Twenty years ago this summer, "Stay" by Shakespears Sister topped the British charts for eight weeks, as well as reaching No. 4 in the U.S. It was a bittersweet moment for Siobhan Fahey's post-Bananarama career. She had originally brought Marcella Detroit in to do backing vocals, but then the one song Marcie sang lead on wound up becoming an international sensation, leaving the already-wounded songbird unable to cope. In a decidedly classless move, Siobhan let Marcella find out she was history at the 1993 Ivor Novello Awards via a prepared statement, where Marcie was in attendance but Fahey was not. Siobhan has since recorded a lot of great music under the Shakespears Sister moniker. But the real-life tension between the women clearly fueled "Stay," the most melodramatic pop song since Bonnie Tyler topped the charts around the world with "A Total Eclipse of the Heart" back in 1983!
Shakespears Sister's "Stay" turns 20
So beloved was the song in the UK, it even got the French and Saunders treatment!
4 comments:
One of my favourite songs EVER
and one of my favourite song parodies ever :)
Thank you for posting this Kenneth!! Love this song. But love first Shakespear's Sister album Sacred Heart even more!!! :) So many good songs...
I wish someone would do a decent documentary on the history of Bananarama & crazy Siobhan. I've been a fan for nearly all of their 30 years, but still learn stuff that I wasn't aware of.
Your post is an example, Kenneth. Even though I know Siobhan has had some mental health issues in her past, I had no idea she let Marcella know she was out of the band that way. What a piece of work!
Just recently I saw interviews of both Siobhan and Pete Waterman where I learned more. Although ultimately she was unhappy with how SAW had become too involved in their career, she was initially pushing to work with them because she liked their work with Dead or Alive. And she was even dissappointed with the initial cut of "Venus" because it didn't have the Hi-NRG sound that she liked on "You Spin Me Round." Ultimately they made the record they all loved - as did many pop music fans around the world.
Then a few years later she led the charge to separate from the SAW Hit Factory after she tired of the producers involvement in the girl's career. Eventually that led to her split from the group.
It's funny because while I always knew she disliked how the group sound had become too PWL-ish, I never knew that she initially pushed for that collaboration. And of course that collab led to their biggest worldwide success. I'm sure there are people for which none of this is news though.
Kenneth, don't you know someone that could put together a feature on those girls?
Thanks for the post. It was your interest in both tennis and Bananarama that got me to start following you a few years back, and I'm happy to say I'm still a regular reader now.
Thank you for the bit of birthday depression. Love the song but it never fails to get to me...
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