)". In 1982, the song hit the Top 5 in the UK and gave Bananarama their first significant mainstream success. Fun Boy Three then guested on Bananarama's single, "Really Saying Something", later that year.
Bananarama experienced their greatest success during the period 1982 to 1989, with their first three albums primarily produced and co-written with Jolley & Swain. Their debut album, Deep Sea Skiving (UK No. 7, US No. 63) (1983) contained several hit singles – "Really Saying Something" (UK No. 5) and "Shy Boy" (UK No. 4) – and included a cover version of "Na Na Hey Hey (Kiss Him Goodbye)" (UK No. 5). "Cheers Then" (UK No. 45) was released as the third single, with little chart success, but very positive reviews from critics. The album peaked at No. 7 on the UK Albums Chart and was certified Silver by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI).[10]
The band recorded a version of the Sex Pistols' song "No Feelings" in late 1982 for the soundtrack of the British teen-comedy film, Party Party. During 1982 and 1983, Bananarama did several promotional US press tours and TV appearances the first being on The Uncle Floyd Show and on American Bandstand and Solid Gold. The group had their first major success in the United States in 1984 with the Top 10 hit "Cruel Summer" (UK No. 8, US No. 9), bolstered by the song's inclusion in the soundtrack to the 1984 film The Karate Kid. The song was ranked No. 44 on VH1's 100 Greatest Songs of the '80s.[11]Billboard named the song No. 13 on their list of the "100 Greatest Girl Group Songs of All Time".[12]
Their second album, Bananarama (UK No. 16, US No. 30) was released in 1984. Single "Rough Justice" (UK #23) was written about Thomas Reilly, the band's road manager and brother of Fahey's boyfriend Jim Reilly (drummer of the Northern Irish punk band Stiff Little Fingers), who was shot and killed by a British soldier in Belfast in August 1983.[13] The album contained the hit singles, "Robert De Niro's Waiting..." (UK No. 3) and "Rough Justice" (UK No. 23). The track "Hot Line to Heaven" was also released as a single in the UK but failed to reach the Top 40, peaking at No. 58. The album peaked at No. 16 on the UK Albums Chart, reached the US Top 40 albums chart, and was certified Silver by the BPI. The trio also recorded the single, "The Wild Life" (US No. 70) for the 1984 American film of the same name. In 1984, Bananarama featured on the Band Aid single, "Do They Know It's Christmas?" and were the only artists to appear on both the original 1984 Band Aid and the 1989 Band Aid II versions (Fahey appeared on the 1984 version while O'Sullivan appeared on the 1989 version). The stand-alone single "Do Not Disturb" (UK No. 31) was released in 1985, although it was later added to their third album True Confessions.
1986–1987: True Confessions and international success
In 1986, the band released their third album, True Confessions. The majority of the album was produced by Tony Swain and Steve Jolley (who produced Bananarama's eponymous second album), with the exception of "Venus" and "More Than Physical". The latter, given a garage remix for its single version, was Bananarama's first songwriting collaboration with the Stock Aitken Waterman (SAW) production team. Bananarama had tracked the producers down after hearing "You Spin Me Round (Like a Record)" by Dead or Alive.[14] The album contains the group's most commercially successful single to date, a cover version of Shocking Blue's 1969 song "Venus", which peaked at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the United States. The music video for "Venus" received heavy airplay on MTV in the United States. In 2014, Matt Dunn of WhatCulture ranked the song at No. 5 in his "15 unforgettable Stock Aitken Waterman singles" list, describing it as a "timeless classic of 80s synth pop, an instantly recognisable foot-tapping gem", while underlining the "provocative video and all its fire, sexy choreography, coffin dancing and red patent-leather devil outfits".[15] In 2021, British magazine Classic Pop ranked "Venus" No. 2 in their list of "Top 40 Stock Aitken Waterman songs".[16]
True Confessions reached No. 46 on the UK Albums Chart and No. 15 on the US Billboard 200, becoming the group's highest-charting album on the latter chart. Tom Hibbert of Smash Hits praised the album as being "undeniably, convincingly listenable" and "a proper pop 'album'", adding that Bananarama "make 'intriguing' pop – and can even sustain the charm across an entire LP."[17] Also in 1986, Dallin and Woodward were featured as backing vocalists on two songs on Family Album, produced by John Lydon. Follow-up singles "More Than Physical" (UK No. 41) and "A Trick of the Night" (UK No. 32) were less successful. Woodward was pregnant with her son at the time and was unable to tour or physically promote the album or its subsequent singles. "More Than Physical" marked the beginning of Bananarama's songwriting relationship with Stock Aitken Waterman. It was a collaborative process that Stock has described as troubled, despite producing a string of hits.[18] "It's very difficult to be creative if someone's just going to mock you, or laugh at you," he said. "With Bananarama it was just awkward, all the time very awkward, and I didn't feel comfortable writing with them."[18]
During a press tour in New York City, the group also recorded a song "Riskin' a Romance" featured in the film The Secret of My Success (1987). The track was notable because it featured Fahey taking lead vocals, and Daryl Hall was the producer. During this trip, the group also re-recorded the vocals for their next UK release "More Than Physical" and "A Trick of the Night" with Mike Stock in Miami.[14][19] In March 1987, Bananarama participated in the recording of the single "Let It Be" (UK No. 11) as members of the charity supergroup Ferry Aid. All sales from the single were donated to charity in response to the capsizing of the ferry MS Herald of Free Enterprise, which killed 193 people. Among the featured singers was Woodward, who sang with Nick Kamen.[20]
1987–1988: Wow! and Fahey's departure
In the wake of the success of "Venus", Bananarama began work on the album Wow! The group's sound successfully shifted towards dance-oriented Europop under the direction of Pete Waterman, but the creative process on the project was often fraught, with Matt Aitken describing the band's contribution to song writing as minimal outside of suggesting song titles.[21] Karen Hewitt, who was the engineer at the songwriting sessions made clear that Bananarama very much tried to be involved in the creative process but that this was not made easy by Mike and Matt who wanted to work very quickly. Bananarama were, however, very assertive and opinionated during the sessions.[22] The album reached No. 26 on the UK Albums Chart and No. 44 on the US Billboard 200,while peaking at No. 1 in Australia. The album was certified gold by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) in 1988.
"I Heard a Rumour" (UK No. 14, US No. 4) was their strongest performing international hit from the album. The track bears notable similarities in part to Michael Fortunati's "Give Me Up", which was released in early 1986. However, producer Mike Stock denied the track was based excessively on that record, insisting "I Heard A Rumour" was simply broadly inspired by Europop trends at the time.[23] "We didn't do sampling... There's no similarity in the lyric, there's no actual similarity in terms of note-for-noteness in the tune," he said. "We were doing Europop."[23] "Love in the First Degree" (UK No. 3), one of their biggest UK hits, was nominated at the 1988 Brit Awards for best single. Producer Pete Waterman claimed he had to threaten to pull SAW off the Wow! project in order to force the release of the track as a single, after it was dismissed by the band and label as too commercial.[24] A further single, "I Can't Help It" was also a hit (UK No. 20). After the third single from Wow! was released in early 1988, Fahey – who had married Eurythmics' Dave Stewart – left the group. Her last performance as a member of the group was "Love in the First Degree" at the Brit Awards in February 1988. She would later resurface in the BRIT Award–winning pop duo Shakespears Sister with Marcella Detroit.
1988–1991: second line-up, Greatest Hits, Pop Life and world tour
After Fahey's exit, Jacquie O'Sullivan (formerly of the Shillelagh Sisters) joined the group in March 1988. The single "I Want You Back" (UK No. 5) was re-recorded with O'Sullivan, as was The Supremes cover "Nathan Jones" (UK No. 15) which was nominated for best video at the 1989 Brit Awards. "Love, Truth and Honesty" (UK No. 23) was released as a single from their 1988 retrospective compilation, Greatest Hits Collection (UK No. 3). At the same time, Bananarama entered the Guinness Book of World Records as the all-female group who have the most UK chart entries in history, a record they still hold.[25] Initial tensions began to appear within the new lineup around this time, with O'Sullivan complaining that there were no photographs of her displayed at the Soho launch of Greatest Hits Collection, and tour preparation marked by her bandmates' discomfort with her partying lifestyle.[26]
As a fundraising charity single for Comic Relief in 1989, Bananarama recorded a cover of The Beatles' song "Help!" with Lananeeneenoonoo (UK No. 3), a mock girl-group created by British female comedy duo French and Saunders, with fellow comedian Kathy Burke. Also in 1989, the band embarked upon their first world tour, which included shows in North America, East Asia, and the UK. Bananarama's 1991 album, Pop Life, saw Dallin's and Woodward's songwriting collaboration with their friend Youth. They worked with a variety of producers including Youth, Shep Pettibone, and Steve Jolley of Jolley & Swain. They also incorporated a wider range of musical genres including reggae, flamenco guitar, and acid house. Singles "Only Your Love" (UK No. 27), "Preacher Man" (UK No. 20), a cover of the Doobie Brothers' "Long Train Running" (UK No. 30), and "Tripping on Your Love" (UK No. 76) were the group's final releases with O'Sullivan. In a rave review for Entertainment Weekly, Chuck Eddy said that Pop Life, "while energetic, is far moodier than anything they've ever done. The Gipsy Kings... help engineer the Doobie Brothers' 'Long Train Running' into a scary locomotive blues. Other tracks venture deep into the dark tunnel of dreamland: Pulses from an alternate universe underline fizzy computerized harmonies; sleepy voices trying hard to wake up ask 'What color are the skies where you live?'... Two other songs even have heavy psychedelic guitars. We usually visit Bananaramaland to escape our problems, but this album takes us to an eerier place than we'd ever expect."[27]
1992–2001: Duo re-launch, Please Yourself, Ultra Violet and Exotica
In 1992, Dallin and Woodward returned as a duo and had a UK Top 30 hit with "Movin' On" (UK No. 24), which was the first single from the 1993 album Please Yourself.[28] Other singles from the album were "Last Thing on My Mind" (UK No. 71) and a cover of the 1976 Andrea True Connection song "More, More, More" (UK No. 24). In July 2018, Mark Elliot of Classic Pop ranked Please Yourself as the 14th best album ever produced by Stock Aitken Waterman. He presented the album as "a concept project [Waterman] billed "ABBA-Banana", and considered "Movin'On" and "Last Thing on My Mind" as "classics".[29]
Their next offering was 1995's Ultra Violet (entitled I Found Love in Japan) on a new label. The album and its three singles — "I Found Love", "Every Shade of Blue", and "Take Me to Your Heart" — were only released in some European countries, North America, Japan, and Australia, but not in Britain. In 1998, Dallin and Woodward asked Fahey to join them to record the track "Waterloo" (a cover of the classic ABBA song) for the Eurovision celebration A Song for Eurotrash on Channel 4. In 1999, Dallin, Woodward, and Fahey were interviewed together for an episode of the BBC music documentary series Young Guns Go For It dedicated to the group. In 2001, Dallin and Woodward, who had been frequently working in France, had recorded the album Exotica with the French label M6. The album also included a cover of George Michael's "Careless Whisper", Latin- and R&B-influenced dance songs, and reinterpreted versions of their earlier hits.
2002–2006: Very Best and Drama
In 2002, the group released The Very Best of Bananarama to celebrate the group's 20th anniversary, including their singles released from 1981 to 1993.[30] They also recorded the song "Love Him, Leave Him, Forget Him" for Sky TV's show Is Harry on the Boat? as well as the song "U R My Baby" for a German disco project. The album reached No. 43 on the UK Albums Chart. In 2005, Dallin and Woodward collaborated with Murlyn Music Group, writing and recording in Sweden for six months to produce the album Drama. The album's first single "Move in My Direction" debuted on the UK Singles Chart at No. 14, also becoming their first UK Top 40 entry since 1993. The second single, "Look on the Floor (Hypnotic Tango)", also reached the UK Top 40, and climbed to No. 2 on the US Hot Dance Club Play chart as an import, becoming Bananarama's biggest US dancefloor hit since "Venus" two decades earlier. Drama charted at No. 21 on Billboard's Top Electronic Albums chart.
In August 2008, Bananarama were back in the studio recording a track with Rev Run from Run-D.M.C.. The song, 'Invincible', credited as Rev Run featuring Bananarama, did not surface until late 2014 on Rev Run's solo album Red Rhythm Rewind.[32] In June 2009, Bananarama performed at the Isle of Wight Festival.[33] In August 2009, they performed at the 80s Rewind Festival in Henley-on-Thames alongside other 1980s acts which included Rick Astley, Belinda Carlisle, and Kim Wilde.[34]
Bananarama released a new single entitled "Love Comes" (UK No. 44) and a new album Viva (UK No. 87) in September 2009. The album was produced by Ian Masterson and released through Fascination Records. A second single was released from the album in April 2010, a new remix of the song "Love Don't Live Here" (UK No. 114) backed by Ian Masterson's 2010 reworking of the 1995 single "Every Shade of Blue" and "The Runner" (originally recorded by The Three Degrees), remixed by Buzz Junkies.[35][36] In April 2011, Bananarama appeared on ITV's hit comedy Benidorm and performed "Love in the First Degree", "Robert De Niro's Waiting...", and "Movin' On".[37]
2012–2016: 30 Years of Bananarama
On 9 July 2012, Warner Music imprint Rhino Records released a greatest hits CD and DVD Collection 30 Years of Bananarama to celebrate the band's 30th anniversary.[38] The CD features Bananarama's 22 best-known singles, from their 1981 debut, "Aie a Mwana", to their 2009 effort, "Love Don't Live Here". All songs are presented in chronological order (except the bonus tracks on digital) with most of them being their album versions.[39] The digital version includes three extra tracks "Rough Justice", "Long Train Running", and "A Trick of the Night", adding up to a total of 25 tracks.[40] The album charted at No. 62 on the UK Albums Chart. On 9 August 2012, the band performed at the men's final of the beach volleyball at the London Olympics. They performed a medley of "Cruel Summer", "Love in the First Degree", and "Venus".[41] In December 2016, Billboard magazine ranked them the 94th most successful dance artist of all time.[42]
2017–present: original line-up tour, In Stereo, Really Saying Something and Masquerade
Bananarama in 2018
On 23 April 2017, Fahey rejoined Bananarama.[43] The Original Line-up Tour saw them perform 23 sell-out dates across the UK in November and December 2017. In February 2018, they played four dates in North America: Los Angeles, San Francisco, and New York City in the United States; and Toronto in Canada. Their final dates as a trio were in August 2018. On 22 December 2018, Dallin and Woodward again appeared as contestants on the Christmas Special of the game show Pointless Celebrities.[44]
On 19 April 2019, Dallin and Woodward released their new album In Stereo (UK No. 29). On 29 April 2022, Dallin and Woodward released the track "Favourite" from their twelfth studio album Masquerade, which was released on 22 July 2022.[45] On 15 June 2022, the album title track "Masquerade" was released as the first official single, and its music video followed two days later. A second track entitled "Velvet Lies" followed on 18 July 2022. On 12 August 2022, "Forever Young" was released as the official second single. On 14 October 2022, "Running with the Night" was released as the official third single. The album's release was followed by two launch shows at London Lafayette on 3 and 4 August 2022.[46][47]
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