CELEBRITIES BEHAVING BADLY ?
THE SEEMINGLY ALWAYS DRINK, DRUGS AND DEBAUCHED FUELLED WORLD OF A GREAT MANY OF OUR ICONIC TABLOID FAVOURITES…… MANY OF WHOM WE COVER AND TOUCH UPON WITHIN OUR DIVERSE MEMORABILIA COLLECTIONS HERE AT OUR POLITICALLY INCORRECT …. LITTLEDEAN JAIL
BELOW …. HERE IS SOME INTERACTIVE BACKGROUND FOOTAGE BEHIND SOME OF THE TABLOID SENSATIONALIST HEADLINES OF JUST A FEW OF THOSE WE COVER HERE
CELEBRITY SLEAZE AND SCANDAL HERE AT LITTLEDEAN JAIL…..AND MUCH MUCH MORE
ICONIC ….NOW TRAGICALLY DECEASED AMY WINEHOUSE SEEN HERE ON A SEEMINGLY DOWNWARD SPIRAL ON DRUGS WITH FRIEND – PETE DOHERTY
Here at the jail we have long featured various exhibition displays and tabloid sensationalism of the controversial , drink and drug fuelled world of both Amy Winehouse and Pete Doherty as well as a great many other well known celebrities and music icons
You Spin Me Round (Like a Record)” is a song by British band Dead or Alive on their 1985 album Youthquake. The song was the first UK number-one hit by the Stock Aitken Waterman production trio. Released in November 1984, the record reached number one in March 1985, taking seventeen weeks to get there. In the US, it peaked at #11 in September of that year.
The video was directed by Vaughan Arnell and Anthea Benton.
The strings were based on Richard Wagner‘s classical piece Ride of the Valkyries.[1] The song is in 4/4 time and in the key of F# minor.[citation needed]
Earlier remixes were in 1996 and 1997 (some are included on the US, European and Australian releases of Nukleopatra). In 1999 these mixes were issued in the US as a 2CD set. The first disc held seven mixes of “You Spin Me Round” while disc two has five mixes of “Sex Drive”. In 2000, new mixes appeared on Fragile and in 2001, on Unbreakable: The Fragile Remixes. No videos were made for these.
The song has been re-released three times since its original release in 1984. Each time of its release, it achieved success, but failed to match the success of the original. However, after lead-singer Pete Burns‘ appearance on UK Celebrity Big Brother, the single was re-released and managed a Top 5 peak on the UK Singles Chart in 2006.
| Chart (1984–1985) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Australian Singles Chart | 3[2] |
| Canadian RPM Top Singles | 1[3] |
| Media Control Charts | 2[4] |
| Italian Singles Chart | 3[5] |
| Swiss Music Charts | 1[6] |
| UK Singles Chart | 1[7] |
| U.S. Billboard Hot 100 | 11[8] |
| U.S. Billboard Hot Dance Club Play | 4[9] |
| Chart (1996) | Peak position |
| Australian Singles Chart | 28 |
| Chart (2003) | Peak position |
| Australian Singles Chart | 62 |
| Media Control Charts | 96 |
| UK Singles Chart | 23 |
| U.S. Billboard Hot Dance Club Play | 21[10] |
| Chart (2006) | Peak position |
| UK Singles Chart | 5 |
Dope‘s version of the song became their first chart entry on any Billboard chart, reaching #37 on the Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks chart. Their version is often misattributed to Marilyn Manson.[citation needed]
| Chart (2000) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| U.S. Billboard Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks | 37 |
Jessica Simpson‘s version of the song was released as a promo single from her fourth studio album A Public Affair in 2006. Her version of the song barely made the Pop 100, and failed to make theBillboard Hot 100 chart, however, it charted to #20 on the Bubbling Under Hot 100, which is equivalent to #120. Simpson’s version has new lyrics and only preserves the chorus of the song.
| Chart (2007) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| U.S. Billboard Bubbling Under Hot 100 | 20 |
| U.S. Billboard Pop 100 | 95 |
Notable cover versions include recordings by Thalía on her 2002 self-titled album. A cover was featured in Konami’s 2009 video game Dance Dance Revolution Hottest Party. The song’s chorus was used as the basis for Flo Rida‘s 2009 number one single, “Right Round.” Danzel and Gigi D’Agostino have also done remixes. Alvin and the Chipmunks covered the song for the movie, “Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel” and the movie’s soundtrack. In 2008, Thea Gilmore did a cover called “You Spin Me Right Round” alongside with Mike Cave, giving the song a more folk pop touch. After its initial release as a separate single, it was included in newer pressings of her album “Liejacker”. Adam Sandler performed the song to open the film The Wedding Singer. There is also another version featured in the red-band trailer of Hot Tub Time Machine. The French band Indochine also covered the song on their 2009 album “La République des Meteors.”
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The Pogues are a band from Kings Cross, London, formed in 1982 and fronted by Shane MacGowan. The band reached international prominence in the 1980s and early 1990s. MacGowan left the band in 1991 due to drinking problems but the band continued first with Joe Strummer and then with Spider Stacy on vocals before breaking up in 1996.[1] The band reformed in 2001, and has been playing regularly ever since, most notably on the US East Coast around St Patrick’s Day and across the UK and Ireland every December. The group has yet to record any new music and, according to Spider Stacy on Pogues.com, has no inclination to do so.
Their politically-tinged music was informed by MacGowan and Stacy’s punk backgrounds,[2] yet used traditional Irish instruments such as the tin whistle,cittern, mandolin and accordion.
The Pogues were founded in Kings Cross,[3] a district of North London, in 1982 as Pogue Mahone—pogue mahone being the Anglicisation of the Irish póg mo thóin, meaning “kiss my arse“.[4]
The roots of The Pogues were formed when MacGowan (vocals), Peter “Spider” Stacy (tin whistle), and Jem Finer (banjo) were together in an occasional band called The Millwall Chainsaws in the late 1970s after MacGowan and Stacy met in the toilets at a Ramones gig at The Roundhouse in 1977.[5]MacGowan was already with The Nips, though when they broke up in 1980 he concentrated a bit more on Stacy’s Millwall Chainsaws who changed their name to The New Republicans. During this period MacGowan and Finer auditioned unsuccessfully for a licence to busk at Covent Garden.[6] In 1982 James Fearnley (accordion) joined MacGowan, Stacy, and Finer, calling the band Pogue Mahone. The new group played their first gig at The Pindar of Wakefieldon 4 October 1982.[7]
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They later added Cait O’Riordan (bass) and Andrew Ranken (drums). The band played London pubs and clubs,[8] and released a single, “Dark Streets of London,”[9] on their own, self-named label, gaining a small reputation—especially for their live performances. They came to the attention of the media and Stiff Records when they opened for The Clash on their 1984 tour.[1] Shortening their name to “The Pogues” (partly due to BBC censorship following complaints from Gaelic speakers in Scotland) they released their first album Red Roses for Me on Stiff that October.
The band gained more attention when the UK Channel 4’s influential music show The Tube made a video of their version of “Waxie’s Dargle” for the show. The performance—featuring Spider Stacy repeatedly smashing himself over the head with a beer tray (in the manner of Bob Blackman’s infamous “Mule Train/Mule Tray”)—became a favourite with the viewers, but Stiff refused to release it as a single, feeling it was too late for it to help Red Roses for Me (in fact Stiff was by then in deep financial trouble). Nevertheless, it remained a favourite request for the show for many years.
Phil Chevron (guitar) joined the group soon after, then with the aid of punk and New Wave forefather Elvis Costello they recorded the follow-up, Rum Sodomy & the Lash, in 1985. The album title is a famous comment falsely attributed to Winston Churchill who was supposedly describing the “true” traditions of the British Royal Navy.[10] The album cover featured The Raft of the Medusa, with the faces of the characters in Théodore Géricault‘s painting replaced with those of the band members. The album shows the band moving away from covers to original material. Shane MacGowan came into his own as a songwriter with this disc, offering up poetic story-telling, such as “The Sick Bed of Cúchulainn” and “The Old Main Drag”, as well as definitive interpretations of Ewan MacColl‘s “Dirty Old Town” and Eric Bogle‘s “And the Band Played Waltzing Matilda” (this had previously been covered by Shane’s fellow punk contemporaries The Skids in 1981).
The band failed to take advantage of the momentum created by the strong artistic and commercial success of their second album. They first refused to record another album (offering up the four-track EP Poguetry in Motion instead); O’Riordan married Costello and left the band, to be replaced by bassist Darryl Hunt, formerly of Plummet Airlines and Pride of the Cross; and they added a multi-instrumentalist in Terry Woods, formerly of Steeleye Span. Looming over the band at this period (as throughout their entire career) was the increasingly erratic behaviour of their vocalist and principal songwriter, Shane MacGowan. Their record label, Stiff Records, went bankrupt soon after the 1987 release of the single “The Irish Rover” (with The Dubliners). Members of the band, including O’Riordian, acted in Alex Cox‘s Straight to Hell, and five songs by the band were included on the film’s soundtrack album.
The band remained stable enough to record If I Should Fall from Grace with God in 1988 (with its Christmas hit duet with Kirsty MacColl “Fairytale of New York“, which was voted “the best Christmas song ever” in VH1 UK polls in 2004) and 1989’s Peace and Love.[11] The band was at the peak of its commercial success, with both albums making the top 5 in the UK (numbers 3 and 5 respectively), but MacGowan was increasingly unreliable. He failed to turn up for the opening dates of their 1988 tour of America, and prevented the band from promoting their next album, Hell’s Ditch, so in 1991 the band sacked him.[2] Vocal duties were for a time handled by Joe Strummer, before Stacy finally took over permanently. After Strummer’s departure, the remaining seven Pogues recorded Waiting for Herb, which contained the band’s third and final top twenty single, “Tuesday Morning”, which became their best-selling single internationally. Terry Woods and James Fearnley then left the band and were replaced by David Coulter and James McNally respectively. Within months of their departures, ill health forced Phil Chevron to leave the band; he was replaced by his former guitar technician, Jamie Clarke. This lineup recorded the band’s seventh (and final) studio album, Pogue Mahone. The album was a commercial failure, and, following Jem Finer’s decision to leave the band in 1996, the remaining members decided it was time to call it quits. According to Shane MacGowan, amongst the reasons of the breakup was disagreement concerning the political orientation of his songs, the band not wanting to sing too obvious pro-republican songs[12] — though some of their previous songs were already politically engaged : for instance, Streams of Whiskey is about the poet and IRAmember Brendan Behan. Soon after the breakup Shane MacGowan recorded a song called Paddy Public Enemy Number One as a tribute to the Republican leader Dominic McGlinchey, a former leader of the INLA killed a few years before.
After the Pogues’ break-up, the three remaining long-term members (Spider Stacy, Andrew Ranken and Darryl Hunt) played together briefly in a new band called The Wisemen for five shows. The name was quickly changed to the Vendettas. They played mainly new Stacy-penned tracks, though Darryl Hunt also contributed songs, and the band’s live set included a few Pogues songs. First Ranken then Hunt left the band, the latter going on to become singer/songwriter in an indie band called Bish, whose self-titled debut album was released in 2001. Ranken has gone on to play with a number of other bands, including hKippers, The Municipal Waterboard and, most recently, The Mysterious Wheels. In addition to The Vendettas who Stacy freely admits lost all attraction when the Pogues reformed, Spider continued to write and record music with various bands, including the James Walbourne, Filthy Thieving Bastards, Dropkick Murphys and Astral Social Club. Shane MacGowan founded Shane MacGowan and The Popes in 1992. They only managed two studio albums but struggled on until 2002. His autobiography A Drink With Shane MacGowan, co-written with his journalist girlfriend Victoria Mary Clarke, was released in 2001. Jem Finer went into experimental music, playing a big part in a project known as “Longplayer“, a piece of music designed to play continuously for 1,000 years without repeating itself. In 2005, Finer released the album Bum Steer with DB Bob (as DM Bob and Country Jem). James Fearnley moved to the United States shortly before leaving the Pogues. He was a member of The Low And Sweet Orchestra and later the Cranky George Trio. Philip Chevron reformed his former band The Radiators, which briefly included former Pogue Cait O’Riordan. Terry Woods formed The Bucks with Ron Kavana, releasing the album Dancin’ To The Ceili Band in 1994. Later, he formed The Woods Band, releasing the album Music From The Four Corners of Hell in 2002.
The Pogues in Brixton, 2004
The band, including MacGowan, re-formed for a Christmas tour in 2001 and performed nine shows in the UK and Ireland in December 2004. In 2002 Qmagazine named The Pogues as one of the “50 Bands To See Before You Die”. In July 2005, the band — again including MacGowan — played at the annual Guilfest festival in Guildford before flying out to Japan where they played three dates. Japan is the last place they all played together before MacGowan was originally sacked in 1991, and they have a strong following there. They played a date in Spain in early September. The reunited Pogues played dates in the UK with support from the Dropkick Murphys in late 2005, and re-released their 1987 Christmas classic “Fairytale of New York” on 19 December, which went straight in at #3 in the UK Singles charts on Christmas Day 2005, showing the song’s enduring popularity. On 22 December 2005 the BBC broadcast a live performance (recorded the previous week) on the Jonathan Ross Christmas show with Katie Melua filling in for the late Kirsty MacColl, the first time the band had played the song live on television. The following week they performed live on the popular music show CD:UK.
Shane MacGowan wrote a blog for The Guardian website in 2006, detailing his thoughts on the current tour.[13]
The Pogues with Shane MacGowan, October 11, 2006 in San Diego
The band was awarded the lifetime achievement award at the annual Meteor Ireland Music Awards in February 2006. In March 2006, the band played their first U.S. dates with Shane in over 15 years. The band played a series of sold-out concerts in Washington D.C., Atlantic City, Boston, and New York. Later they played a series of highly acclaimed and sold-out gigs during mid-October 2006 in San Francisco, Las Vegas, and Los Angeles, and toured Glasgow,Manchester, Birmingham, London, Dublin, and Nottingham in mid-December 2006. They began a second U.S. tour in March 2007, once again to coincide (and conclude) with a Roseland Ballroom New York City show on Saint Patrick’s Day. 2007 has proved to be the most prolific year of touring since the reunion. A tour of the west coast of America and eleven dates in the UK in December complement the headlining festival appearances made in the summer across Europe (Sweden, Belgium and Spain). They continue to be in huge demand, often selling out very large venues, despite criticism of selling out, and claims that arenas and festivals do not suit the band’s sound.
The Pogues on August 1, 2010 inAmsterdam
The Pogues 2011 in Munich, Philip Chevron, James Fearnley, Andrew Ranken, Shane MacGowan, Darryl Hunt,Spider Stacy, Jem Finer not on photo Terry Woods
Guitarist Phil Chevron has stated there were no plans to record new music or release a new album. Chevron said that one way to keep enjoying what they were doing was to avoid making a new album, although he did say that there still is a possibility in the future for new music, but certainly not in the near future. Terry Woods has commented that MacGowan has been writing, and most of it sounds good. In 2008 the band released a box set Just Look Them Straight in the Eye and Say….POGUE MAHONE!!, which included rare studio out-takes and previously unreleased material.[14]
The band has received mixed reviews of its recent performances. Reviewing a March 2008 concert, The Washington Post described MacGowan as “puffy and paunchy,” but said the singer “still has a banshee wail to beat Howard Dean‘s, and the singer’s abrasive growl is all a band this marvelous needs to give its amphetamine-spiked take on Irish folk a focal point.” The reviewer continued: “The set started off shaky, MacGowan singing of `goin’ where streams of whiskey are flowin,’ and looking like he’d arrived there already. He grew more lucid and powerful as the evening gathered steam, through two hours and 26 songs, mostly from the Pogues’ first three (and best) albums”.[15] In December 2010 the Pogues played their farewell UK Christmas tour.
In March 2011, the Pogues played a six-city/ten-show US tour titled “A Parting Glass with The Pogues” visiting Chicago, Detroit, Baltimore, Washington D.C., Boston, and New York (in that order), with only the last three cities getting more than one show. It may, or may not, be the last time they tour the States. Stacy said “I think we are basically pretty certain this is the last tour of this type we’ll be doing in the States. There might be the odd sort of one-off here and there. We’re not saying this is absolutely, definitely the end.”[16]
According to Phillip Chevron: “Shane sings no more or no less than has been set by prior agreement.” [17]
“Fairytale of New York” was released as a single in 1987 and reached #1 in the Irish charts and #2 in the British charts over Christmas (the time of peak sales). The song has become a festive classic in the UK and Ireland over the years, and was voted the best Christmas song of all time three years running in 2004,[18] 2005[19] and 2006 in polls by music channel VH1 UK, despite not achievingChristmas Number One when it was released. It was also voted as the 27th greatest song never to reach UK#1 in another VH1 poll, and also voted as the 84th greatest song of all time by BBC Radio 2listeners in their “Sold on Song” top 100 poll. In 2007 the record was briefly censored by the BBC because of the word “faggot” being deemed potentially offensive to gay people. Following protests from listeners, including the mother of Kirsty MacColl, the censorship was lifted.
| Year | Title | Chart positions | Album | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| U.S. Rock | U.S. Club | UK[20] | IRL | |||
| 1984 | “Dark Streets of London” | – | – | – | – | Red Roses for Me |
| “Boys from the County Hell” | – | – | – | – | ||
| 1985 | “A Pair of Brown Eyes“ | – | – | 72 | – | Rum Sodomy & the Lash |
| “Sally MacLennane“ | – | – | 51 | – | ||
| “Dirty Old Town“ | – | – | 62 | 27 | ||
| 1986 | Poguetry in Motion (EP) | – | – | 29 | 11 | – |
| “Haunted“ | – | – | 42 | 7 | Sid and Nancy Soundtrack | |
| 1987 | “Irish Rover” (featuring The Dubliners) | – | – | 8 | 1 | – |
| “Fairytale of New York” (featuring Kirsty MacColl) | – | – | 2 | 1 | If I Should Fall from Grace with God | |
| 1988 | “If I Should Fall from Grace with God“ | – | – | 58 | 4 | |
| “Fiesta“ | – | – | 24 | 11 | ||
| 1989 | “Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah“ | 17 | 36 | 43 | 6 | Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah |
| “Misty Morning, Albert Bridge“ | – | – | 41 | 8 | Peace and Love | |
| 1990 | “Summer in Siam“ | – | – | 64 | 21 | Hell’s Ditch |
| “Jack’s Heroes” (featuring The Dubliners) | – | – | 63 | 4 | Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah | |
| “Miss Otis Regrets / Just One of Those Things” (with Kirsty MacColl) | – | – | – | – | Red Hot + Blue (Produced by the Red Hot Organization) | |
| 1991 | “Sunny Side of the Street“ | 23 | – | – | – | Hell’s Ditch |
| “Rainy Night in Soho (remix)” | – | – | 67 | 24 | Poguetry in Motion | |
| “Fairytale of New York” (re-issue) | – | – | 36 | 10 | If I Should Fall from Grace with God | |
| 1992 | “Honky Tonk Women“ | – | – | 56 | – | Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah |
| 1993 | “Tuesday Morning“ | 11 | – | 18 | 26 | Waiting for Herb |
| “Once Upon a Time“ | – | – | 66 | – | ||
| 2005 | “Fairytale of New York” (re-release) | – | – | 3 | 3 | If I Should Fall from Grace with God |
| 2006 | “Fairytale of New York” (re-entry of re-release) | – | – | 6 | – | |
| 2007 | “Fairytale of New York” (re-entry on downloads alone) | – | – | 4 | 3 | |
| 2008 | “Fairytale of New York” (re-entry on downloads alone) | – | – | 12 | 8 | |
| 2009 | “Fairytale of New York” (re-entry on downloads alone) | – | – | 12 | 13 | |
| 2010 | “Fairytale of New York” (re-entry on downloads alone) | – | – | 17 | – | |
“Vindaloo” is a song by British band Fat Les. The music was written by Blur bassist Alex James and the lyrics were written by comedian Keith Allen. It was released as a single in 1998 and recorded for the 1998 FIFA World Cup. The song was originally written as a parody of football chants, but was adopted as one in its own right and became a cult classic. Much of the song consists of the phrase “nah nah nah” and the word “vindaloo” repeated over and over by a mixed group, occasionally interspersed with lines such as “And we all like vindaloo” and “We’re England; we’re gonna score one more than you”.
The song has brief verses, spoken/sung by Keith Allen (in a voice sounding remarkably similar to that of the late Ian Dury) with a tune that owed much toMax Wall‘s “The Walk” routine.
The song’s name comes from the vindaloo, a type of very spicy Goan curry. It is often eaten by football supporters in the United Kingdom (and other nations) accompanied by large quantities of lager, after matches or as part of a “lads’ night out”.[1]
The song reached number two in the UK Singles Chart in June 1998; it was beaten by “Three Lions ’98” by David Baddiel and Frank Skinner and Lightning Seeds, a re-release of football anthem “Three Lions” from 1996 with slightly altered lyrics. However, there were rumours at the time that — in a re-run of the events in 1977 surrounding the Sex Pistols “God Save The Queen” — those running the chart kept “Vindaloo” off the Number 1 spot on purpose.[citation needed] When the song was performed on Top of the Pops, Professor Colin Pillinger played a drum in the group.[2]
The song sounded a little too much like a “hooligan’s anthem” for some observers, but from the point of view of the BBC (who commission the official UK Music Chart) the band were deliberately waking the ghost of an earlier incident on the BBC TV programme The Late Show. Guest Keith Allen got into an extremely heated row with the panel over his view that comedy was now being hamstrung to appease rules of political correctness. Just before storming off the live broadcast, Allen stormed at an Asian member of the panel that “It’s not a chip you’ve got on your shoulder, it’s a fucking vindaloo!”. He later explained to press reporters that a vindaloo is as faux ethnic (this piece of Goan cuisine actually originated from Portugal) as those who masquerade as self-appointed spokespeople for ethnic minority communities’ rights in order to censor arts and culture according to their own pet prejudices.[citation needed]
The music video for the song is a parody of the video for “Bitter Sweet Symphony” by The Verve, which was itself inspired by the music video for “Unfinished Sympathy” by Massive Attack.[3] The video is recorded in the same street, and features comedian Paul Kaye as a Richard Ashcroft lookalike forcing his way down the street. Unlike the original video, in which Ashcroft is alone, Kaye gradually gathers a large crowd which includes Fat Les members Keith Allen, Alex James, and artist Damien Hirst, further on Rowland Rivron (as the drumming Queens guard), Edward Tudor-Pole, Matt Lucas, David Walliams, a young Lily Allen, and the late Malcolm Hardee, sumo wrestlers, French maids, a French mime artist, a Max Wall lookalike (as Professor Wallofski), a priest, women dressed as girls from St Trinian’s and many others who dance around him, some brandishing bags of curry. By the end, Kaye has joined in celebrating with the rest of the crowd.
The song is used as the opening music at Peter Noone‘s concerts as he takes the stage. It is also used as entrance music for English professional wrestlers Doug Williams and Nigel McGuinness when they team together in Pro Wrestling Noah and various independent promotions.
After The Bodysnatchers broke up, guitarists Stella Barker and Sarah-Jane Owen, saxophonist Miranda Joyce, keyboardist Penny Leyton, and drummer Judy Parsons decided to form a new band, recruiting bass player Lesley Shone and lead vocalist Jennie Matthias (also known as Jenny McKeown and Jenny Bellestar). Their first performance was on Christmas Day, 1980, before they had chosen a name.
Within a short time, the group became well known around London, notably appearing on the front cover of Sounds magazine early in 1981. Shortly thereafter, they were signed by Stiff Records, then highly successful due to its star act, Madness.
The band’s debut single, “Hiawatha” was released in the late spring of 1981, produced by Madness producers Clive Langer & Alan Winstanley. The band promoted the single by playing support for ska acts The Beat and Madness. However, the single failed to chart, despite continuing media attention.
The same production team was responsible for “Slick Trick”, the second single. It too failed to chart. Keyboard player Penny Leyton left the band late in the year, to be replaced on saxophone andkeyboards by Clare Hirst. Leyton later joined The Deltones.
When the third single, the radio friendly “Another Latin Love Song” again failed to break into the charts, the band tried cover versions instead, with some success. “Iko Iko“, a cover of The Dixie Cups‘ 1965 hit (later featured in the 1988 movie Rain Man), was The Belle Stars’ long-hoped-for UK Singles Chart debut, peaking at a modest number 35 in June 1982. The Belle Stars furthered this with “The Clapping Song” (their first top 20 hit), a remake of the 1965 Shirley Ellis hit, and then “Mockingbird”, a hit for Inez and Charlie Foxx in 1969 and James Taylor and Carly Simon in 1974.
In January 1983 the Belle Stars released what would be their signature single, “Sign of the Times”, peaking at number three, and a chart success throughout Europe. The song’s music video, showing the Belle Stars in tuxedos, was also played frequently by MTV in the United States. The song went on to become the 30th best selling single of 1983 in the UK.
It was followed a month later by the band’s eponymous debut album, which reached number 15 on the UK Albums Chart.[1] As with the band’s singles, it was a mix of original songs and cover versions, including Bob and Earl‘s “Harlem Shuffle” (covered three years later by the Rolling Stones on Dirty Work) and Al Wilson‘s “The Snake”.
However, “Sign of the Times” proved to be the peak of the band’s success. Each follow-up single was less successful than its predecessor: “Sweet Memory”, reached number 22 in the charts in April 1983; “Indian Summer” number 52 in August; whilst “The Entertainer” did not chart. It took another year before the band had a minor hit, “80’s Romance”, which made number 71 in August 1984 before it dropped out after a week.[1] Despite this, the band continued to tour throughout Europe. However, the lack of success took its toll, and McKeown left the band, followed by others, until the band was down to Owen, Joyce, and Shone.
By 1984, Stiff Records was ailing, and it merged with Island Records; in July 1985 it was liquidated and bought by ZTT, the label owned by the husband and wife team of producer Trevor Horn and Jill Sinclair. Under Horn’s supervision, the three remaining members recorded a new Belle Stars album with the 4th & Broadway production team in New York City. However, the only tracks to be released were the single “World Domination”, a flop in Britain but peaked at number two for two weeks on the Billboard Dancefloor charts in the U.S.[2] Following this release the band broke up.
However, in 1989, the Belle Stars finally had a big U.S. chart hit, when “Iko Iko” reached number 14 on the Billboard Top 100 in March, after it was included on the soundtrack of the film Rain Man, starring Tom Cruise and Dustin Hoffman. The song had been a favourite of Hoffman’s. Matthias toured the U.S. to promote the song.
Leyton went on to join the all girl ska band The Deltones in 1984, and they released an album on Unicorn Records in 1989. Matthias has recently guested on the 1973 and Decadent albums by Skaville UK, and has more recently formed a new ska band with Lee Thompson from Madness called The Dance Brigade, and is currently performing in her new band 1-Stop-Experience, with Skip McDonald, Paget King and Chico Chigas.
OUR TONGUE IN CHEEK, BIT OF HARMLESS FUN – STARS BEHIND BRA’S AT LITTLEDEAN JAIL CONTINUES TO GROW WITH THE ADDITION OF THESE ITEMS !!!! MORE TO FOLLOW…………. COME ON YOU CELEBS KEEP THEM COMING
LARGE ,MEDIUM OR SMALL SIZE DOES NOT MATTER HERE !!!!!!!!
SINCERE THANKS JENNIE FOR HAVING KINDLY CONTRIBUTED ONE OF YOUR 1980’S WELL WORN ON STAGE POLKA DOT BRA’S AND WONDERFUL EARLY PHOTOGRAPH OF YOURSELF WITH THE BAND.
GREATLY APPRECIATED AND WELCOME ADDITION TO OUR IMMORTALISED STARS BEHIND BRAS EXHIBITION HERE AT THE JAIL.
JENNIE BELLESTAR’S POLKA DOT BRA COMPLETE WITH SIGNATURE AND DOODLE DRAWING
A VERY EARLY BELLE STARS SIGNED PUBLICITY PHOTO INSCRIBED TO LITTLEDEAN JAIL SENT WITH BRA AND LETTER
JENNIE BELLESTAR’S POLKA DOT BRA COMPLETE WITH SIGNATURE AND DOODLE DRAWING
NOTE SENT WITH BRA AND PHOTO
AS ABOVE
CLOSE UP OF JENNIE BELLESTAR’S POLKA DOT BRA COMPLETE WITH SIGNATURE AND DOODLE DRAWING
JENNIE PERFORMING WITH THE BELLE STARS IN EARLY 1980’S
SCREEN GRAB PIC FROM THE OFFICIAL IKO IKO VIDEO ….ALSO FEATURED IN THE GREAT CLASSIC FILM – RAINMAN
PICTURE DISK FOR THE CLASSIC HIT IKO IKO
SINGLE COVER FOR CLASSIC BELLE STAR HIT IKO IKO
JENNIE BELLESTAR PICTURED HEREON PHOTO SHOOT AT LITTLEDEAN JAIL ON THE BACK OF THE ACE FACE QUADROPHENIA SCOOTER ALONGSIDE LEE THOMPSON OF MADNESS
After The Bodysnatchers broke up, guitarists Stella Barker and Sarah-Jane Owen, saxophonist Miranda Joyce, keyboardist Penny Leyton, and drummer Judy Parsons decided to form a new band, recruiting bass player Lesley Shone and lead vocalist Jennie Matthias (also known as Jenny McKeown and Jenny Bellestar). Their first performance was on Christmas Day, 1980, before they had chosen a name.
Within a short time, the group became well known around London, notably appearing on the front cover of Sounds magazine early in 1981. Shortly thereafter, they were signed by Stiff Records, then highly successful due to its star act, Madness.
The band’s debut single, “Hiawatha” was released in the late spring of 1981, produced by Madness producers Clive Langer & Alan Winstanley. The band promoted the single by playing support for ska acts The Beat and Madness. However, the single failed to chart, despite continuing media attention.
The same production team was responsible for “Slick Trick”, the second single. It too failed to chart. Keyboard player Penny Leyton left the band late in the year, to be replaced on saxophone andkeyboards by Clare Hirst. Leyton later joined The Deltones.
When the third single, the radio friendly “Another Latin Love Song” again failed to break into the charts, the band tried cover versions instead, with some success. “Iko Iko“, a cover of The Dixie Cups‘ 1965 hit (later featured in the 1988 movie Rain Man), was The Belle Stars’ long-hoped-for UK Singles Chart debut, peaking at a modest number 35 in June 1982. The Belle Stars furthered this with “The Clapping Song” (their first top 20 hit), a remake of the 1965 Shirley Ellis hit, and then “Mockingbird”, a hit for Inez and Charlie Foxx in 1969 and James Taylor and Carly Simon in 1974.
In January 1983 the Belle Stars released what would be their signature single, “Sign of the Times”, peaking at number three, and a chart success throughout Europe. The song’s music video, showing the Belle Stars in tuxedos, was also played frequently by MTV in the United States. The song went on to become the 30th best selling single of 1983 in the UK.
It was followed a month later by the band’s eponymous debut album, which reached number 15 on the UK Albums Chart.[1] As with the band’s singles, it was a mix of original songs and cover versions, including Bob and Earl‘s “Harlem Shuffle” (covered three years later by the Rolling Stones on Dirty Work) and Al Wilson‘s “The Snake”.
However, “Sign of the Times” proved to be the peak of the band’s success. Each follow-up single was less successful than its predecessor: “Sweet Memory”, reached number 22 in the charts in April 1983; “Indian Summer” number 52 in August; whilst “The Entertainer” did not chart. It took another year before the band had a minor hit, “80’s Romance”, which made number 71 in August 1984 before it dropped out after a week.[1] Despite this, the band continued to tour throughout Europe. However, the lack of success took its toll, and McKeown left the band, followed by others, until the band was down to Owen, Joyce, and Shone.
By 1984, Stiff Records was ailing, and it merged with Island Records; in July 1985 it was liquidated and bought by ZTT, the label owned by the husband and wife team of producer Trevor Horn and Jill Sinclair. Under Horn’s supervision, the three remaining members recorded a new Belle Stars album with the 4th & Broadway production team in New York City. However, the only tracks to be released were the single “World Domination”, a flop in Britain but peaked at number two for two weeks on the Billboard Dancefloor charts in the U.S.[2] Following this release the band broke up.
However, in 1989, the Belle Stars finally had a big U.S. chart hit, when “Iko Iko” reached number 14 on the Billboard Top 100 in March, after it was included on the soundtrack of the film Rain Man, starring Tom Cruise and Dustin Hoffman. The song had been a favourite of Hoffman’s. Matthias toured the U.S. to promote the song.
Leyton went on to join the all girl ska band The Deltones in 1984, and they released an album on Unicorn Records in 1989. Matthias has recently guested on the 1973 and Decadent albums by Skaville UK, and has more recently formed a new ska band with Lee Thompson from Madness called The Dance Brigade, and is currently performing in her new band 1-Stop-Experience, with Skip McDonald, Paget King and Chico Chigas.
LAST EDITION OF THE NEWS OF THE WORLD PUBLISHED JULY 10TH 2011
GREAT SLAP FROM RUPERT MURDOCH’S WIFE IN THE PROTESTER’S FACE AT THE INQUIRY HEARING -WHILST PROTECTING HER HUSBAND 19TH JULY 2011
RUPERT MURDOCH PICTURED AT THE SAME INQUIRY
WENDI DENG ,WIFE OF RUPERT MURDOCH LEAPS INTO ACTION TO DEFEND HER HUSBAND FROM PROTESTER’S FOAM PIE ATTACK , 19TH JULY 2011
WENDI DENG PICTURED BEHIND HUSBAND AND STEPSON SHORTLY BEFORE FOAM PIE ATTACK ON HER HUSBAND AT THE INQUIRY
HOW THE DAILY EXPRESS REPORTED THE ATTACK
PAUL BURRELL FOUND NOT GUILTY OF THEFT FROM ROYAL HOUSEHOLD IN 2002
PAUL BURRELL’S CLASSIC BUSH-TUCKER CHALLENGE IN 2004’S I’M A CELEBRITY GET ME OUT OF HERE !!!
AS PER WIKIPEDIA ……
Paul Burrell, RVM (born 6 June 1958) is a former servant of the British Royal Household. He was a footman for Queen Elizabeth II and later butler to Diana, Princess of Wales. Since that time, approximately 1997, Burrell has from time to time featured in the media, sometimes prominently, in connection with Diana, and since 2004 as an occasional entertainment show celebrity.
Burrell was awarded the Royal Victorian Medal in November 1997 for services to the Royal Family.[1]
Burrell is married to Maria Cosgrove, who formerly worked for Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh. The pair met at while working In Buckingham Palace together. They have two sons, Alexander and Nicholas. When they married in 1983, established precedent dictated that one of them would have to give up their job with the Royal Family, but Queen Elizabeth II made an exception for them, allowing both to remain in Royal service. This situation earned them a measure of fame at the time. Burrell is a fan of Wrexham Football Club.[2]
Paul Burrell grew up in Grassmoor, Derbyshire, a coal-mining community in England’s Midlands. His father was a lorry driver and it was initially assumed that Burrell would go to work in the localcolliery, but had decided aged eight years that he wanted to work at Buckingham Palace after a trip to London with his family, where he witnessed the Changing of the Guard.[3] He attended William Rhodes Secondary School in Chesterfield and left, aged 16, with six O-Levels before attending High Peak College in Buxton where he studied hotel management.[3]
Burrell entered Royal Service at age 18, as a Buckingham Palace footman, becoming the Queen’s personal footman a year later. He was nicknamed “Small Paul”, to distinguish him from a taller footman, who was known as “Tall Paul”[3] According to his autobiography, he had received a simultaneous job offer from cruise line Cunard but his mother had burned it because “He’ll chuff off on that boat and we’ll never see him again”.[3] In 1987 Burrell joined the household of heir to the throne Charles and Diana at Highgrove House in Gloucestershire, where he acted as butler to the princess until her death in August 1997.[3] He was awarded the Royal Victorian Medal in November 1997 for services to the Royal Family.
Since the death of Diana, Princess of Wales, and the ten-year gradual unfolding of the matter leading to a Coroner’s Court in 2007-2008, Burrell has been routinely mentioned in the context of Diana, and has gained a measure of renown in the media. At times the coverage has been adverse, for example in a 2002 case where he was charged with theft related to Diana’s possessions. The trial collapsed after evidence was given that the Queen had spoken with him regarding disputed events, and a Public Interest Immunity (PII) certificate was presented by the Crown Prosecution Service on the basis that disclosure of certain information would be harmful to the public interest.[4] The aftermath of the collapse of the trial led to the Burrell affair.
In January 2008 Burrell appeared as a witness at the inquest into the death of Diana. Burrell said that he had approached a Catholic priest about a private marriage between Diana and the heart surgeon Dr Hasnat Khan,[5] and he rubbished rumours that Diana was about to announce her engagement to Dodi Fayed.[5] He was also questioned about a letter to him from Diana in October 1993, in which she said her husband was planning to have her killed to make the path clear for him to marry Tiggy Legge-Bourke.[6][7] The coroner dismissed notions of a “secret” that Burrell knew about Diana that he swore he “would never reveal”, as detailed at the end of his book, A Royal Duty.[5] A number of other matters were discussed in relation to this case, many alleged and not proven. These included allegations of perjury at the coroners court,[8][9][10][11] and allegations regarding his personal life.[12][13] Burrell stated he would not return to court for fear of being embarrassed and humiliated by the possible questioning.
On 18 February 2008 The Sun newspaper reported that Burrell had admitted, on tape, that he had not told “the whole truth” during his appearance at the Diana inquest, he also said he had thrown in a “few red herrings”. Some reports suggested that Burrell could be charged with perjury.[14][15][16] The Sun newspaper said it was turning the tape over to the court on 19 February 2008.[17]
Burrell now has a flower shop inFarndon, Cheshire.
In 2003, Burrell released his autobiographical book, A Royal Duty, which follows his career as a member of the Royal Family’s staff, deals in detail with his time as butler to the Prince and Princess of Wales at their home at Highgrove House in Gloucestershire, his move to Diana’s staff at Kensington Palace after her divorce from Prince Charles, and his acquittal on serious theft charges against him. The book was an international bestseller, and was updated in a paperback edition in 2004.
Also in 2004, he placed as runner up in the ITV reality TV show, I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here!. He also had arguments reported related to his discussions with journalist Janet Street-Porter, regarding his predilection for talking about the British Royal Family.
In 2005, Burrell became a judge and trainer on Australian Princess, and in March 2006, appeared on Countdown in Dictionary Corner. In early 2006, he appeared as Richard Gere on ITV’s Celebrity Stars in their Eyes, singing “Razzle Dazzle” from Chicago, the film version of the Broadway musical. In September 2006 he appeared on Channel Five‘s Trust Me – I’m A Holiday Rep, joining as a substitute for Samantha Rowley. In 2007, he began promotingRoyal Butler wine, an “affordable luxury” brand then selling for £6 per bottle.
Burrell said at the launch:
I wouldn’t give my princess just anything, and I won’t give American ladies just anything either.
According to his autobiography, Burrell holds the following awards or recognitions:
Should this be censored here in the UK ?
Should the legacy of Lady Diana be revisited in this way?
Surely it is insensitive to subject her children and family to these further conspiiracy revelations?
A controversial documentary on the death of Diana – who would have been 50 on Friday – will be launched in Ireland next week. In Britain, it is banned and its director Keith Allen asks: What are they so afraid of?
Sunday, 26 June 2011
Diana and Dodi Fayed at the Ritz, Paris, on the night they died
Near the beginning of Unlawful Killing, I show a clip of Princess Diana (who would have been 50 on Friday) speaking less than two years before her untimely death. Well aware that sections of the British establishment had begun to despise her (following her separation from Prince Charles) and wanted her to disappear from public life, she summarised her plight in two pithy phrases: “She won’t go quietly – that’s the problem.”
My film about the inquest into her death won’t go quietly either, despite the best efforts of sections of the British press to stifle it at birth. That’s not surprising, because journalists widely regarded the 2007-08 inquest as a complete waste of time and money, so it was inevitable that many of them would also dismiss my documentary, which was screened twice at the Cannes Film Festival in May.
Yet what those screenings revealed was a yawning chasm between the perceptions of the press (several of whom did not actually see the film before writing about it) and those of the audiences who did attend. Because while the former were overwhelmingly hostile, the latter were overwhelmingly favourable, and were persuaded by the evidence that I and my production team have assembled that there was something extremely fishy about what happened in the Alma tunnel in 1997 and in the Royal Courts of Justice a decade later.
For the record, both Cannes screenings were packed from start to finish, as was an earlier test screening in Los Angeles (conducted by Nielsen NRG), and audience comments taken afterwards were almost uniformly positive. In the weeks since Cannes, the film has sold to a dozen territories worldwide, with negotiations in a further 20 still in full swing.
The veteran US investigative author and lawyer Mark Lane (who first exposed the cover-up surrounding the assassination of JFK) has endorsed the central findings of my documentary. And on 6 July, it will receive its first full public screening as a highlight of the Galway Film Festival (with many more festivals also eager to show it).
So why did much of the British press report that bored audiences walked out during the screenings at Cannes, when that was demonstrably untrue (and was flatly contradicted by the enthusiastic vox pops which were recorded outside the cinema by Reuters TV)? Why did they pretend that I had tried to conceal the financial backing I had received from Mohamed al-Fayed (whose son Dodi also died in the Alma crash), when I had written lengthy articles in The Guardian and the Daily Mail during the previous week, explaining in great detail precisely how (and by whom) the film had been funded? Why did many of them claim that I had displayed a “shocking” photograph of Diana in her death throes, when no such photograph was ever included?
Why did they claim that there was nothing new in the film, when this is the first ever reconstruction and analysis of the longest inquest in British legal history? And when (to take just one of many examples) it highlights the apparent discrepancy between evidence given under oath by Sir Robert Fellowes (the Queen’s private secretary and Diana’s brother-in-law), who said he was on holiday during the period before and after Diana’s death, and entries in the newly published diaries of Alastair Campbell which suggest that he was overseeing Diana’s funeral arrangements?
And why, three years on, is most of the UK press still unwilling to accept the verdict of the inquest jury, which decided that the Alma tunnel crash was not an accident but an “unlawful killing” (the coroner having denied them the option of “murder”), and that unidentified “following vehicles” (not the paparazzi, as was incorrectly reported) had been a principal cause?
What the British press writes does not greatly matter, because over the next few months, people all around the world will have the chance to see the film, and to form their own judgements. Everywhere except Britain, that is, because as things stand, I am legally prevented from screening the film in the UK.
That’s not primarily because of fears about libel, as has been suggested by some journalists (although much of the information that we have unearthed about Prince Philip will shock many viewers), but because my film has been deemed by lawyers to be in contempt of court, since it openly questions the impartiality of a coroner who had sworn an oath of allegiance to the Queen, yet was sitting in the Royal Courts of Justice, presiding over a case that involved the monarchy.
Furthermore, it dares to look at why he repeatedly refused to call senior members of the royal family to the inquest, despite Diana having written a sworn note explicitly stating that her husband was planning an “accident” to her car (a note, incidentally, which the Metropolitan Police did not reveal to the press and public for six years, or the French police who first investigated the crash). Saying this explicitly is, it seems, against the law.
This isn’t just a whinge from a thin-skinned director, piqued by a handful of negative reviews. We are living in a time when oppressive judges routinely prevent the British press from publishing information of genuine public interest, and my film has fallen foul of that same authoritarian repression.
Whatever journalists may think about Diana’s death, surely they should always be in favour of the disclosure of information. That way, the British public can decide for itself whether Diana was simply the victim of a drunk driver (as most of the UK press insist was the case), or whether (as is my contention) the inquest was a shameless establishment cover-up, a modern-day version of the notorious Dreyfus case, in which the British press has (until now) played a shameful and obsequious supporting role.
Either way, my film – like Diana – will not go quietly.
THE CRIME THROUGH TIME COLLECTION .... HERE AT LITTLEDEAN JAIL, FOREST OF DEAN , GLOUCESTERSHIRE, UK 