Fact #169792
When:
Short story:
Kajagoogoo have their final UK singles chart entry with Shouldn't Do That, which peaks at No63.
Full article:
WHATEVER HAPPENED TO KAJAGOOGOO?
by Johnny Black
When critically-lauded early 80s Leighton Buzzard prog-rockers Art Nouveau realised that thing about kind words and parsnips, they opted to re-deploy their considerable musical skills in the tawdry pursuit of fame and fortune. To that end, they drafted in a new front man. It worked a charm, but it also destroyed them.
Steve Askew (gtr) : We'd been a performance/art band. We got played on Peel, Record Of The Week in Sounds, stuff like that. We loved what we were doing, but there was no money in it. Then Nick found Limahl and brought him in, which was because none of us wanted to do vocals. It was like walking on eggshells from the minute he joined the band, he was so volatile. Also he was a London-boy and we were all from the sticks.
We achieved what we were after when we got that No1 with Too Shy in 1983 but, musically, Limahl and the rest of us were worlds apart. Everything got reversed. We enjoyed the success, but felt we were no longer being taken seriously.
After Kajagoogoo went under, we became Kaja, without Limahl, and when that ended I formed Small Town Elephants, then Baby Boomerang, but they didn't happen. Now (October 00), I'm back in Leighton Buzzard, as are Nick and Stuart. I have my own studio, Protec Music, and I produce local bands. I also do a bit of music teaching.
Limahl (vocs) : I got blamed for turning them into a successful teeny band, but that's exactly why I was brought in. I went from the dole to fame to being booted out of the band.
When I left, I let them have the rights to the name, because Limahl was a strong enough identity in itself. My first solo single, Only For Love. Was Top 20 in Britain and all over Europe, then I did the theme from the film Never Ending Story with Giorgio Moroder, which was No4 in the UK and No1 in seventeen countries. I wanted to do my solo album with Jam And Lewis, but they hadn't yet done Janet Jackson, so EMI hadn't heard of them. I was made to do the album with Moroder, which was a mistake because it didn't come out until a year after the single, by which time the momentum was lost.
But I was still writing songs furiously and, in 1986, I was signed by Clive Davis of Arista in New York. They spent a quarter of a million dollars recording four tracks, then we couldn't agree which one to release and they were so over-budget that the spark was gone.
By then, I was burnt out creatively and emotionally, so I spent two years chilling out. Went round the world twice, lived in Europe. I needed that time to adjust. Then I decided I wasn't going to waste my life in pursuit of another hit. I had to think positively, so I got into production and re-mixing under the name of Jupiter, and did Livin' Joy, Peter Andre, Toni De Bart, Kim Wilde.
Towards the end of the 90s, when 80s retro nights started to happen, I started getting calls to do gigs again, and I haven't stopped since - private venues, corporate work, radio station parties. Right now I'm touring with Gwen Dickey in the show What A Feeling, which will keep me busy til next April, then I'm off to Europe.
Stuart Croxford Neil (synth/vocs) : When the band folded, I continued writing songs and tried to get a solo career off the ground, but I have a large family, six kids, so I had to bring in a good wage. I'm working now as a client services manager for Reedsoft, which does scanning software.
Nick Beggs (bass/vocs) : With the demise of Kaja, Beggs formed Ellis, Beggs And Howard, then became an AAndR man at Phonogram until he was downsized by an incoming MD. "I was gutted," he told Q, "because I believe I was on the crest of something positive. Then I had to go into hospital and split up with my wife, all in the same week." According to Stuart, "Nick, me and Steve still play together in a functions band, Malachi, but Nick's main interest remains production work."
Jez Strode (drums) : "Jez now runs Atlantic Hire," says Stuart, "a company that supplies gear for studios. We don't see him much."
(Source : interview with Johnny Black)
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by Johnny Black
When critically-lauded early 80s Leighton Buzzard prog-rockers Art Nouveau realised that thing about kind words and parsnips, they opted to re-deploy their considerable musical skills in the tawdry pursuit of fame and fortune. To that end, they drafted in a new front man. It worked a charm, but it also destroyed them.
Steve Askew (gtr) : We'd been a performance/art band. We got played on Peel, Record Of The Week in Sounds, stuff like that. We loved what we were doing, but there was no money in it. Then Nick found Limahl and brought him in, which was because none of us wanted to do vocals. It was like walking on eggshells from the minute he joined the band, he was so volatile. Also he was a London-boy and we were all from the sticks.
We achieved what we were after when we got that No1 with Too Shy in 1983 but, musically, Limahl and the rest of us were worlds apart. Everything got reversed. We enjoyed the success, but felt we were no longer being taken seriously.
After Kajagoogoo went under, we became Kaja, without Limahl, and when that ended I formed Small Town Elephants, then Baby Boomerang, but they didn't happen. Now (October 00), I'm back in Leighton Buzzard, as are Nick and Stuart. I have my own studio, Protec Music, and I produce local bands. I also do a bit of music teaching.
Limahl (vocs) : I got blamed for turning them into a successful teeny band, but that's exactly why I was brought in. I went from the dole to fame to being booted out of the band.
When I left, I let them have the rights to the name, because Limahl was a strong enough identity in itself. My first solo single, Only For Love. Was Top 20 in Britain and all over Europe, then I did the theme from the film Never Ending Story with Giorgio Moroder, which was No4 in the UK and No1 in seventeen countries. I wanted to do my solo album with Jam And Lewis, but they hadn't yet done Janet Jackson, so EMI hadn't heard of them. I was made to do the album with Moroder, which was a mistake because it didn't come out until a year after the single, by which time the momentum was lost.
But I was still writing songs furiously and, in 1986, I was signed by Clive Davis of Arista in New York. They spent a quarter of a million dollars recording four tracks, then we couldn't agree which one to release and they were so over-budget that the spark was gone.
By then, I was burnt out creatively and emotionally, so I spent two years chilling out. Went round the world twice, lived in Europe. I needed that time to adjust. Then I decided I wasn't going to waste my life in pursuit of another hit. I had to think positively, so I got into production and re-mixing under the name of Jupiter, and did Livin' Joy, Peter Andre, Toni De Bart, Kim Wilde.
Towards the end of the 90s, when 80s retro nights started to happen, I started getting calls to do gigs again, and I haven't stopped since - private venues, corporate work, radio station parties. Right now I'm touring with Gwen Dickey in the show What A Feeling, which will keep me busy til next April, then I'm off to Europe.
Stuart Croxford Neil (synth/vocs) : When the band folded, I continued writing songs and tried to get a solo career off the ground, but I have a large family, six kids, so I had to bring in a good wage. I'm working now as a client services manager for Reedsoft, which does scanning software.
Nick Beggs (bass/vocs) : With the demise of Kaja, Beggs formed Ellis, Beggs And Howard, then became an AAndR man at Phonogram until he was downsized by an incoming MD. "I was gutted," he told Q, "because I believe I was on the crest of something positive. Then I had to go into hospital and split up with my wife, all in the same week." According to Stuart, "Nick, me and Steve still play together in a functions band, Malachi, but Nick's main interest remains production work."
Jez Strode (drums) : "Jez now runs Atlantic Hire," says Stuart, "a company that supplies gear for studios. We don't see him much."
(Source : interview with Johnny Black)