Bananarama - I Heard A Rumour

Those were the days.

Were they part of the SAW stable?

R1 yes

By this stage R1, firmly within SAW territory. One of the dancers is Bruno Tonioli

I recall an interview where Jennifer Saunders said she based Edina in part on the Bananrama gals. She went partying with them one night, and one of them fell out of the cab drunk or something like that.

R3 I see. So many SAW dance hits back in the 80s....remember Mel and Kim's respectable?

This is definitely my favorite Bananarama song! Asian pop music really took after their sound.

You need to visit some gay provincial towns in Britain R5, Mel & Kim are still staple fixtures in gay venues.

For live Bananarama performances. This has the edge over I Heard a Rumour

That crowd is dead, dead, dead.

Back left backup dancer. Woof. Get on top. Cruel Summer is the best from them. My mom wouldn't let me ilsten to them I was little bit I loved them then LOL.

Siobhan was interviewed just after the performance, there's a clip on YouTube. She makes a lowkey comment about how the dancers "refreshed parts other dancers couldn't". It was a pun on the Heineken slogan that was one of the sponsors of the event.

I like how laid back the choreography is. I like their slim ripped bodies. You don't see those "low volume" athletic bodies anymore. Their legs and arms are quite slim.

Back in the day when white woman’s beauty still was the sought after aesthetic.

I seem to recall the ladies getting slammed with negative comments about the dancing men in briefs at R9. Apparently, some in the audience felt it inappropriate for the venue. So, they couldn't find their pants?. Who cares? The show must go on!

Stock Aitken Waterman completely ripped off the melody and tune from this song.

Shameless really.

I liked Siobhan in Shakespear Sister. Stay was a good song.

She looked a lot different here,.

R15 good call.

from wiki:

"I Heard a Rumour" bears notable similarities in part to Michael Fortunati's "Give Me Up",[4] which was released in early 1986; however, producer Mike Stock denied the track was based excessively on that record, insisting the track was simply broadly inspired by Europop trends at the time, saying: "We didn't do sampling... There's no similarity in the lyric, there's no actual similarity in terms of note-for-noteness in the tune," he said. "We were doing Europop."[5] The song also uses the synth riff from another of SAW's hits, "Nothing's Gonna Stop Me Now" by Samantha Fox.[4]

"Back in the day when white woman’s beauty still was the sought after aesthetic."

Well, they were /are three good looking women R13. Would you prefer we look at three uglies of different ethnicities?

Siobhan's wedding attire deserves its own 'Tasteful Friends'.....

That choreography is hilariously simple. I could learn that (and I have two left feet).

Back when mimeing performances was the norm. Today, people are quick with tweets exposing musical performers who lip-sync.

I'd love to go back to 1987 too.

R22 it's been at least 15 years since I've heard any snark about lip-synching. It's completely mundane and accepted.

It’s the end of this interview where they talk about Bananarama.

I knew Siobhan socially in LA about 10 years ago. We hung out at bit. Very shy but absolutely delightful. The stories she told. They were wild. She and Dave Stewart of the Eurythmics who she was married to had a rough time of it. She shared some pretty intense stuff. But the Bananarama was all fun.

This interview was from 2 months ago. They're both 62, and look like glamourous women in their early 60s. They're not ashamed that they've aged after 40 years in pop music and have no desire to look like cartoon versions of themselves.

R25, there was a recent article about Dave Stewart's relationships/marriages. His relationship with Annie sounded FU. Apparently she was present at the birth of Siobhan's first child with Dave.

They don't look 62, come on. They have all the "glamour" money can buy.

Siobhan has some excellent song writing credits under her belt. The best of which, IMO...

Young at Heart

Robert de Niro's Waiting

Cruel Summer

Stay

Hello (TYRO)

I hope she's living well off the royalties, even if some are co-written.

R22 Why did they need to mime that performance?

They look like rich lady London Paris Saint-Tropez 62 to me.

Most, if not all, acts mimed on variety shows back then.

I hope her years with Bananarama were good for her R25. I feel she was the most artistically driven in the group and couldn't come to terms with cheesy manufactured SAW, whereas for Sara and Keren, they probably felt they'd finally arrived.

Op having fun posting replies to your own thread??

R34 what are you going on about? I’m the OP and I have yet to add anything else or reply to anyone on this thread.

Karen and Sara were literally childhood friends. I think they got along well enough but Siobhan from what I understood felt a bit like odd man out. The SAW days were the most successful the girls had and they still are the 10th most successful girl group ever with over 40 million albums sold so nothing to sneeze at. When she met Dave and I swore I would never repeat this it was a bit like Whose Afraid of Virginia Wolf. You can fill in the rest. It was pretty volatile from what she said. They are friendly now. He helped her start Shakespears Sister and wrote much of the first album with Marcy. But Siobhan really regrets how she treated Marcy at that time and they have sense made peace.

R32 Why?

R35 LIES!!!!

R32 By "back then" do you mean the late 80s? Because for years on variety shows before that, people sang live.

Bananarama couldn't really sing or dance, but somehow when they performed it all came together. And the songs were really good.

Yes, 80s. ^^^^^^

I heard a rumor that you’re the only one to replies to your threads. Schizophrenia?

R36, I can't imagine Dave was easy to live with.

My niece was friendly with one of Siobhan’s sons, and went to her house a few times. I wish my niece had taken me to Siobhan’s house! My niece had never even heard of Bananarama.

I prefer their pre-SAW music.

The Siobhan years were perfect. The first two albums much stronger than what came after.

Some of their raw, unpolished early stuff is fun.

R46 - LOVE love love that. I wasn't familiar with Fun Boy Three, but enjoyed a lot of The Specials' work. Will have to check them out!

Terry Hall's one year anniversary last week.

I loved their pre-SAW stuff and their collaborations with Fun Boy Three.

[quote]They are friendly now. He helped her start Shakespears Sister and wrote much of the first album with Marcy. But Siobhan really regrets how she treated Marcy at that time and they have sense made peace.

Dave Stewart had no involvement with the first album Sacred Heart. He did co-write several songs for Hormonally Yours (Stay, Hello, Goodbye Cruel World, Black Sky) but at the time these were credited to Jean Guiot.

Siobhan always resented Marcy (the Goodbye Cruel World video was very honest about their relationship) as she always saw SS as a solo project where she would work with whoever, but Marcy was promoted as an equal member, even when she was essentially a backing singer on You're History.

And when Stay meant SS became The Marcy Show Siobhan was not happy at all. All those performances where Marcy would be the focus and then she would come in for the end. There was one UK promotional appearance where Siobhan was "ill" and Marcy sung the whole song with just her guitar. Siobhan who? The Mary Whitehouse Experience sketch must have been deeply distressing.

Seeing as there's some Terry Hall fans here, did anyone appreciate the album he did with Dave Stewart? Possessed was beautiful.

Walk Into The Wind featured Siobhan and then popped up in Showgirls.

And someone mentioned Young At Heart - Bananarama co-wrote it with Robert Hodgens from The Bluebells (Siobhan's boyfriend) and it featured on their first album in 1983.

When The Bluebells covered it a year later it was credited to Fahey/Hodgens and was a top ten hit. In the ealry 90s it was re-released after being used in an advert and made #1.

Sara/Keren have never performed it or discussed the Bluebells version.

It's one of two songs from that era which has shared ownership by the people who recorded it. Jane Wiedlin and Terry Hall co-wrote Our Lips Are Sealed and both their groups recorded it.

Siobhan is deliciously eccentric.

R50 you are right. I stand corrected. For some reason I thought Dave was involved in Sacred Heart. Richard Feldman was.

How do you pronounce her fucking name? White people love to make fun of Black names but then they come along and use, "Siobhan". I assume it's some prononciation that sounds nothing like the spelling, like that chick who won the Oscar last year or year before, where no one knew how to pronounce her name, Horsehair or something.

Siobhan's sister Marie is a lesbian and played Eileen in the Come on Eileen video

This song was released as a single in 2019 when the greatest hits album came out. I absolutely love it.

[quote]How do you pronounce her fucking name? White people love to make fun of Black names but then they come along and use, "Siobhan". I assume it's some prononciation that sounds nothing like the spelling, like that chick who won the Oscar last year or year before, where no one knew how to pronounce her name, Horsehair or something.

It's SHOVE (as in push) and ORN (as in PORN) It's not pronounced SEE-OH-BARN under any circumstances.

The first single from 2019.

Thank you, R58!

"It's SHOVE (as in push) and ORN (as in PORN)"

Irish here. I'd be inclined to pronounce it Shove- Awn

R55, /ʃɪˈvɔːn/ shih-VAWN. The name is a cognate of Joan, Jeanne.

What's the difference between AWN as in PAWN SHOP as opposed to ORN as in PORN SHOP?

About 100 miles north of Birmingham (England), R63.

True Confessions is where it goes awry.

I would love to know how Siobhan felt about the videos from that era, especially More Than Physical. It's all a bit dolly-bird and Samantha Fox, the very thing they were against as artists.

Shakespear's Sister is a million miles from all of that.

One of the best gigs I’ve ever been to was the reunited Bananarama (Keren, Sara, Siobhan) in NYC in 2018. ALL killer, no filler, and to top it off they included Stay by S.S. in the setlist! Which was a bit of an emotional moment. The place was filled to the brim with homos young and old. An incredibly fun night

R65 and the funny thing is, it was Siobhan’s idea to go to S/A/W and have them produce their version of Venus. She wanted it to sound like You Spin Me Round

Saw the London leg of that R66. Loved the fact they included Preacher Man, one of their best post Siobhan songs.

S/A/W might have brought them well deserved commercial success but artistically it was a decline. Pure conveyor belt pop.

There is zero chance they would have written songs as original as Cruel Summer or Robert de Niro's Waiting with S/A/W.

I still remember most of a thread about "Cruel Summer" dedicated to a gurleena cop in the video. LOL

How many fledgling and fully formed homos received Bananarama's Greatest Hits back in the Christmas of '88?

The ad was a bit of a statement. No hunks, just dad dancing MPs.

Can die hard fans confirm if Sara and Keren attended Siobhan & Dave's wedding? I've read conflicting reports, one video on YouTube has Sara and Keren in the US promoting one of the WOW singles while Siobhan was in France getting married.

Anyone up for a laugh- when George Michael and Keren went on a blind date. George more heavily made up than Keren.

R73 the irony is the fact that Keren was with Andrew Ridgley for years. I think they were all mates.

The three original Bananas, plus Siobhan's replacement Jacquie, all appear in the Eurythmics' Who's That Girls? A few years before Shuv and Dave began a relationship.

When I heard people talking about Cruel Summer I thought they were talking about Bananarama, I just recently realized it was a Taylor Swift song.

Siobhan always reminded me of Jessica Lange.

Op reminds me of (I can’t say it because it’s bad)

The wiki article on SAW has this quote from Mike Stock:

"It's very difficult to be creative if someone's just going to mock you, or laugh at you... With Bananarama it was just awkward, all the time very awkward, and I didn't feel comfortable writing with them."

I guess despite the commercial success that the SAW-penned songs provided Bananarama, behind the scenes the girls were disdainful of the songs they had to sing.

"I guess despite the commercial success that the SAW-penned songs provided Bananarama, behind the scenes the girls were disdainful of the songs they had to sing."

It's very conflicting. Can imagine Mike Stock would have preferred working with Kylie.

Pete Waterman said Siobhan didn't want 'love' appearing in the titles of the songs Bananarama wrote with S/A/W.

And yet one of biggest successes from that working relationship was Love in the First Degree 😂

Bananarama’s 2022 album (as a duo) Masquerade was fab

Big fan of this song off the last album.

[quote]"It's very difficult to be creative if someone's just going to mock you, or laugh at you... With Bananarama it was just awkward, all the time very awkward, and I didn't feel comfortable writing with them."

Mike Stock didn't like writing with artists. But his account was that Bananarama would giggle when trying to write lyrics about love and emotions and dismiss his suggestions.

Having listened to the Journey Through Stock Aitken Waterman podcast it's clear that Bananarama's involvement in the songwriting was to contribute some lyrics.

Donna Summer got a songwriting credit for This Time It I Know It's For Real when she changed the lyrics she didn't like.

Those podcasts are a great listen ^^^^.

As is this podcast with Jacquie describing her time in the band.

I hadn't realized at the time that AbFab took at least some of its inspiration from Bananarama being drunken slags.

Siobhan may very well have had substance abuse addictions/issues but Sara & Keren were seriously heavy drinkers who managed to avoid alcoholism.

Keren was a single mother in her mid 20s and Sara when she was 29. Heavy drinking and motherhood was then done in moderation.

Sara looks very filtered in the pic here but the guy on the left is Paul Cavalier who was one of the Wow boys along with Bruno. In the OP's video he's behind Siobhan. The second guy in the pic isn't linked to Bananarama that I know of but it was quite strange seeing him in Sara's feed when I shagged him back in the early 00s.

Op please stop shilling your Bananarama / Siobhan fetish. It’s beyond sad, it’s pathetic.

Keren and Sara's kids here - Keren's son Tom on he right and Sara's daughter Alice on the left with her boyfriend.

Tom's dad is the guy from the Stay video. I wonder how Keren felt when Siobhan hired him....

Cute

'Tom's dad is the guy from the Stay video. I wonder how Keren felt when Siobhan hired him....'

A very odd decision R88, considering his modelling peak days were three or four years earlier.

"The second guy in the pic isn't linked to Bananarama that I know of but it was quite strange seeing him in Sara's feed when I shagged him back in the early 00s."

Tell us more, more more! R86

I think he has a model agency. Maybe he's partnered up now with Paul Cavalier?

Alice's fiancee is a ceramics artist. His work is great tbh.

I love Bananarama but I'm always surprised by the passion some have over Siobhan. Fir me, there's a few iterations of Bananarama, each just as good as the others, chart success aside: --Bananarama pre-SAW --Bananarama SAW W. Siobhan -- Bananarama SAW with Jacqui (who I think was treated badly) -- Bananarama as a Duo (Banana-Abba)

I love all their albums but when people act like Siobhan elevated them to art and everything after was a non-entity, I'm always baffled. They were a pop act, remained a pop act, and were never anything more. Nothing wrong with that.

R93 I don’t think anyone sees Siobhan as elevating them at all. As someone else mentioned I think it was True Confessions and the massive success of that album and the worldwide success of Venus that changed everything. After that for about 5 years they were super poppy and when Siobhan left after the release of the WOW album there were certain expectations from the label. Ironically the least pop album was their next album Pop Album which is one my favorites and I think one of their best.

There's passion there among many for Shuv because she was there for the peak years. They had a string of solid hits that then waned by the early 90s.

Pop Life was one of their best albums and that's possibly down to the involvement of Youth.

Jacqui got a raw deal. They should have just continued as a duo after Shuv's departure. Not convinced the two originals wanted a new replacement.

Shuv got married back in 2021. She deserves every happiness.

"enamored by"

Oh, dear!

[quote][R93] I don’t think anyone sees Siobhan as elevating them at all. As someone else mentioned I think it was True Confessions and the massive success of that album and the worldwide success of Venus that changed everything. After that for about 5 years they were super poppy and when Siobhan left after the release of the WOW album there were certain expectations from the label. Ironically the least pop album was their next album Pop Album which is one my favorites and I think one of their best.

Bananarama's success rate was patchy to say the least.

Deep Sea Skiving produced 4 hits, 3 of which were covers and 2 of which were with Fun Boy Three.

Bananarama had 2 huge hits and 2 forgotten singles

True Confessions had 1 worldwide massive hit and 3 forgotten singles

Wow produced 5 top 20 UK singles and a top 10 hit in the US. Add Love Truth & Honesty and then Help and the SAW period was incredible for them.

Walk like an Egyptian...

I’ll always love the early stuff best but W.O.W is classic start to finish

I love this one from the 90s, and it's many remixes.

"I’ll always love the early stuff best but W.O.W is classic start to finish"

Wow and Pop Life their only two consistent albums. Their debut, eponymous second album and True Confessions were a mix of hits n' banal filler.

^According to you, yes