They were really saying something with that wardrobe
Sara, Siobhan, and Keren have always had a special place in my heart from those early 80s MTV days - the quirky videos, catchy lyrics, and the street punk fashion easy to pull off in Soho, not so much middle America while hanging out in the Westwood Mall.
History: the three were friends at fashion college, in need of a place to live and some way to earn money. A friend offered them an apartment that happened to be above the Sex Pistols rehearsal room. They acted as backup singers for performers such as The Jam and Iggy Pop and recorded their first demo Aie a Mwana in Swahili. It became a club hit which led to a record deal.
They traded guest vocals with Fun Boy Three and did It Ain’t What You Do for them and FB3 returned the favor with Really Saying Something. (I was cleaning carpets of cat barf and hairballs when the music video came on and damned if I didn’t do the choreography nearly 40 years after the fact.)
Their star continued to rise with Cruel Summer and Robert DeNiro’s Waiting and a guest spot on the charity single Do They Know It’s Christmas?
The ultimate in hot coolness came in ‘86 with their remake of Venus, going number one everywhere.
Know what they say about reaching the top? There’s only one way to go, and that’s down. They had a couple more mid-level hits like I Heard a Rumor and Love in the First Degree, then Siobhan left to create Shakespear’s Sister and the creepy song Stay with Me. They recruited another girl to the trio but the magic wasn't there and Bananarama quietly left the limelight.
But like any good 80s band, the reunion tour siren called, and Siobhan rejoined Sara and Keren in the teens to tour Europe to relive the good times.
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