Amazulu (band)
Encyclopedia
Amazulu were a British
ska
/ pop
band
from the 1980s. Composed of five females and one male, they achieved success in the UK charts with four top twenty hits - the biggest of these being "Too Good to Be Forgotten" in 1986.
word for the Zulu people. The band was started by Sharon Bailey along with Rose Minor, who was the original lead singer. Bailey was also the original manager of the band. All members were female, except for the drummer, Nardo Bailey. Falcon Stuart
, the former manager of X-Ray Spex
and Adam and the Ants
, discovered the act and helped promote their first single
, "Cairo" to modest success in the UK
, which included airplay from BBC Radio 1
's John Peel
.
The band started gaining appearances on television, including on The Young Ones
(1984) and Top of the Pops
(1985), which helped to widen their fame. They achieved hits
that included "Excitable" and "Too Good to Be Forgotten". The band achieved a minor success in the United States
with "Montego Bay"
(a cover
of the 1970 song by Bobby Bloom
) in 1986. That same year saw the release of their eponymous full length album
, on Island Records
, although this failed to chart highly.
". In early 1988 they split.
Ruddock went on to perform in the Alex Cox
film
Straight to Hell. After travelling the world and living in Brazil and Rome, Sharon Bailey now divides her time between Buckinghamshire and New York. She owns her own business and has worked in social services. She drums from time to time and is still involved in the music industry. The band member who achieved the greatest subsequent success in music was Clare Kenny
, who went on to join Coming Up Roses
and eventually became a session
player with Sinéad O'Connor
, Shakespears Sister
and Damien Dempsey
.
The band are mentioned in the song "Asbestos" by Suede
, on their album Head Music
.
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
ska
Ska
Ska |Jamaican]] ) is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1950s, and was the precursor to rocksteady and reggae. Ska combined elements of Caribbean mento and calypso with American jazz and rhythm and blues...
/ pop
Pop music
Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...
band
Musical ensemble
A musical ensemble is a group of people who perform instrumental or vocal music. In classical music, trios or quartets either blend the sounds of musical instrument families or group together instruments from the same instrument family, such as string ensembles or wind ensembles...
from the 1980s. Composed of five females and one male, they achieved success in the UK charts with four top twenty hits - the biggest of these being "Too Good to Be Forgotten" in 1986.
Early days and success
The name Amazulu is taken from the Zulu languageZulu language
Zulu is the language of the Zulu people with about 10 million speakers, the vast majority of whom live in South Africa. Zulu is the most widely spoken home language in South Africa as well as being understood by over 50% of the population...
word for the Zulu people. The band was started by Sharon Bailey along with Rose Minor, who was the original lead singer. Bailey was also the original manager of the band. All members were female, except for the drummer, Nardo Bailey. Falcon Stuart
Falcon Stuart
Falcon Stuart was a British photographer, retailer, filmmaker, and music producer associated with X-Ray Spex, Adam and the Ants, and Danielle Dax amongst others.-Personal Life:...
, the former manager of X-Ray Spex
X-Ray Spex
X-Ray Spex were an English punk band from London that formed in 1976.During their first incarnation , X-Ray Spex were “deliberate underachievers” and only managed to release five singles and one album...
and Adam and the Ants
Adam and the Ants
Adam and the Ants were a British rock band active during the late 1970s and early 1980s. The original group, which existed from 1977 to 1980, became notable as a cult band marking the transition from the late-1970s punk rock era to the post-punk and New Wave era...
, discovered the act and helped promote their first single
Single (music)
In music, a single or record single is a type of release, typically a recording of fewer tracks than an LP or a CD. This can be released for sale to the public in a variety of different formats. In most cases, the single is a song that is released separately from an album, but it can still appear...
, "Cairo" to modest success in the UK
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
, which included airplay from BBC Radio 1
BBC Radio 1
BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation which also broadcasts internationally, specialising in current popular music and chart hits throughout the day. Radio 1 provides alternative genres after 7:00pm including electronic dance, hip hop, rock...
's John Peel
John Peel
John Robert Parker Ravenscroft, OBE , known professionally as John Peel, was an English disc jockey, radio presenter, record producer and journalist. He was the longest-serving of the original BBC Radio 1 DJs, broadcasting regularly from 1967 until his death in 2004...
.
The band started gaining appearances on television, including on The Young Ones
The Young Ones (TV series)
The Young Ones is a British sitcom, first broadcast in 1982, which ran for two series on BBC2. Its anarchic, offbeat humour helped bring alternative comedy to television in the 1980s and made household names of its writers and performers...
(1984) and Top of the Pops
Top of the Pops
Top of the Pops, also known as TOTP, is a British music chart television programme, made by the BBC and originally broadcast weekly from 1 January 1964 to 30 July 2006. After 25 December 2006 it became a radio program, now hosted by Tony Blackburn...
(1985), which helped to widen their fame. They achieved hits
Hit record
A hit record is a sound recording, usually in the form of a single or album, that sells a large number of copies or otherwise becomes broadly popular or well-known, through airplay, club play, inclusion in a film or stage play soundtrack, causing it to have "hit" one of the popular chart listings...
that included "Excitable" and "Too Good to Be Forgotten". The band achieved a minor success in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
with "Montego Bay"
Montego Bay (song)
"Montego Bay" is a song by Bobby Bloom about the city in Jamaica. The song was a Top 10 hit for Bloom in September 1970 on both sides of the Atlantic. It reached #3 on the UK Singles Chart, #5 on the Canadian RPM 100 Singles Chart, #7 on the Australian Go-Set Singles Chart and #8 on the US...
(a cover
Cover version
In popular music, a cover version or cover song, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording of a contemporary or previously recorded, commercially released song or popular song...
of the 1970 song by Bobby Bloom
Bobby Bloom
Robert "Bobby" Bloom was an American singer-songwriter. He is known best for being a one-hit wonder with the 1970 song, "Montego Bay," which was co-written with and produced by Jeff Barry.-Biography:...
) in 1986. That same year saw the release of their eponymous full length album
Album
An album is a collection of recordings, released as a single package on gramophone record, cassette, compact disc, or via digital distribution. The word derives from the Latin word for list .Vinyl LP records have two sides, each comprising one half of the album...
, on Island Records
Island Records
Island Records is a record label that was founded by Chris Blackwell in Jamaica. It was based in the United Kingdom for many years and is now owned by Universal Music Group...
, although this failed to chart highly.
Line up changes and break up
While initially a six-piece band, the group trimmed down to a trio of Anne-Marie Ruddock, Sharon Bailey and Lesley Beach during 1986 as they were enjoying their greatest success. In 1987 Beach left the band and Ruddock and Bailey continued as a duo for another year, scoring the minor hit "Mony MonyMony Mony
"Mony Mony" is a 1968 single by Tommy James & the Shondells, that reached #1 in the UK charts.-History:"Mony Mony" was credited to Tommy James, Bo Gentry, Ritchie Cordell, and Bobby Bloom. The hook in the song is said to have been inspired by James' view of a MONY sign atop the Mutual of New York...
". In early 1988 they split.
Ruddock went on to perform in the Alex Cox
Alex Cox
Alexander Cox is a British film director, screenwriter, nonfiction author and sometime actor, notable for his idiosyncratic style and approach to scripts...
film
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
Straight to Hell. After travelling the world and living in Brazil and Rome, Sharon Bailey now divides her time between Buckinghamshire and New York. She owns her own business and has worked in social services. She drums from time to time and is still involved in the music industry. The band member who achieved the greatest subsequent success in music was Clare Kenny
Clare Kenny
Clare Kenny is a British musician who has been bassist for a number of groups from the 1980s to the present day, including:* Amazulu* Shakespears Sister* Orange Juice* Coming up Roses* Indigo Girls* Sinéad O'Connor* Damien Dempsey* Andrea Corr...
, who went on to join Coming Up Roses
Coming Up Roses
Coming Up Roses is a 1986 Welsh language comedy drama film. It was directed by Stephen Bayly and starred Ifan Huw Dafydd, Gillian Elisa and Mari Emlyn...
and eventually became a session
Session musician
Session musicians are instrumental and vocal performers, musicians, who are available to work with others at live performances or recording sessions. Usually such musicians are not permanent members of a musical ensemble and often do not achieve fame in their own right as soloists or bandleaders...
player with Sinéad O'Connor
Sinéad O'Connor
Sinéad Marie Bernadette O'Connor is an Irish singer-songwriter. She rose to fame in the late 1980s with her debut album The Lion and the Cobra and achieved worldwide success in 1990 with a cover of the song "Nothing Compares 2 U"....
, Shakespears Sister
Shakespears Sister
Shakespears Sister/Shakespear's Sister is a British-based synth-pop-rock band formed by Irish-born singer–songwriter Siobhan Fahey in 1988, with plaudits including a BRIT Award and Ivor Novello Award. It was Fahey's first musical outing since leaving Bananarama, and initially a solo project...
and Damien Dempsey
Damien Dempsey
Damien Dempsey is an Irish singer and songwriter who mixes traditional Irish folk with contemporary lyrics to deliver social comment on the positive and negative aspects arising from Ireland's Celtic Tiger society.-Early life:...
.
The band are mentioned in the song "Asbestos" by Suede
Suede (band)
Suede are an English alternative rock band from London, formed in 1989. The group's most prominent early line-up featured singer Brett Anderson, guitarist Bernard Butler, bass player Mat Osman and drummer Simon Gilbert. By 1992, Suede were hailed as "The Best New Band in Britain", and attracted...
, on their album Head Music
Head Music
Head Music is the fourth album by English alternative rock band Suede, released by Nude Records in May 1999.Produced and mixed by Steve Osborne, Head Music features a more electronic sound, which was a new approach to their music...
.
Albums
| Year | Album | UK UK Albums Chart The UK Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales in the United Kingdom. It is compiled every week by The Official Charts Company and broadcast on a Sunday on BBC Radio 1 , and published in Music Week magazine and on the OCC website .To qualify for the UK albums chart... |
U.S. Billboard 200 The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists... |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1986 | Amazulu | 97 | - |
Singles
| Year | Single | UK UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ... |
US Billboard Hot 100 The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday... |
CAN Canadian Singles Chart The Canadian Singles Chart is currently compiled by the U.S.-based music sales tracking company, Nielsen SoundScan . The chart is compiled every Wednesday, and is published by Jam! Canoe on Thursdays.... |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1983 | "Cairo" | 86 | - | - |
| 1983 | "Smiley Stylee" | - | - | - |
| 1984 | "Moonlight Romance" | - | - | - |
| 1985 | "Excitable" | 12 | - | - |
| 1985 | "Don't You Just Know It" | 15 | - | 44 |
| 1986 | "The Things The Lonely Do" | 43 | - | - |
| 1986 | "Too Good to Be Forgotten" | 5 | - | - |
| 1986 | "Montego Bay Montego Bay (song) "Montego Bay" is a song by Bobby Bloom about the city in Jamaica. The song was a Top 10 hit for Bloom in September 1970 on both sides of the Atlantic. It reached #3 on the UK Singles Chart, #5 on the Canadian RPM 100 Singles Chart, #7 on the Australian Go-Set Singles Chart and #8 on the US... " |
16 | 90 | 7 |
| 1986 | "All Over the World" | 78 | - | - |
| 1987 | "Mony Mony Mony Mony "Mony Mony" is a 1968 single by Tommy James & the Shondells, that reached #1 in the UK charts.-History:"Mony Mony" was credited to Tommy James, Bo Gentry, Ritchie Cordell, and Bobby Bloom. The hook in the song is said to have been inspired by James' view of a MONY sign atop the Mutual of New York... " |
38 | - | - |
| 1987 | "Wonderful World Beautiful People" | 97 | - | - |