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BananaramaтАЩs achievements speak for themselves. Two Band Aid appearances, an entry in the Guinness Book of World Records as the most successful female band worldwide with the most charting singles, all of which were international hits, four hitting the US Billboard Top 10 including a No.1 with Venus. To date they have had 32 Top 40 UK hits. They have released 10 albums and sold 30 million records.
A singular talent for directing their own fate Bananarama formed 30 years ago in London when teenagers and childhood friends Sara Dallin and Keren Woodward met Siobhan Fahey. Sara and Siobhan were studying journalism at the London University of Arts (London College of Fashion) and Keren was working at the BBC. About to be thrown out of the YWCA for тАШkeeping late hoursтАЩ Sara and Keren bumped into ex Sex Pistol Paul Cook in the club Taboo and he offered them a place to stay above the the Sex Pistols old rehearsal room. He ended up producing their first single тАШAIE A MWANAтАЩ. One early radio play from legendary DJ John Peel was all it took to catch the attention of ex Specials singer Terry Hall who tracked the girls down and asked them to perform on The Fun Boy 3s single тАШIt AinтАЩt what you do itтАЩs the way that you do itтАЩ. They went on to support everyone from Iggy pop to Paul Weller (Weller went on to pen a track for the bands first album) appearing on numerous tv shows while still being so skint they were using the baths at the local swimming pool for ┬г1 a throw.
For the next ten years the girls were everywhere and so were their hits. They became internationally hot property when hits тАШCruel SummerтАЩ hit the US Billboard Top 10, with their video filmed in NYC , тАШI Heard a Rumour No.4 ,Venus No. 1. And тАШRobert de NiroтАЩs waiting (talking Italian)тАЩ paved the way for the now legendary meeting between the girls and the Hollywood superstar.
In 2012 popstars fetishise prescribed notions of credibility and fall over themselves to prove their songwriting talents тАУ back then Bananarama didnтАЩt ever really shout about their own songwriting, firstly because they actually did write massive hits (Cruel Summer, Robert de NiroтАЩs waiting, I heard a Rumour, Love in the first Degree, I want you back, тАШLast thing on my mindтАЩ, a huge hit for the group Steps and many moreтАж..) and secondly why wouldnтАЩt they have written their own material. Bananarama like the Go Gos and the Bangles were not a manufactured band but three friends who came from the London Club scene with a Punk attitude and were always in control of their own destiny.
More recently Bananarama have appeared in the hit ITV comedy тАШBenidormтАЩ.
