We know where we’ve come from and what we’ve done together,” says Sara Dallin of her lifelong friendship with Bananarama bandmate Keren Woodward. “It’s very rare to actually go to school together, leave home together, work together and still be friends.”
Now in their early sixties, Dallin and Woodward have known each other since they were seven-year-olds. This afternoon, Record Collector finds them pouring tea in their London hotel room, presiding over an extraordinary career that’s seen them rack up sales of over 30 million and earn a spot in the Guinness Book Of World Records as the most commercially successful female band of all time.
Bananarama’s journey to global superstardom began in earnest when they were invited to back Fun Boy Three on 1982’s It Ain’t What You Do (It’s The Way That You Do It). The following year’s debut, Deep Sea Skiving, scrambled preconceived ideas of what an all-girl band could be: post-punks with a pop vision and strong DIY aesthetic.
“We were making our own career, writing our own music and managing ourselves,” explains Dallin. “Onstage, we were exactly as we would’ve been if we were in a club or anywhere else. I think that’s why young girls could relate to us.”
The hits kept coming throughout the 80s, during which time Dallin, Woodward and fellow co-founder Siobhan Fahey transitioned into sophisticated dance-pop. And while chart success became more sporadic in subsequent years, Bananarama – with Dallin and Woodward as the core duo – have lost little of their appeal.
A new self-curated compilation, Glorious - The Ultimate Collection, toasts over 40 years in the industry.
Diese Geschichte stammt aus der May 2024-Ausgabe von Record Collector.
Starten Sie Ihre 7-tägige kostenlose Testversion von Magzter GOLD, um auf Tausende kuratierte Premium-Storys sowie über 8.000 Zeitschriften und Zeitungen zuzugreifen.
Bereits Abonnent ? Anmelden
Diese Geschichte stammt aus der May 2024-Ausgabe von Record Collector.
Starten Sie Ihre 7-tägige kostenlose Testversion von Magzter GOLD, um auf Tausende kuratierte Premium-Storys sowie über 8.000 Zeitschriften und Zeitungen zuzugreifen.
Bereits Abonnent? Anmelden
"Things can go very badly wrong"
But not too often. The Iron Maiden singer, aviator, business mogul and awardwinning everyman, Bruce Dickinson, returns with a new solo album, The Mandrake Project – Top 10 across the planet at the time of writing – and a ton of anecdotes about his extraordinarily successful career. Just don’t try and put him in a box. “I’m not a number, I’m a free man!” he warns Joel McIver.
Out Of The Darkness
Long-anticipated solo debut from Portishead singer is worth the wait
Clearing The Way
The end of an era for Bolan's glam-rock trailblazers.
SOCK IT TO ME DISC-ITS! WHEN TWO TRIBES VINYL AND CD (AND CASSETTE) WENT TO WAR
Dream, if you can, a courtyard. An ocean of violets in bloom. Alternatively, a 1984 record shop and all its pristine treasures. Close your eyes, let’s go there together. What do you see? From chest-level down – vinyl.
Steve Harley 1951-2024
As frontman for Cockney Rebel, the singer-songwriter crafted one of the glam rock era's greatest singles in Make Me Smile (Come Up and See Me).
The Collector
Swiss-based Icelander Sunna Margrét is a rising force in experimental pop. Having begun her career as a teenager touring with electro-pop ensemble Bloodgroup, she is about to release her debut full-length solo LP, Finger on Tongue.
She'd only Just gun
With their rapturous harmonies, the Carpenters dominated the 70s’ airwaves, selling over 100 million records with hits like Close To You and Yesterday Once More. But by 1979, lead singer Karen was seeking a new direction… Biographer Lucy O’Brien recounts her attempts to move out of the restrictive environment of the family band that had made her a star
PNEUMATIC FOR THE PEOPLE
Forming in West Berlin in 1980 and achieving their greatest notoriety circa 1984, industrial noise-punks Einstürzende Neubauten have far e xceeded t he i r p ro jec ted l i fe expectancy. Founding frontman Blixa Bargeld traces the evolution of the metalbashing pioneers. Jeremy Allen is all (suitably protected) ears
FRUITS OF THEIR LABOUTES
Bananarama had their first Top 3 hit in 1984, Robert De Niro's Waiting. Rob Hughes meets lifelong friends and bandmates Sara Dallin and Keren Woodward as they look back on their career, album by album
Being Soaring.
In April 1984, the original, faster Bobby Oproduced version of West End Girls was released.