“WE’D never have survived if we had been put together,” says Sara Dallin.
Nodding in agreement, her Bananarama bandmate Keren Woodward adds: “There was a freedom to what we did. We did it ourselves at home. I think that was part of the appeal and our spirit, too.”
Over drinks at a hotel in central London, the duo — best mates since they were teenagers growing up in Bristol — are looking back at their sensational 40 years in music.
They are also celebrating the forthcoming release of new Best Of compilation Glorious.
Originally a trio with Siobhan Fahey, Bananarama hold the Guinness World Record for the most international chart hits by an all-female group, having sold 30million records and released 12 studio albums since forming in 1980.
Hits include Cruel Summer, Venus, Love In The First Degree and Robert De Niro’s Waiting, which are all on the 40-track Best Of double album.
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Three boys and three girls — it was a little gang together, like a school trip.
That record opens with Really Saying Something, their 1982 smash with Fun Boy Three, fronted by the late Terry Hall.
“We adored Terry,” declares Keren.
“He was really shy,” adds Sara.
“We were sitting in a room with him, and he said, ‘Do you want to sing on my album?’. And we were like, ‘Ooh God!’
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“Because they had that drum-based sound, we could all have a go.
“It was fantastic.
“Terry was like, ‘Sara, you have a drum, Keren you play the keyboard and Siobhan can have the maracas.
“Then we went to Amsterdam to do TV with them and the next thing we are on a plane with them and staying in a hotel.
“We’d never been on a plane before.
“Three boys and three girls — it was a little gang together, like a school trip.”
Keren and Sara, both 62, are as friendly and fun as you hope they would be.
Growing up they were the coolest girls in music and the band young girls wanted to be in.
Laughing, Sara says: “We all wrote our music and we all dressed up in these ridiculous clothes.”
Keren adds: “And had different looks — there was an individuality to us.”
Chatting through their early days as a trio with Siobhan until 1988, then with Jacquie O’Sullivan until 1991, Bananarama agree that it’s as much fun today as it’s ever been.
Keren says: “We love doing the live shows.
“They are so brilliant.
“If I go and see someone play I can absolutely tell if they’re just going through the motions and not enjoying it.
“That’s not us.
“It’s an absolute joy when we get on stage.
“We see the crowds dancing and not just to the big hits — we can almost throw in anything we like and everyone is still dancing.”
Oh Bananarama are pushing 30, they should stop now.
Sara adds: “We didn’t tour a great deal in the early days and now we do and we feel more confident now we are older.
“We love our shows.”
Keren and Sara believe things have changed for the better for women in music and they’re pleased to be seen as pioneers.
“People don’t write women off as much in music, so we seem to have another bite of the cherry, which is great,” smiles Sara.
“Don’t get me wrong, there’s still ageism and sexism but less so than before.
“I used to get annoyed when an actress would say they can’t get a role after 35.
“It was like that in music where women always came up against ageism.
“I was 26 when critics would say, ‘Oh Bananarama are pushing 30, they should stop now’.
“If that was at 26, what are they going to say at 60?”
“Especially in pop,” adds Keren.
“It was acceptable for someone like Shirley Bassey or someone who sings the classics, but pop music was always disposable and always young, so us still here shows that things have changed for the better.
“Some people will always comment and say, ‘It’s like watching your granny’, but Madonna is still touring at 65 and is still great.”
Sara says: “I find it all so inspiring.
“I don’t like it when people try to pit women against each other.
“If any woman is succeeding in a man’s world, I’m just completely in awe and inspired by it.”
Both girls are dressed smartly and look 20 years younger than their actual age. And natural.
Have they ever been tempted to have work done?
Keren says: “As much as I think I’d quite like to look like someone else, I also feel that I was given this face, so I shouldn’t change it.
“That’s what I’m comfortable with. And that’s what Sara’s comfortable with.
“And we would probably rein each other in if one or the other went off like that.
“Everyone to their own but I think it’s all a bit odd these days and I find it quite upsetting when it’s really young girls playing with their face and with the tattooed eyebrows. It’s a look.”
Sara says: “Keren was going to have her eyebrows tattooed and I scared her, saying what if it goes wrong?
“I had a friend who had it done and when she turned up at the door, her eyebrows were so thick, I couldn’t say anything.
“They were so ridiculous.
“With faces, I will recognise someone vaguely, think, ‘Who is that?’, then it’s, ‘Oh my God, it’s her’.
“Maybe if it was around back then, we would have gone for the whole thing.
“We drew on great big eyebrows and great big lips, drawn outside with liner.”
Keren adds: “I guess they were drawn on as opposed to filled.”
Bananarama believe it was their naivety and fun attitude that made them a success from the start
Looking back, you can see that we were winging it.
“We were learning as we went,” says Keren.
“Whether it was performing or songwriting, everything had to be learned because besides a few school musicals, we’d not done anything.”
Sara adds: “It wasn’t manufactured and it wasn’t stage school — not that there’s anything wrong with that — but we had to find our own way.
“So it was clumsy and it was amateur, but I think that was the appeal.
“There were no other girl groups around at the time really.
“Prior to that would have been the ’60s with Motown.”
Keren adds: “Looking back, you can see that we were winging it.
“But I do think that was part of the charm.
“It looked like we were trying to be cool but we weren’t.
“People used to think we were rude or stuck up but we were just really shy.
“We were terrible at interviews.
“If someone asked a question we giggled and looked at each other.
‘It was brutal’
“Some journalist thought we were intimidating, which is hilarious because we are so not in real life.
“People felt we were ganging up or laughing at them.”
Even when the girls were “discovered” by Sex Pistols drummer Paul Cook after meeting him in a club, they say they were making it up as they went along.
Sara says: “He came round to call for us at the YWCA we were living in and they announced over the tannoy, ‘Paul Cook is in’.
“And Keren and I looked at each other to go, ‘What? Paul Cook from the Sex Pistols is here?’.
“He was so famous, we couldn’t believe it.”
Sara adds: “So we excitedly ran down the stairs, then stopped at the top, like in a cartoon and casually went down, saying ‘Hello Paul’.
“Then, the two of us went to live above his rehearsal room and Siobhan lived on Wardour Street.
“That’s kind of where the idea of Bananarama came from.
“Paul helped us with the first demo.”
Looking back, both girls agree it’s been 40 years of great times.
Keren says: “I can’t believe it’s been that long. And yet, I feel like I’ve been doing it for ever.”
There are two news songs on Glorious — Feel The Love and Supernova — which the girls say they are hugely proud of.
A lot of the people we hung out with are sadly not with us any more.
And with the Deluxe version of Glorious, there’s an exclusive remix disc, with reworks of songs by the likes of Boys Noize, Krystal Klear, The Reflex, Initial Talk and Luke Million. It also includes the George Michael Metropolis Mix of Tripping On Your Love.
“George was a good friend and it’s sad he’s no longer with us,” says Sara.
“A lot of the people we hung out with are sadly not with us any more.
“Keith from the Prodigy was a good friend too.
“In the old days we used to hang out with Boy George, Marilyn and Sade.”
Keren adds: “We used to play netball on a Sunday and Sade was on one team and we had a team.
“It was brutal. It was so horribly competitive.”
Bananarama will also release a fashion book with Glorious and will speak about their fashion and music legacy at a special talk at London’s V&A Museum next month.
Sara says: “Clothes evoke a memory in the same way that music does. I found a Marilyn Monroe earring, which I’d bought in LA and it took me back to the ’80s because LA has that smell of heat.
“Clothes take people back on that journey, so we had some of our different clothes photographed for this book, including Vivienne Westwood boots and a Jean Paul Gaultier fishnet bodice.”
‘Still shocked’
Keren adds: “Then we have the Palladium shows in April which we are excited about.
“We just take it year by year.
“We love our festivals and tours.
“Then we will sit and have a think about what we are going to do next.
“We’ve got lots of opportunities and we’ve worked for four decades to get to this point.
“We’ve had so many people — including editors of newspapers and magazines — say, ‘Bananarama were absolutely my inspiration’.
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“I’m still so shocked to hear that but long may it continue as I find it so great that we mean so much to so many.”
- Glorious The Ultimate Collection is out on March 8. Bananarama play London Palladium on April 3, 4 and 6.
