Shakespears Sister
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| Shakespears Sister | |
|---|---|
 Marcella Detroit and Siobhan Fahey in a promotional photograph for the album Hormonally Yours. |
|
| Origin | London, England |
| Years active | 1988 – 1996 |
| Genres | Rock Synthpop |
| Labels | London Records |
| Members | Siobhan Fahey |
| Past members | Marcella Detroit |
Shakespears Sister was a band formed by Irish born former Bananarama singer/songwriter Siobhan Fahey and American musician Marcella Detroit. The band formed in 1988, the same year that Fahey left Bananarama. The name is taken from the title of the song "Shakespeare's Sister" by The Smiths, which in turn refers to a section of Virginia Woolf's feminist essay A Room of One's Own in which Woolf argues that had William Shakespeare a sister of equal genius, as a woman she would not have had the opportunity to make use of it.
Contents |
[edit] History
Shakespears Sister released two albums as a duo, Sacred Heart and Hormonally Yours.
The band's single "Stay" is their best known work, achieving number one in both the UK (for eight weeks, one of the longest in chart history) and Ireland singles charts. It was their highest entry in the UK charts, being the only time they entered the top five. The single also became their biggest U.S. hit, reaching number four on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1992. The accompanying music video was also a hit, if somewhat controversial. In it, Fahey fights over the fate of a dying man in an allegory of life and death that mirrored her own internal struggles. The imagery in the video was seen as a depiction of witchcraft/raising the dead so was banned in Germany, heightening the track's profile.
After a year-long worldwide tour through 1992 Fahey cancelled further European touring due to physical and emotional exhaustion and, subsequently admitted herself into a psychiatric unit with severe depression.
In 1993 one of Fahey's favourite songs "My 16th Apology" was released as a single, to moderate success. Soon after that, at the 1993 Ivor Novello awards Fahey announced the split with Marcella Detroit. They haven't spoken since then.
Shakespears Sister carried on with Fahey solely, and in 1994 she released the songs "Prehistoric Daze" for The Flintstones soundtrack, and "Waiting" for the Sadie Frost/Jude Law film Shopping.
In 1996 Fahey resurfaced again as Shakespears Sister with the single "I Can Drive", a single picked by the record company instead of Fahey's choice of the arguably superior "Do I Scare You". After the single charted at number thirty and London Records refused to release the full album, Fahey insisted upon being dropped from the label, leaving the album unreleased.[citation needed]
In 2003, Fahey regained the master tapes from those sessions. #3, recorded in 1995-1997 , was finally given an independent release in 2004 on Siobhan's own record label, SF Records.
A greatest hits CD/DVD retrospective (The Best of Shakespears Sister) was also released in 2004, containing all of the group's singles and music videos, as well as tracks intended for the #3 album. An additional compilation album, Long Live the Queens!, featuring a tracklisting of remixes and b-sides, was released in late 2005.
A recurrent theme of many of the early Shakespears Sister songs involve departure ("You're History", "Goodbye Cruel World") and blame ("You Made Me Come to This", "I Don't Care"). In interviews, Bananarama members Sara Dallin and Keren Woodward have alluded to these songs being about them.
[edit] Discography
[edit] Albums
| Year | Album cover | Album | UK | U.S. | AUS | Additional information |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1989 |  |
Sacred Heart | 9 | - | 22 | Debut album |
| 1992 |  |
Hormonally Yours | 3 | 56 | 20 | |
| 2004 |  |
#3 | - | - | - | Solo album by Siobhan Fahey recorded 1995-1997, released independently in 2004 |
| 2004 |  |
The Best of Shakespears Sister | - | - | - | CD/DVD hits compilation album, contains all of the band's music videos |
| 2005 |  |
Long Live the Queens! | - | - | - | B-sides, remixes and rarities compilation album |
[edit] Singles
| Year | Song | UK singles | U.S. Hot 100 | AUS | NZ | Album |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1988 | "Break My Heart (You Really)" / "Heroine" | - | - | - | - | Sacred Heart |
| 1989 | "Heroine" (U.S. and Canada only) | - | - | - | - | Sacred Heart |
| 1989 | "You're History" | 7 | - | 20 | 28 | Sacred Heart |
| 1989 | "Run Silent" | 54 | - | 47 | - | Sacred Heart |
| 1990 | "Dirty Mind" | 71 | - | 65 | - | Sacred Heart |
| 1991 | "Goodbye Cruel World" | 59 | - | - | - | Hormonally Yours |
| 1992 | "Stay" | 1 | 4 | 3 | 5 | Hormonally Yours |
| 1992 | "I Don't Care" | 7 | 55 | 18 | 11 | Hormonally Yours |
| 1992 | "Goodbye Cruel World" (reissue) | 32 | - | - | - | Hormonally Yours |
| 1992 | "Hello (Turn Your Radio On)" | 14 | - | 97 | 43 | Hormonally Yours |
| 1993 | "My 16th Apology" | 61 | - | - | - | Hormonally Yours |
| 1996 | "I Can Drive" | 30 | - | - | - | #3 |
