Bananarama

The Anglo-Irish group formed in London in 1980 around Sara Dallin, Keren Woodward and Siobhan Fahey. Bananarama emerged from the British punk and post-punk scenes before moving toward a pop sound tinged with new wave and later into dance-pop and hi-NRG. They first drew attention in 1982 by collaborating on Fun Boy Three’s "It Ain’t What You Do (It’s the Way That You Do It)", then followed up with "Shy Boy", "Cruel Summer" and "Robert De Niro’s Waiting...". The trio released Deep Sea Skiving (1983), Bananarama (1984), True Confessions (1986) and Wow! (1987), a period marked by collaborations with Jolley & Swain and later Stock Aitken Waterman, which emphasized synths, pop choruses and club rhythms on tracks like "Venus", "I Heard a Rumour" and "Love in the First Degree". After Siobhan Fahey left in 1988—briefly replaced by Jacquie O’Sullivan—Bananarama issued Pop Life (1991). Since 1991 the act has operated mainly as a duo of Sara Dallin and Keren Woodward, continuing toward a more electronic, danceable pop on Please Yourself (1993), Ultra Violet (1995), Drama (2005), Viva (2009), In Stereo (2019) and Masquerade (2022).