Who Was Bananarama?

Bananarama was an English pop group made by a collaboration of three friends called Sara Dallin, Siobhan Fahey, and Keren Woodward in 1980. 

They made their success roar in the Guinness Book of World Record for achieving the highest number of chart entries among all females’ groups. The success of this group speaks for itself. They released top hits between 1982 and 2009.  Some of the very famous and record-breaking songs in this period include “Really Saying Something,” “Love in the first degree,” “Shy Boy,” and many more. Many of these hits made it to the US Billboard Top 10, with “Venus” being number one. 

The Transformation from Duo to Trio

The band started with a duo of Keren Woodward and Sara Dallin. The young teenagers used to chill after clubbing and play guitars at parties. They started with the guitar and later learned to play bass and did backing vocals just for pleasure for “The Professionals,” a band of Paul Cook and Steve Jones. The duo’s first appearance on stage has been recorded to be at Camden Palace in London and that too for singing backing vocals for a friend’s band called Department S. 

Department_S_Byline

Later, the duo band transformed into a trio when they met the person having a similar persona with a hue of charm, Siobhan Fahey. It happened to be in the London University of Art, where Sara Dallin went to study Journalism. She was amazed to see the exact copy of herself in the face of Siobhan Fahey. By then, Woodward was working in the BBC. This was the time when Dallin and Woodward were living at YWCA, and later, Paul Cook offered them a place to live. 

The trio began composing songs and performing on stage with never-ending confidence. They used to perform for their friends. The trio’s first-ever demo was for a cover “AIE A MWANA” for the “Black Blood.” This cover that they learned phonetically was sung in Swahili.

Meanwhile, you can also read the little-known facts about pop culture in the 90s here.

 

How Did the Trio Come up with the Name “Bananarama”?

Up to this point, the group was not recognized by any name. The name was lacking and the hunt for a representative name begun here. Dallin was a huge fan of Roxy Music and started looking into their song titles where she found, Pyjamarama. Plus, the trio thought that banana is a good prefix and also sounds tropical. So, they finally came up with the name Bananarama for their band.

The track was then released and made it to No. 92 in the charts of the UK. This was not less than a magnanimous achievement. It even raised the confidence of the triplets further. The track then came into notice of mega personalities from the industry, and Terry Hall approached the band for his new band, “Fun Boy Three.” Numerous tracks were assigned to them, one of which was “‘Tain’t What You Do.” This track was one of their top 5.

Banana_iawyd

The favor was then returned to the Bananarama when Fun Boy Three sang for them and made “Really Saying Something” the first hit of the band. For the next five years, the Bananarama was all over. In this period, the band left so many hits that the people enjoy and get thrilled to. “Shy Boy” and “love in the first degree” were some of them. 

The band continuously faced success everywhere. They finally made it to be the hot topic internationally after “Cruel Summer” got released. This song was included in the movie “karate kid.” Countless super hits followed this track, and the trio made their way to the Hollywood superstars by singing and working hard. This is the reason it is said that their success speaks for them. They don’t need anything else to flaunt.

Bananarama_-_Cruel_Summer

They never lacked confidence and made their decision wisely. Never been distracted by the limelight and always preferred brains for their life decisions. The trio never failed to amaze the audience and colleagues by making the right choices and collaborations at every point throughout their journey in Hollywood. This ability assisted them in releasing their debut album “Deep-sea Skiving,” and the trio embarked on their very first world tour that went broadly successful.

In 1988, Siobhan Fahey left the band, and the rest decided to continue as a duo. Nothing could stop their way to triumph, and five albums were released one after the other. They were:

  • Please yourself: in 1993
  • Ultra Violet: in 1995
  • Exotica: in 2001
  • Drama: in 2005
  • Viva: in 2009

“Drama” was composed and recorded with the collaboration of Swedish hitmaker, Murlyn in Stockholm. The singles “Move in my direction” and “look on the floor” got recorded and marked in the top ‘20s in the UK and US billboards.

In 2012, the Bananarama marked their appearance in the hit ITV comedy Benidorm. The duo supported the Pinktober breast cancer awareness charity and then released a 4 track Extended Play named NOW OR NEVER. In 2014, Dallin and Woodward toured Australia and Japan.

In 2017, both were asked and invited Fahey for the “Reunion tour” of the UK. This was because Fahey had never experienced traveling with them before. This trip sold about 10 more dates which added to the original 15. Some of the hits of this time were:

  • Robert De Niro’s Waiting
  • I Heard a Rumor
  • I can’t help
  • Venus

In February 2018, they performed four dates in the states of Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York in the US, and Toronto in Canada.

In Hyde Park, they managed to play tracks for the US show and the summer festival in UK and Europe. These tracks were played along with Nile Rodgers, Michael Buble, and Van Morrison. The group again came back to the duo of Sara and Keren in September 2018 and finally announced shows in San Diego and Los Angeles in 2019. People have always been crazy for the tracks of the Bananarama to be released and satisfy their music hunger.

The 11th studio album was also announced to be released in 2019. The album was called In Stereo. The first song of this album that got released was “Dance music” the album “looking for someone” succeeded in being premiered on the Graham Norton show.

Bananarama_in_stereo

In 2020, the duo was excited enough to announce the reveal of their memoir with Penguin Books in October 2020. From stage-breaking performances to the sold-out world tours, the Bananarama has inspired millions of the audience.  The thrilling, breathtaking, and mesmerizing performances will never be forgotten. Their life-long friendship is reflected in the “really saying something.” It is an honest yet hilarious manifestation of their friendship that has marked its way to peoples’ hearts.

Conclusion

Like Chordettes, Bananarama also amazed people with their brilliant performances. It has left the audience in awe by their stunning and breath-taking performances the whole 30 years since their origin. People are never full with their tracks and always in the dire desire of more no matter what. Bananarama had influenced everyone with their top pop hits. They have been proven to be mold-breakers.