Songoftheday 6/18/18 - If this world is wearing thin and you're thinking of escape, I'll go anywhere with you just wrap me up in chains...
from the album Hormonally Yours (1992)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #4 (one week)
Weeks in the Top-40: 14
Today's song of the day comes from the alternative rock act Shakespear's Sister, which came about when British singer Siobhan Fahey left her ska-rock turned HI-NRG trio Bananarama. That group had landed a trio of top ten pop hits in America, including "I Heard A Rumour" in the fall of 1987. However, the sugary fey Stock Aitken Waterman production of the album left Fahey cold, and she departed the following year. Reemerging under the moniker Shakepear's Sister, a take-off from a song by mope-rock gods The Smiths, At the urging of Siobhan's husband, Eurythmics member David Stewart, Fahey took on American writing collaborator Marcy Levy as a full-on member to make the act a duo. Marcy, who had co-written "Lay Down Sally" with Eric Clapton, which went to #3 on the American pop chart in 1977. Three years later, she recorded a duet with Robin Gibb of the Bee Gees, "Help Me", for the punk movie Times Square, and reached #50 on the pop Hot 100 here. Despite releasing a failed album in the early 80s, Levy was more successful as a behind-the-scenes worker, but when she joined the duo she was rechristened as Marcella Detroit (after her birthplace).
The pair released their debut single "Break My Heart" in 1988, but that went nowhere; it wasn't until their second offering, "You're History", that they broke through internationally. The song reached #7 in the UK, and made the top-20 in Sweden, Ireland, and down in Australia as well. Shakespear's Sister returned in the fall of 1991 with "Goodbye Cruel World", the lead single to what would be their sophomore effort, Hormonally Yours. While it originally missed the British top-40 at #59, it was the duo's first exposure in America, climbing to #22 on Billboard's Modern Rock chart. But like their debut, it was the follow-up track that would push them to their greatest heights. "Stay", written by Fahey, "Detroit", and Stewart, was their first single to prominently feature Marcella as the lead singer, with Siobhan coming through with a gruff vocal taunt in the bridge. The combination of delicate and brooding caught on with the public, and as a result "Stay" would become the duo's biggest success, as well as their American break...
"Stay" became Shakespear's Sisters' first and only top 40 pop hit in the U.S., reaching the top five in September of 1992. The song also climbed to #25 on Billboard's Modern Rock chart, and crossed over to their Adult Contemporary (or "easy listening") radio list at #39. Internationally, the single spent two months (eight weeks) at #1 in Fahey's native Britain, as well as six weeks on top in Ireland and two in Sweden. The track also reached the top ten in Switzerland (#2), Germany (#3), Australia (#3), Canada (#4), Austria (#4), New Zealand (#5), Norway (#6), and Belgium (#9).
The pair's next single, the rollicking "I Don't Care", was a respectable success in Europe, peaking at #7 in the UK, #10 in Ireland, and top-40 most elsewhere on the continent, but it stalled out at #55 in the U.S. When "Goodbye Cruel World" was re-issued, it now made it to the top-40 in the UK (#32); that was succeeded by "Hello (Turn Your Radio On)", which was a bigger international success, hitting #14 in Britain. Lastly, the laid-back "My 16th Apology", arrived at #61 in the UK; however things were as far as "laidback" between the pair as you can get, with Fahey's fight with her inner demons made more complex with the overwhelming success of "Stay". In the end, Fahey unceremoniously dissolved the duo in 1993, leaving Marcella as "odd woman out". Having already planned for a solo side-project, she ended up releasing her second solo disc Jewel in 1994. It was a moderate success, rising to #15 on the British albums chart, with three top-40 hits spun off from it. Lead single "I Believe" nearly made the top ten in the UK (#11), while a collaboration with Elton John, a cover of the Motown classic "Ain't Nothing Like The Real Thing" that also appeared on his Duets album, reached #24. Finally, "I'm No Angel" climbed to #33. She's released five albums since, though none have reached the charts, as well as one with "The Marcy Levy Band" in 2006. Meanwhile, Siobhan restarted "Shakespear's Sister" as a solo act in 1996 (the time of Marcella's third solo set). Arriving with a UK-only single "I Can Drive", after it failed to go higher than #30, her upcoming #3 album was shelved (she would independently release it almost a decade later). Her most recent charting single (under her own name) was "Pulsatron", which popped in for one week on the top 100 at #95 in 2005. She's attempted to carry on the SS name, but had much more success when she reunited with Bananarama mates Karen Woodward and Sara Dallin for a big worldwide tour this past year, though she has not returned to recording with them.
(Click below to see the rest of the post)
Here's Shakespear's Sister appearing on Top Of The Pops...
And the pair at Glastonbury in 1992...
And a powerful reading for German TV at a show..
Next up, a dramatic (and final) performance as a duo in 1992...
In 2010, British singer Cher Lloyd sang "Stay" on The X Factor UK, and it was such a success that it caused the original recording to re-enter the chart at #12...
And finally, from the Bananarama reunion tour...
Up tomorrow: A funny-named band declare their sole desire.
Comments