Dollar (band)

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Dollar were a boy/girl pop duo from the UK who enjoyed their biggest hits between 1978-1983. The band were Thereza Bazar and David Van Day,who met and became a couple when they were seventeen in the cabaret act Guys n' Dolls.The act had enjoyed some chart success in the mid seventies but work was becoming harder to find as the music scene was changing. When the group got wind of David's intention to record a solo single they sacked Thereza and David quickly followed.

That first single,"Shooting Star" was released in late 1978 and after a slow climb reached number 14 in the UK charts.The follow up single "Who Were You With In The Moonlight" was released in early 1979, a lush mid-tempo song it also reached number 14 selling 250,000 copies. Thereza took centre stage vocally on their third single,the soft focus balland "Love's Gotta Hold On Me" it was to become their first top ten hit and one of their best selling singles reaching number 4 in the UK in having another long chart run. It was originally intended to feature David on lead vocals, but the recording didn't work and instead Thereza sang the lead. In a change of pace the band released a cover of the classic Beatles song "I Want To Hold Your Hand", a somewhat brave move which they carried off with great vocals and a heavy beat. It reached number 9. By the autumn of 1979 the band had enjoyed considerable success and were media favourites with a colourful, accessible image. However it was not to last. Their producer Christopher Neil was busy with a new star, Sheena Easton, and their career took a tumble when they took over the production themselves and released the "Paris Collection" album. After a series of flop singles it almost looked as if their career was over until Thereza approached Trevor Horn, whom she had met during her days in Guys and Dolls, and asked if he would work with them

He agreed. Trevor Horn produced their 1981 and 1982 material and, through Dollar, introduced sampling to a wider audience; notably, Bazar's voice got the multi-sampling treatment. Horn also extensively used Fairlight CMI samples and other then-new technologies. Trevor enjoyed experimenting by skillfully layering sounds and developing a rich, original quality to his productions. One such example is a special version of Dollar's hit "Give Me Back My Heart", which fans call "Tinkles Heart"! Unreleased, but played on Radio One at the time, it features extra production elements and is now much sought after by die-hard fans (though apparently unavailable). Indeed, for many lovers of pop music, these Horn produced singles represent the high point in the band's career - the four singles all enjoyed long chart runs and were considered mini-pop classics. They typified the light pop sound at the time and some considered the duo to be rivals in the UK charts to Bucks Fizz. Trevor Horn gave the band a sophiscated edge which has endured over the years. During this time Dollar were very much part of the UK's pop royalty enjoying chart success and much media coverage, not least for their on/off relationship.

Dollar had an acrimonious split in early 1983, in many ways the victims of their own success. The production talent of Trevor Horn was obvious and quickly brought him to the attention of other bands notably ABC and it wasn't long before he was too busy to continue working with the duo. Left to their own devices they couldn't match the production highs of Horn and their last hit during that period was the pleasant if not very exciting "Give Me Some Kinda Magic" - a top forty hit written and produced by themselves and the lead-in single to their final studio album The Dollar Album, a mixture of Horn's genius and the duo's own efforts.

David still dreamed of being a solo star and when they split during a trip to Japan he forged ahead on his own. "Young Americans Talking" was to be his first solo single and was unlucky to stall just outside the UK top forty,in a twist of fate it was written and produced by the people behind Bucks Fizz the duo's one time rivals.Meanwhile Thereza recorded an album with the legendary producer Arif Mardin, "The Big Kiss".

But neither one of them enjoyed the same kind of success as solo artists as they had as Dollar, although Thereza's "Biss Kiss" was a valiant attempt to do so. In 1986 they reformed and released the single "We Walked in Love", and later the UK top ten hit "Oh L'amour", a cover of an Erasure song, in 1988.

Their last single was "It's Nature's Way" in late 1988 before they disbanded again. In 2002 they took part in the "Hear And Now" tour which brought togther a host of 80's pop stars for an trip down memory lane. They followed this up by appearing on the reality television show Reborn in the USA in early 2003. This turned out to be what many consider an embarrassing mistake during which the duo ended up at war with singer Sonya, Thereza appeared on national television in tears over a petty spat and t hey were out in the first round. Undeterred and unwilling to throw in the towel, Dollar later made another live appearance in 2004 in a show celebrating the career of Trevor Horn.

Dollar were unusual in many ways, they often wrote and produced their own material,and they weren't afraid of taking chances (Trevor Horn). Sometimes these backfired. however, they had a knack for success when you might have expected them to fail; in a career that spanned ten years in the UK charts and over ten million records sold world wide they still have an army of fans to this day.