Fun Boy Three

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Fun Boy Three
Terry Hall (left), Neville Staple (centre) and Lynval Golding (right)
Background information
Genres	New Wave
Years active	1981-1983
Labels	Chrysalis
Associated acts	The Specials, The Colourfield, Bananarama
Former members
Terry Hall Lynval Golding Neville Staple

Fun Boy Three were a short-lived but successful English band which ran from 1981 to 1983 and was formed by singers Terry Hall, Neville Staple and Lynval Golding after they left The Specials.

Contents 1 History 2 Discography 2.1 Albums 2.2 Singles 2.3 Compilations 3 References 4 External links

[edit] History

They dispensed with the darker, moody sound and demeanour which they and Jerry Dammers had crafted with great success in the ska revival of the late 1970s and went into a much brighter, poppier phase with this new band, though maintaining savagery and wit within the lyrics and Hall's wholly expressionless persona.^{[citation needed]}

Together, they set about making music which covered a variety of genres. The band enjoyed six UK Top 20 hits, including "The Lunatics (Have Taken Over the Asylum)" and "Tunnel of Love" and created two albums of which the eponymous Fun Boy Three was the most successful.

The trio's last UK hit was "Our Lips Are Sealed" from the album Waiting, co-written by Terry Hall and Jane Wiedlin of The Go-Go's, who had scored a U.S. hit with the song a year earlier. They then toured the United States and split afterwards.

They were also credited with helping launch the career in 1982 of Bananarama, whom Hall first saw in The Face magazine. The three women provided credited chorus vocals on the hit "T'ain't What You Do (It's the Way That You Do It)"; the Fun Boy Three later sang on the Bananarama song "Really Saying Something".

[edit] Discography

[edit] Albums

Year	Album details	Chart positions			Certifications (sales thresholds)
		U.K. [1][2]	N.Z. [3]	U.S.
1982	Fun Boy Three Released: March 1982 Label: Chrysalis Records	7	17	–	UK: Gold [4]
1983	Waiting Released: February 1983 Label: Chrysalis	14	11	104
"–" denotes releases that did not chart or were not released in that territory.

[edit] Singles

Year	Title	Album	Chart positions
			U.K. [1][2]	AUS	IRL [5]	N.Z. [3]	U.S. Club Play
1981	"The Lunatics (Have Taken Over the Asylum)"	Fun Boy Three	20	–	28	46	–
1982	"It Ain't What You Do...." (Fun Boy Three with Bananarama)		4[6]	55	5	37	49
	"Really Saying Something" (Bananarama with Fun Boy Three)	Deep Sea Skiving (Bananarama album)	5[7]	74	9	–	16
	"The Telephone Always Rings"	Fun Boy Three	17	–	29	–	–
	"Summertime"	—	18	–	13	–	–
	"The More I See (The Less I Believe)"	Waiting	68	–	–	–	–
1983	"Tunnel of Love"		10	–	14	–	–
	"Our Lips Are Sealed"		7	–	13	–	–
	"The Farm Yard Connection"		–	–	–	–	–
"–" denotes releases that did not chart or were not released in that territory.

[edit] Compilations

• The Best of Fun Boy Three (1984)
• Live on the Test (1994) (recorded 1983)
• Fun Boy Three - The Best of (1996)
• Really Saying Something: The Best of Fun Boy Three (1997)
• Fun Boy Three/The Colourfield The Singles (1994)
• The Very Best of the Specials and Fun Boy Three (2000)
• The Best of the Specials & Fun Boy Three (2006)

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Media related to Fun Boy Three at Wikimedia Commons