Donald's Encyclopedia of Popular Music

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

SHAKESPEARS SISTER

Pop singer-songwriter Siobhan Fahey (b 10 Sep. '57, London) has had 15 top ten singles in Britain, two best video awards, seven hit albums and an Ivor Novello award '92 for Outstanding Contemporary Song Collection, and she went unrecognized in pubs, but she carried on with a challenging female sensibility that will not be easily marketable. Her father was from Tipperary, drank with playwright Brendan Behan and bet on the horses, then joined the British Army; she lived all over the UK and was plunked in a convent school where she thinks she was frightened of the devil ('obviously a bit mentally ill'), then in a high school where no one spoke to her, but came out in time to haunt the punk rock scene. She won a place at Trinity College Dublin, turned it down and formed vocal trio Bananarama with Sarah Dallin and Sarah's best friend Keren Woodward. They recorded and appeared on Top Of The Pops with pop act Fun Boy Three '82 and were taken up by producers Swain and Jolley, seen as a bubblegum act at the time, but their songs were as much pisstake as anything else. When the bandwagon slowed down they were prod. by Stock Aitken and Waterman for more hits ('Venus' was no. 1 USA '86) but the mechanical dance beat completely missed the point for Fahey, who (it turned out) was resented by the other girls.

She left the group '86 (replaced by Jacqui Sullivan until '91); married Dave Stewart (of the Eurythmics) '87, dyed her hair black, started writing more and formed Shakespears Sister with powerful vocalist Marcella Detroit (aka Marcy Levy, whose credits incl. co-writing 'Lay Down Sally' with Eric Clapton) for two albums: Sacred Heart '89 was a top ten album UK, its tougher edge dominated by Detroit's voice; the duo shared vocals, writing and prod. chores on Hormonally Yours '92 incl. 'Stay' (no. 4 USA, no. 1 for eight weeks UK). Along with Stewart they received the Novello award for that album. Fahey and Detroit split; Detroit played the kooky rock diva card with flair on Jewel '94, then Feeler '96; Fahey's hair is blonde again and she refuses to dress up on stage. She and Stewart are each busy with their own projects, have two children; she had also co-written 'Young At Heart' with Robert Hodgens of the Bluebells, who had a top ten with it '84, no. 1 on reissue '93; she is a single on Shakespears Sister '96, new songs ('Do I Scare You?', 'Opportunity Knockers', 'What's It Like To Be So Wonderful?') both funny-peculiar and funny ha-ha: she describes them as 'revenge of the nerds'.