The Fun Boy Three -
a very talented collection of performers from the early 1980's
After leaving Ska band the Specials, Terry Hall along with Specials Lynval Golding and Neville Staple formed the Fun Boy Three. Augmented by six female musicains, they produced some notable hits and propelled Bananarama to fame in their own right.
Back in about early 1983, the British Pop music scene was changing - the energy thrash of punk had given way. Things were changing in the political world and being redefined after the shock of safety pins and anarchy.
Rockabilly was making a comeback, in some cases with Cod 'in the style of groups', fresh sounds of performers such as Elvis Costello, the Jam and the New Romantics movement filled the void where the musical nihilism of punk had finally bitten the dust.
Ska became a new musical flavour the Specials fronted by Terry Hall were at the forefront of this new sound. I say new sound, Ska had been around earlier but this was new, multi racial groups like the Specials and the Selector were now bringing this music to a new audience.
They probably did more for racial harmony, no pun intended than any political comment. Their audience was everything from the skin head, the young black, the young white, the Mod - the difference here was that they could all come together at a ska performance and no one got hurt or insulted.
Adopting a more commercial sound were those nutty boys from Camden, Madness to those of us back then were still charting as were a few other groups of the genre like Bad Manners. Like the Specials, they recorded the back catalogues of Ska classics from artists like Prince Buster and Dandy Livingstone.
I found Ska was a great sound, I found Reggae boring and ponderous, but Ska had a great energy, it was great music and it has endured.
Groups on the other side of the musical coin like the Police, Depeche Mode, Spandau Ballet and Duran Duran were bringing new sounds and dynamics to the scene, producing great material that was selling singles by the bucket load in those pre-internet days mainly using synths and new musical technology to get their unique sounds.
The Fun Boy Three emerged from the ashes of the Specials and suddenly launched into the pop charts with some notable singles. But this was no ordinary pop band, performances on music shows of the day like the old grey whistle test, Top of the pops, Razamatazz and the Tube showcased the band to the greater population.
Immediately they seemed very much of the moment and musically different. Things were changing generally in Britain back them, the dismal days of the 1979 winter of discontent were fading. Britain was going forward again. There seemed to a new optimism and in some quarters, money about again and the pop video was becoming a major marketing and sales tool and the FB3 fell right on their feet by producing some great videos.
The FB3 as I said were something different, their most notable songs from the time were the singles The Tunnel of love and Our lips are sealed. I heard Tunnel of Love on top of the pops and it immediately stood out for a number of reasons and I knew it was going to be a hit.
A lady named June Miles-Kingston was on drums who would later go onto work with the Communards, but take a look around at the rest of the band and the 6 musicians behind the FB3's Hall, Golding and Staple were all women. In those days, all girl groups were rare, rarer were all girl groups who played instruments and could really play them. And they could. It is a shame that this musical entity did not go onto produce more music.
With Caroline Lavelle on Cello, a rare instrument for pop excepting forays by ELO, Annie Whitehead on Trombone, Bethan Peters on Bass, Nicky Holland on Keyboards (and arrangements) and Ingrid Schroeder vocals and keyboards, this provided a solid base to the group. There had been nothing like this musical shopping list before.
There was no shortage of musical talent here, they were all extremely competent players, a video for the whistle test filmed at the Regal Theatre Hitchin in 1983 of the band playing live demonstrates just how good they were live.
No second chances here, plus the sound crew did a great job with the levels, the video looks a bit grainy now but the quality of the performance is there even over thirty five years later. And the music is first class. Watch June on Our lips are sealed watching Terry Hall for the vocal cues. The band is really together on everything.
When you look at the pedigree of the players, most if not all are still performing today and have enjoyed enduring careers in what is sometimes a difficult business. That says a lot.
The FB3 are mostly associated with probably two songs from their catalogue, or at least these are the ones you hear on the radio most:
Tunnel of love - as a song is dramatic, a descending figure theme marks out the whole song a bit like Waterloo Sunset, but in this case the chorus continues the descending theme rather cleverly. It has drama and an urgency about it and that's just the music. Dig into the lyrics and it moves into quite mature territory for pop songs of the time.
None of your throwaway 3 minutes of fast food Hamburger pop pap here, but something darker and a bit more gamey like a piece of Venison. Sometimes musicians sound good in their own right, but together on this track, that rare and magical thing occurs. This a quality song that has endured because it is just quality.
You know a hit when you hear one. This has that quality. Its that thing you get where you have great musicians who sound great together, great musicians that can work together and produce great work.
All the musical elements in this track are there, the intelligent use of the instruments, the arrangements, the way they are played and the solid base for the singer are here and working. The first time I heard this I knew it was going to be a hit, when I saw it played live, I was amazed. It had star quality written all over it.
This song charted about the same time I started writing my own material and songs like this were obvious templates of how to construct and create what I call 'interesting' music, to learn from.
Our lips are sealed is the other track to feature on airplays frequently since it was recorded. A Terry Hall composition with Go-Go's singer Jane Wiedelin from 1981, it was covered by the Go-Go's and later by the FB3.
The Go-Go's version is a more poppy rendition of it, whereas the FB3's is more meaty and dark. It has been played live on TV shows around the time it was released and still continues to get airplay. The songs lyrics allude to darker issues than many songs, something Terry Hall has revealed in more recent times.
The FB3 were no one or two hit wonders by any means, they produced albums and did a US tour before Terry Hall disbanded the set up and went on to form the unfortunately short lived Colourfield pop concept. Good pop bands don't stand still, they develop and evolve.
'Thinking of you' the Colourfield's best known hit is still played today and then Terry Hall just seemed to disappear from view, although he did go on to work with artists like David A. Stewart of Eurythmics and Ian Brodie.
The track is very much a unique song, it does not fit any conventional box and like Tunnel of Love, it really has some clever composition.
The highlight of the FB3 for me is that their brief musical career really did produce some outstanding music. But the fact you have highly talented musicians isn't any guarantee of this working. I know from my own experience playing in bands since 1980 that 'best' doesn't always work.
Its a question of finding players that fit, players that can work. Pop music unfortunately for its creative side does sometimes bring out the ego problems. A good band that leaves the ego outside the venue is going to work. Having played in bands for a long while, you just know if there is something amiss. Sometimes you just have to leave and start with something new. Sometimes you just get a collection of people that just integrate and fit, then it is a pleasure to perform.
Pop music over the last 60 years has produced some great music, artists and some real rubbish. But just once in a while a group comes along with a great signature sound. The FB3 was one of those. Sadly it was a fairly short lived affair, but then again, maybe the best things are brief and only have a limited shelf life before they go sour or stale, worse still carry on the same old stodgy formulaic type of material for years. Groups like the Police only had about three good years and then folded, but they left a great musical legacy still played today on the radio.
The FB3 are really worth checking out, its just a shame that we can't see this line-up again with some new material. But then again, music can be a bit like a Venn diagram, where at a certain point, certain people intersect and make good music. Then it moves on.
Terry Hall didn't let the grass grow under his feet. And then there were 3 again. And then the Specials reformed.
Sadly we recently learned that Terry had died after a short illness, however, he had a recent resurgence of live performance and good music never fades. We have a good musical legacy of Terry's work with various groups to enjoy.
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