Bananarama

Bananarama are a British-Irish girl group formed in London in 1980. The group, originally a trio, consisted of friends Sara Dallin, Siobhan Fahey, and Keren Woodward. 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. Between 1982 and 2009, they had 30 singles reach the Top 50 of the UK Singles Chart.

The group’s UK top-10 hits include “It Ain’t What You Do (It’s the Way That You Do It)” (1982), “Really Saying Something” (1982), “Shy Boy” (1982), “Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye” (1983), “Cruel Summer” (1983), “Robert De Niro’s Waiting…” (1984), “Love in the First Degree” (1987), “I Want You Back” in 1988, and charity track “Help!” in 1989. In 1986, they had a U.S. number one with another of their UK top-10 hits, a cover of “Venus”. In total, they had 11 singles reach the US Billboard Hot 100 (1983–1988). They are associated with the MTV-driven Second British Invasion of the US. The trio performed on “Do They Know It’s Christmas?”, a UK chart-topping collaborative charity single released in 1984. They topped the Australian ARIA albums chart in June 1988 with Wow! (1987), and earned Brit Award nominations for Best British Single for “Love in the First Degree”, and Best Music Video for their cover of the Supremes single “Nathan Jones”.

Fahey left the group in 1988 and formed Shakespears Sister, best known for the UK number one “Stay” (1992). She was replaced by Jacquie O’Sullivan. This line-up had UK top-five 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 late-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 that year and August 2018.

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