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Bananarama are an English girl group who found worldwide fame with their melodic pop and new wave songs. They have placed ten singles in the top-ten of the UK singles chart to date, as well as three U.S. top-ten hits, one of which hit number one. Some of their biggest international hits include "Cruel Summer", "Venus", and "I Heard a Rumour". They are known for their unique vocal style which features all members singing the same notes in unison (rather than three-part harmonies). Lead vocals and background vocals were recorded in this way, and much of Bananarama's early material was recorded with all three members at the same microphone at the same time.
Early years The group were founded in London in 1981 by friends Siobhan Fahey, Sara Dallin, and Keren Woodward. Dallin and Woodward had been friends since the age of 4. In 1981, Bananarama's members were living above the rehearsal room which was used by former Sex Pistols members Steve Jones and Paul Cook. With their help, 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 offered the girls their first deal. The song was an underground hit and the girls were subsequently signed by London Records. They remained on this label until 1993. Bananarama's previous experience in a recording studio was as background vocalists on the Department S b-side "Solid Gold Easy Action", a T. Rex cover in early 1981. UK fashion magazine The Face featured an article on Bananarama after their first single, and it caught the attention of ex-Specials member Terry Hall, who invited them to collaborate with his new vocal group Fun Boy Three on the track "T'ain't What You Do (It's the Way That You Do It)". In 1983, the song hit the top five in the UK and gave the girls their first significant mainstream success. Fun Boy Three then guested on Bananarama's song "Really Saying Something" later that year. Dallin and Woodward are also featured as backing vocals on two songs on Family Album (1986, produced by John Lydon). These songs were live recordings, and are (according to the album's cover notes) the first public performance by Bananarama. Debut and follow-up albums Bananarama experienced their greatest success during the period from 1984 to 1989. Their first three albums were primarily produced and co-written with Jolley & Swain. Their debut album, Deep Sea Skiving (1983) contained several hit singles — "Really Saying Something" (number five UK) and "Shy Boy" (number four UK) — and included a cover version of "Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye" (number five UK). The next album, Bananarama (1984) was a more serious and socially conscious effort. The songs tackled heavier topics such as rape ("Robert DeNiro's Waiting"), addiction ("Hot Line to Heaven"), and social apathy ("Rough Justice"). It contained the hit single "Cruel Summer" (1983) which was included in the movie The Karate Kid. The trio also recorded the single "The Wild Life" for a 1984 American film of the same name. Their music videos from this period often contained a feminist or self-empowerment stance, such as learning how to box in order to scare off neighbourhood bullies ("Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye"). Bananarama were one of the few female groups 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. They did not, however, participate in 2004's Band Aid 20 twentieth anniversary version. True Confessions In 1986, some of the group's production duties on the album True Confessions were taken up by Stock Aitken Waterman (SAW). This move resulted in the international number-one hit "Venus" (a remake of Shocking Blue's number-one hit from 1970). The dance-oriented beats on the song typified the SAW approach to pop production. Bananarama were said to have been put in contact with SAW after hearing and expressing a fondness for "You Spin Me Round (Like a Record)" by Dead or Alive. The music video for "Venus" received heavy airplay on MTV in the U.S. It featured the group in various costumes including a devil, a French temptress, a vampire, and Grecian goddesses. The video marked a pivotal shift towards a more glamourous and sexual image that contrasted with the tomboy-ish style of their earlier work. It was also the start of their use of male boy-toys as backup dancers that would become a hallmark of their videos. This visual iconography and Hi-NRG-influenced sound drew heavily from gay culture and accordingly attracted a gay fanbase. Wow! to Pop Life In the wake of the success of "Venus", all production and co-writing responsibilities for their next album, 1987's Wow!, were transferred from Jolley & Swain to SAW. Consequently, the group's sound also morphed from rock-influenced and New Wave pop to dance-oriented, bubblegum Europop. "I Heard a Rumour" was their strongest performing international hit from this album. "Love in the First Degree" was one of their biggest U.K. hits, and the disco-oriented "I Can't Help It" (which boasted a semi-controversial video featuring the group in a milk bath filled with fruit and half-naked men) was a minor hit. In 1988 Bananarama entered the Guinness Book of World Records as the all-female group who have the most chart entries in history, a record they still hold. By the time the third single from Wow! was released in the same year, Fahey — who had married Eurythmics' Dave Stewart — left the group. She would later resurface as one half of the pop duo Shakespears Sister with Marcella Detroit. In Fahey's absence, Jacquie O'Sullivan (formerly of the Shillelagh Sisters) joined the ranks. The single "I Want You Back" was re-recorded with O'Sullivan, as was the Supremes' cover "Nathan Jones" which was released as a single from their 1988 retrospective compilation Greatest Hits Collection. As as a fund-raising charity single for Comic Relief in 1989, Bananarama recorded a cover of the Beatles' song "Help!" with Lananeeneenoonoo, a mock girl group created by British female comedy duo French & Saunders with fellow comedienne Kathy Burke. Bananarama's 1991 album Pop Life saw the group working 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. After a world tour and the final fourth single from the album, however, O'Sullivan left the band to form the short-lived Slippery Feet. As a duo In 1993, Dallin and Woodward returned as a duo with a new album called Please Yourself, which also marked the return of production duties back to the remaining members of SAW, Stock and Waterman. Ironically, though the lead single was titled "Movin' On", the album was a regression to their previous Eurodisco sound as illustrated by their cover of Andrea True Connection's "More, More, More". It was to be their last album on London Records. Their next offering was 1995's Ultra Violet (retitled I Found Love in Japan) on a new label. It featured the melancholic dance single "Every Shade of Blue" . In 1998, Dallin and Woodward recorded the track "Waterloo" (a cover of the classic ABBA song) together with Fahey for the Eurovision celebration A Song For Eurotrash on Channel 4. In 2001, they released the album Exotica in France with a cover of George Michael's "Careless Whisper". Collaborators included Pascal Caubet and Dallin's partner Bassey Walker. The album also included Latin- and R&B-influenced dance songs, as well as reinterpreted versions of their earlier hits. Only two promotional singles would be released from the album. As of 2002, Bananarama had sold forty million albums worldwide. That year, they released another greatest hits album, The Very Best of Bananarama, in the UK. They also recorded the song "Love, Leave, Forget" for Sky TV's show Is Harry On The Boat? as well as the song "U R My Baby" for a German disco project. That same year, Bananarama (with Siobhan Fahey as special guest) celebrated their twentieth anniversary at the London Astoria in London. 3,000 people participated in this event. With 80s retro in vogue, Bananarama attempted a comeback in the British charts in 2005. Solasso remixed their early hit "Really Saying Something" and re-released it as a single. "Move in My Direction", released in July, hit the charts at number fourteen, making this song the group's twenty-sixth top-forty UK hit, and their first top-twenty hit since their 1991 single "Preacher Man". Follow-up single "Look on the Floor (Hypnotic Tango)", however, peaked at a relatively disappointing number twenty-six and the Drama album flopped at 169. In June 2006 the group's contract with A&G Productions expired and was not renewed. Nevertheless, in the same year, the duo's fortunes were reversed. Drama was released in the U.S. on May 16 and after a fourteen-year absence, Bananarama was back on Billboard's Hot Dance Club Play and the Hot Dance Airplay charts with an import version of "Look on the Floor (Hypnotic Tango)". "Look on the Floor" became their first U.S. hit since 1992, when they scored with "Tripping on Your Love". "Move In My Direction" was released as a second single in the U.S. Summer 2006 saw their official website announce the Warner Bros. release of The Twelve Inches of Bananarama, a compilation of twelve remixes on CD for the first time. The collection will feature the rare George Michael remix of "Tripping on Your Love", among others. It is scheduled for release in October 2006. Plans are also afoot for a new collection in 2007 which will mark twenty-five years since their first hit single. Trivia Notes Discography For a complete list of Bananarama albums and singles, see Bananarama discography. Tours See also | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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