New Wave Outpost Forum

Did anyone else get the impression that Siobhan was always the odd woman out, even from the start? She always seemed to be doing her own thing in the videos, while Keren and Sara were usually doing something in sync. Check out the Cruel Summer video for instance (just saw it on VH1 Classics this morning for the first time in ages). Siobhan is ALWAYS off to the side doing her own thing, and she's even wearing completely different color clothes than Keren and Sara, who are dressed alike and seem to interact with each other playfully. The video even ends with a shot of them all leaning against a wall, and Siobhan is posed completely different than the other two. On the True Confessions album...Keren and Sara are in black and close to each other--Siobhan is in white and leaning away from them. On the WOW album cover, Keren and Siobhan are both hugging men over their right shoulders, Siobhan is over a man's left shoulder. Deep Sea Skiving cover, Keren and Sara have white t-shirts with black vests. Siobhan has a red T-shirt. Bananarama cover, Keren and Sara off to the left with their arms touching and with the same hairstyle even, while Siobhan to the right, detached from the others. Anyone else ever notice any of these subtle visual differences? I don't know if it's just because Keren and Sara were apparently friends from childhood and Siobhan came in later.

I always had that impression in their videos. In "Venus" Karen and Sarah seem to be joking around with each other, while Siobhan is kinda by herself. I'm not a big Bananarama expert, but did Siobhan quit the band (to form Shakespear's Sister and/or to hang out with her new hubby) or was she asked to leave?

good question. I'm not sure. And actually, even on the spoken dialogue parts on the Do They Know it's Christmas single, when the girls from Bananarama introduced themselves, I swear, it sounds like Siobhan starts giggling when it's her turn to talk and it sounds like one of the other girls 'tsks' in annoyance! And this isn't a new assumption--I noticed this way back in 84 when I originally got the single!

I think there was a lot of acrimony between Siobhan Fahey and Keren and Sarah towards the end Siobhan's stint in the band. Fahey openly admitted that the Shakespear's Sister song "You're History" was about the other two. Also recall reading in an interview that Siobhan had grown to really resent the increasingly pop direction Bananarama had taken and after she left and Shakespear's Sister's "Stay" skyrocketed to #1 on the British charts, neither Dallion or Woodward called to congratulate her. She also said in the same interview that it irritated her that Keren and Sarah openly mocked her relationship with Dave Stewart.

Also, Woodward and Dallion had been best friends since the age of four. They didn't meet Fahey until about 1979....so, that could explain part of the rift.

*Edit*

Was just looking at the [b]Department S[/b] Myspace band page and found this rather old photo of Bananarama circa 1979/1980, before they were an actual "band". They were doing back up vocals for Department S, who they were apparently really good friends with. Thought it was a cool picture to see them at their punk/post-punk roots.

<a href="http://s2.photobucket.com/albums/y10/ExRat/?action=view¤t=bananarama.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y10/ExRat/bananarama.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>

Also thought it was pertinent because Department S has reformed and are apparently expected to release an album in October of this year!

http://www.myspace.com/departments

wow, that is a coop pic, and some interesting info that I did not know about. Man, what a time to be involved in the music industry, at the cusp of so much action !

I thought I read that the song "Breakout" was about Fahey finally "breaking out" of the shadows from BR? it was sort of a diss that SS didn't expect to be so successful? I don't know if that's all true? I just remember reading it a few years back in some british mag. It would make sense IMO, if they song were about that. Maybe she was glad to finally rid herself of them or something?

"Keepin the '80s alive!"