Republica are an English alternative rock band formed in 1994. The height of their popularity spanned from 1996 to 1999. The current line-up consists of Saffron (vocals), Tim Dorney (keyboards), and Johnny Male (guitar).
Toyah Ann Willcox is an English singer, actress, and TV presenter. In a career spanning more than 40 years, she has had eight top 40 singles, released over 20 albums, written two books, appeared in over 40 stage plays and 10 feature films, and voiced and presented numerous television shows.
The Boomtown Rats are an Irish new wave band originally formed in Dublin in 1975. Between 1977 and 1985, they had a series of Irish and UK hits including "Like Clockwork", "Rat Trap", "I Don't Like Mondays" and "Banana Republic". The original line-up comprised six musicians; five from Dún Laoghaire in County Dublin; Gerry Cott, Simon Crowe (drums), Johnnie Fingers (keyboards), Bob Geldof (vocals) and Garry Roberts, plus Fingers' cousin Pete Briquette (bass). The Boomtown Rats broke up in 1986, but reformed in 2013, without Fingers or Cott. Garry Roberts died in 2022. The band's fame and notability have been overshadowed by the charity work of frontman Bob Geldof, a former journalist with the New Musical Express.
The Bodysnatchers were a seven-piece all-female band involved in the British 2 Tone ska revival of the late 1970s and early 1980s.
Catharina "Nina" Hagen is a German singer, songwriter, and actress. She is known for her theatrical vocals and rise to prominence during the punk and Neue Deutsche Welle movements in the late 1970s and early 1980s. She is known as "The Godmother of German Punk".
Flex is the second studio album by English-American singer-songwriter Lene Lovich, released in January 1980 by Stiff Records. The album is produced by Lovich and Les Chappell with additional production by Roger Bechirian and Alan Winstanley. It was recorded at the Wisseloord Studios in Hilversum, Netherlands. She worked with Chappell and Judge Smith on writing the songs.
Joi Cardwell is an American singer and songwriter. Born and raised in New York City, she performed in various singing competitions as a child and rose to fame in the early 1990s as a guest vocalist for Lil Louis on the number 1 Dance singles "Club Lonely" and "Saved My Life". The release of Cardwell's debut album, The World Is Full of Trouble (1995), established her as a solo artist worldwide and featured the Billboard Dance top-five singles number-one singles "Jump for Joi" and "Love & Devotion". Her second album, Joi Cardwell (1997), spawned the top-charting singles "Soul to Bare", "Run to You", and "Found Love".
Jade is an American girl group, formed in Chicago, Illinois in 1991, whose original line-up comprised Joi Marshall, Tonya Kelly, and Di Reed. They are best known for their hit singles "I Wanna Love You", "Don't Walk Away", "One Woman", and "Every Day of the Week".
Garrick Roberts was an Irish musician best known as the lead guitarist with The Boomtown Rats, a band which came into being in 1976. He and Johnnie Fingers (Moylett) had decided to put a band together and, between them, they recruited the other four members, Pete Briquette (bass), Gerry Cott (guitar), Simon Crowe (drums), and singer Bob Geldof.
Christopher John Judge Smith, is an English songwriter, author, composer and performer, and a founder member of progressive rock band Van der Graaf Generator. Initially working under the name Chris Judge Smith, he has been known simply as Judge Smith since 1994. After Van der Graaf Generator, he has written songs, stage musicals and operas, and from the early 1990s on he has released a number of solo CDs, including three "Songstories".
"I Don't Like Mondays" is a song by Irish new wave group the Boomtown Rats about the Cleveland Elementary School shooting in San Diego. It was released in 1979 as the lead single from their third album, The Fine Art of Surfacing. The song was a number-one single in the UK Singles Chart for four weeks during the summer of 1979, and ranks as the sixth-biggest hit of the UK in 1979. Written by Bob Geldof and Johnnie Fingers, the piano ballad was the band's second single to reach number one on the UK chart.
Take the Leap! is a studio album by the British singer Toyah Willcox, first released as Leap! in 1993 by Pony Canyon. It consists of new tracks as well as re-recordings of older songs from Toyah the band's repertoire.
New Toy is the first extended play by English-American singer-songwriter Lene Lovich released in 1981 by Stiff Records. It was released outside the United Kingdom in three different versions, one featured six new songs, while the other two contained songs from her previous albums, Stateless (1978) and Flex (1979).
"Lucky Number" is a song by English-American recording artist Lene Lovich. Originally released as a B-side for Lovich's cover of "I Think We're Alone Now", the song was re-released in 1979 by Stiff Records as an A-side and became the lead single of her debut studio album Stateless (1978). The song was written by Lovich and Les Chappell, who produced the song.
Ron François is a British musician, who first came to notice as the lead singer and bass player of the English R&B band The Strutters, which was involved in the London pub rock scene of the mid-1970s.
"Lookin' After No. 1" is the first single by The Boomtown Rats. It appears on their first album The Boomtown Rats. The single was released in August 1977 after the band had performed a five-date tour supporting Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. "Lookin' After No. 1" was the first so-called new wave single to be playlisted by the BBC and the Boomtown Rats subsequently became the first New Wave band to be offered an appearance on Top of the Pops, performing the song. The song reached number 2 on the Irish Singles Chart and spent nine weeks in the UK Singles Chart reaching a peak of number 11. Different covers were produced for releases in the Netherlands and Japan. Reviewer David Clancy described the song as having a "breakneck sneering selfishness".
Rosie Vanier is a British singer and keyboard player from Cornwall. She was a founding member and the front woman of Rosie and the Goldbug; following the break-up of the band in 2009, she embarked on a solo career, and went on to form the trio Lightknife in 2014.
Back to Boomtown: Classic Rats Hits is the fifth greatest hits album by Irish band The Boomtown Rats. It was released by Virgin EMI on 9 September 2013. The album was announced in June 2013 along with news of the band's UK and Ireland tour. Back to Boomtown: Classic Rats Hits is the first album to be released since The Boomtown Rats reunited and the band's first greatest hits album since 2003's The Best of The Boomtown Rats. The album contains fourteen of the group's singles, as well as two new tracks, "The Boomtown Rats" and "Back To Boomtown". The digital version of the album features two additional songs. Following its release, Back to Boomtown: Classic Rats Hits debuted at number thirty-five on the Irish Albums Chart.
Lene Lovich is an American-British singer. She first gained attention in 1979 with the release of her hit single "Lucky Number", which peaked at number 3 on the UK Singles Chart and made her a leading figure of the new wave music scene.
"Bird Song", is a 1979 song written by Lene Lovich and Les Chappell, released as a single by Lene Lovich, from the album Flex. It charted at 39 in the UK.
