Music

Born in Bristol in 1961, she has always remained faithful to the catchy pop melodies of the English vocal group.

Proud of her Irish and French roots, but English to the core, Sara Dallin initially set her sights on a career in journalism. But in the early 80s, music was everywhere in the English capital. Hard to resist! Together with her childhood friend Keren Woodward, and joined a little later by the vivacious Siobhan Fahey (who would become Mrs. Dave Stewart a few years later), the three friends happily combined their crystalline voices. At the time, a wind of femininity (but also feminism) was blowing through Albion with bands like The Slits, The Mo-Dettes and The Belle Stars, in which girls were at the helm everywhere. After a few gigs behind former Sex Pistols Steve Jones, Dallin finally convinced her two girlfriends to join her.

 While Bananarama opted from the outset for accessible, acid pop, the three young women have always been adored by their male new wave peers, from Department S to Monochrome Set to ex-Specials Terry Hall.

Their first single for the small Demon label in 1981 was a cover of “Aie A Mwana”. Composed by Belgian duo Daniel Vangarde and Jean Krueger in 1971, this song, partly in Swahili, has had other adventures since Bananarama: it became, under a different title, the official song of the World Cup in 2010! 

Bananarama roared through the '80s with hits such as “Shy Boy” (1982), “Really Sat-ying Something” with Terry Hall's Fun Boy Three (1982), “Cruel Summer” (1983), “Robert De Niro's Waiting” (1984) and “Venus” (1986), the cover of the Dutch group Shocking Blue, which earned them a number one on the Billboard charts.

With the departure of Siobhan Fahey, who played her own card with the excellent but unsuccessful Shakespears Sister, Bananarama's star continued to fade. The addition of Jacquie O'Sullivan as a third companion for a time did little to change this. Despite Siobhan's sporadic and short-lived return (in 2002 and 2017), the eight studio albums released between 1991 and 2022 no longer generate the same interest.

Still crowned with the title of most popular British female group and proud of their 30 million record sales, Sara and Keren perform mainly at nostalgic festivals such as Let's Rock, 80's Classical and Forever Young.
  
(MH with AK - Photo: © Etienne Tordoir)