Bananarama is 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.
Daryl Hall and John Oates, commonly known as Hall & Oates, are an American pop rock duo formed in Philadelphia in 1970. Daryl Hall was generally the lead vocalist; John Oates primarily played the electric guitar and provided backing vocals. The two wrote most of the songs they performed, either separately or in collaboration. They achieved their greatest fame from the mid-1970s to the late 1980s with a fusion of rock and roll, soul music, and rhythm and blues.
The Housemartins were an English indie rock group formed in Hull who were active in the 1980s and charted three top-ten albums and six top-twenty singles in the UK. Many of their lyrics conveyed a mixture of socialist politics and Christianity, reflecting the beliefs of the band. The group's a cappella cover version of "Caravan of Love" was a UK number one single in December 1986.
Dead or Alive were an English pop band that released six studio albums from 1984 to 1995. The band formed in 1980 in Liverpool and found success in the mid-1980s, releasing seven singles that made the UK top 40 and three albums on the UK top 30. At the peak of their success, the lineup consisted of Pete Burns (vocals), Steve Coy (drums), Mike Percy (bass) and Tim Lever (keyboards), with the core pair of Burns and Coy writing and producing for the remainder of the band's career due to Percy and Lever exiting the group in 1989.
Peter Jozzeppi Burns was an English singer, songwriter and television personality who formed the band Dead or Alive in 1980 during the new wave era and acted as the band's lead vocalist and principal songwriter. He sold over 17 million albums and 36 million singles worldwide and also gave successful English songwriting and record production trio Stock Aitken Waterman (SAW) their first UK No. 1 hit single. His first three albums all reached the UK Top 30, with Youthquake reaching the Top 10. Additionally, the band had seven UK Top 40 singles, two US Top 20 singles and another two singles which went No. 1 on the US Hot Dance Music/Club Play chart. In 2016, Billboard ranked Dead or Alive as one of the most successful "dance artists" of all time.
Smokie are an English rock band from Bradford, Yorkshire. The band found success at home and abroad after teaming up with Mike Chapman and Nicky Chinn. They have had a number of lineup changes and were still actively touring in 2024. Their most popular hit single, "Living Next Door to Alice", peaked at No. 3 on the UK Singles Chart and, in March 1977, reached No. 25 on the Billboard Hot 100, as well as going to No. 1 on the Australian singles chart. Other hit singles include "If You Think You Know How to Love Me", "Oh Carol", "Lay Back in the Arms of Someone", and "I'll Meet You at Midnight".
Burning Bridges is the debut studio album by English new wave band Naked Eyes, released on 16 March 1983 by EMI and EMI America Records. The album was released in the United States and Canada as Naked Eyes with two tracks demoted to B-sides. The track "Always Something There to Remind Me" was released as a single and reached No. 59 on the UK Singles Chart and US No. 8 in July 1983 before "Promises, Promises" reached US No. 11 and "When the Lights Go Out" US No. 37. The album was released for the first time on CD in 2012 by Cherry Red Records.
Fascination Records is a United Kingdom-based record label, owned by Universal Music Group, and operated as an imprint of Polydor Records. The label was launched in spring of 2006, and is managed by former TOTP Magazine editor Peter Loraine.
Climie Fisher were a British pop duo formed by vocalist Simon Climie and former Naked Eyes keyboardist Rob Fisher. In 1987–88, they had two international hit singles: "Rise to the Occasion" and "Love Changes (Everything)".
Graduate were an English new wave and mod revival musical group formed in 1978, in Bath, England. They were only mildly successful, and broke up by 1981. They are today best known as being the initial recording vehicle for future Tears for Fears members Roland Orzabal and Curt Smith, who found international fame in the 1980s and 1990s.
Simon Climie is an English songwriter, musician and record producer. He is best known as the former lead singer of the UK duo Climie Fisher.
"(There's) Always Something There to Remind Me" is a song written by American songwriting duo Burt Bacharach and Hal David. Originally recorded as a demo by Dionne Warwick in 1963, "(There's) Always Something There to Remind Me" first charted for Lou Johnson, whose version reached No. 49 on the Billboard Hot 100 in mid-1964. Sandie Shaw took the song to No. 1 in the UK that same year, while the duo Naked Eyes had a No. 8 hit with the song in the US two decades later in 1983.
Fuel for the Fire is the second album by British duo Naked Eyes, released in 1984. The band had top 40 success with the first single off the album, "(What) In the Name of Love", produced by Arthur Baker, which reached No. 39 in the US on the Billboard Hot 100, and in a remix by Baker, No. 35 on the Dance chart. The album peaked at No. 83 on the Billboard Top 200 Albums chart.
Rob Fisher was an English keyboardist and songwriter from Cheltenham, England, who achieved chart success as a member of the new wave band Naked Eyes and, later, Climie Fisher. He attended Lord Wandsworth College in Hampshire, where he was a member of a band called Cirrus with Nick Ryall and Ray Coop (bass).
Peter James Byrne is an English singer best known for being a member of the pop/new wave duo Naked Eyes.
"Promises, Promises" is a song by British new wave band Naked Eyes, released in 1983 as the second single from their debut album Burning Bridges. The single went on to become a top-20 hit in the U.S. that October, peaking at number 11 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart, albeit after it was re-recorded with some lyrics different from the original UK single. It was the follow up to their earlier hit "Always Something There to Remind Me" by Burt Bacharach and Hal David, which was a top-ten hit in the U.S. in mid-1983. Madonna performs background vocals on the Jellybean 7" and 12" mixes of the song. These versions weren't released until 2001 on the compilation album Everything and More.
"The Back of Love" is a single which was released by the English rock band Echo & the Bunnymen on 21 May 1982. It reached number nineteen on the UK Singles Chart the same month. It was subsequently added to the band's third studio album Porcupine which was released on 4 February 1983.
"Ever Fallen in Love (With Someone You Shouldn't've)" is a 1978 song written by Pete Shelley and performed by his group Buzzcocks. It was a number 12 hit on the UK Singles Chart and was included on the album Love Bites.
Neon were an English new wave band active in the early 1980s. All members went on to have successful careers in other bands, notably Naked Eyes and Tears for Fears.
