Black Lace
Black Lace is a British pop group originally from Leeds and Wakefield in West Yorkshire. The band first came to the public eye after being selected to represent the UK in the Eurovision Song Contest 1979 in which they finished in seventh position with the song Mary Ann. With numerous lineup changes, Black Lace went on to have success with a number of lightweight Europop party anthem style hits such as Superman, Agadoo and Do The Conga. A duo still performs under the name of Black Lace, but neither current band member was in the group when it was formed or when it enjoyed its biggest chart success.
Career
Terry Dobson formed "The Impact" as a five-piece pop group in 1969 with school pal Ian Howarth. The group later used the names "Penny Arcade" and "Love or Confusion". However it was as a duo comprising Colin Gibb and Alan Barton that Black Lace enjoyed its greatest chart success and despite several changes to the group's lineup. This duo started life in January 1981 and used the shortened name of "Lace" for a short time before reverting back to Black Lace.
The original members of the group comprised:
- Alan Barton (16 September 1953 – 23 March 1995)[1] (lead singer and guitar)
- Steve Scholey
- Terry Dobson (drums and backing vocals)
- Ian Howarth
- Nigel Scott (bass)
In 1973 Ian Howarth left the band and not replaced, Terry Dobson also left a short time later to be replaced for a short time by Neil Hardcastle. Terry Dobson then re-joined, and Nigel Scott left in 1974 to be replaced by former founder member Ian Howarth.
In 1974 the band had adopted the name Black Lace. Ian Howarth left in early 1976 as the band prepared to turn professional, Ian was replaced by Colin Gibb (born Colin Routh, 8 December 1953).
Generally considered as the original four members of Black Lace 1976 - 1981:
- Alan Barton (lead singer and guitar)
- Colin Gibb (guitar, bass and backing vocals)
- Steve Scholey (bass and backing vocals)
- Terry Dobson (drums and backing vocals)
They played as a four-piece band along with manager Keith Mills, and played their first summer season at the Beer Garten, Bottons Fun Park in Skegness, Lincolnshire. In 1977 they enjoyed a number of successes playing a summer season at Butlins in Skegness & Filey. They released an EP to be sold at shows and were voted Yorkshire Band of the Year by BBC Radio Leeds and voted best clubland group at a show in the Winter Gardens Blackpool.
In 1978 Black Lace recorded their first single, Mary Ann, for ATV music and a record deal quickly followed with EMI. The song won the BBC's A Song For Europe after the show was blacked out by a technicians' strike. Other television appearances around this time included BBC Nationwide, Multi-Coloured Swapshop with Noel Edmonds, Top of the Pops and Juke Box Jury. At the 1979 Eurovision Song Contest, held in Israel, the band finished in seventh place and Mary Ann later reached number 42 in charts, one of the lowest chart positions for any Eurovision entry at that time.
The band's follow-up single So Long Suzy Baby flopped, but Black Lace continued live performances, notably at the festivals Sopot in Poland and Golden Orpheus in Bulgaria, also TV shows in East Germany, West Germany and Spain. By this time Black Lace is said to have played to an international TV audience estimated at over 2,500 million people but the success was tarnished by a rift between the band and its manager and a split from record label EMI.
1980 saw Black Lace tour Denmark supporting Suzy Quatro, also once again meeting up with Tommy Seebach, a Danish entertainer. Black Lace and Tommy recorded Hey Hey Jock McRay for the Danish singles market, but an intended 1980 tour of Poland was called off because of political unrest in the country. The band then split from its manager and became a two-piece of Alan Barton and Colin Gibb, the other members leaving. The duo played the northern clubs using pre-recorded backing tracks, which was unusual at the time. Initially they used the name Lace but soon reverted to Black Lace and recruited a new manager, John Wagstaff.
They released the single Bird Dance under the name Busby in 1981, recorded at Neil Ferguson's Woodlands recording studio in Castleford, but the record was beaten in the charts by a similar novelty song by The Tweets.
Former member Terry Dobson joined the Castleford rock band Stormer, formerly known as Method, which had a recording contract with Ringo Starr.
1983's Superman single was released on manager John Wagstaff's own Flair label and a promotional video was shot at Casanova's night club in Wakefield. One of the hired dancers was the then unknown singer Jane McDonald. Superman reached number nine in the UK charts, but an attempt at a follow-up single Hey You, tipped to be a hit, failed to reach the charts. However, Black Lace received a silver disc for sales of Superman, toured Denmark with Danish stars Laban and Snapshots and secured a product endorsement deal with Bose amplification.
1984 was Black Lace's most successful year; the single Agadoo was the band's biggest hit, selling over one million copies worldwide, and reaching number two in the UK chart, being kept off the top spot by George Michael's Careless Whisper. Agadoo was also a hit in Europe, South Africa and Australia. Having been presented with a gold disc for sales in the UK, the duo recorded its first album Black Lace at Stuck Ranch Studios in Denmark but around this time a record distribution company went into receivership leading to Black Lace and Flair Records losing hundreds of thousands of pounds in unpaid royalties for Agadoo.
The band's Christmas hit Do The Conga was written by Peter Morris, who had also penned the Eurovision song Mary Ann. Do The Conga reached number ten in the UK charts and UK album Party Party sold over 600,0000 copies in the first four weeks, reaching double platinum status and leading to the band doing TV shows in Germany, Luxembourg, France and Denmark.
1985 saw Black Lace with their own summer show on Blackpool's Central Pier Theatre; the year proved to be the act's hardest working period, with over 65 shows a month. The BBC announced that Black Lace was the world's hardest working band but the punishing schedule meant that the group's equipment truck was involved in several accidents and Black Lace chartered a private plane to meet TV schedules. As the strain began to show, Alan, Colin and the road crew stayed in separate hotels. Another single, El Vino Collapso was released and the video shot at Happy Days Caravan Park in Skegness, instead of the first-considered location, Spain. The record reached number 42 in charts. Further releases I Speaka Da Lingo and Hokey Cokey got to numbers 49 and 31 respectively. Black Lace also recorded a charity record You'll Never Walk Alone with The Crowd to raise funds for the families of the victims of the Bradford City stadium fire.
Black Lace's second album Party Party 2 was released for Christmas 1985 and TV appearances included a Black Lace special on the BBC 2 rock show The Old Grey Whistle Test, 3-2-1, ITV Telethon, Miss Yorkshire, International Disco Dance Championship, Pebble Mill at One and Top of the Pops Christmas Special but the band's success led to a tax demand of over £100,000.
In 1986 Colin Gibb had a break from live gigs with Black Lace to pursue other business ventures, including a spin-off show Party Party with singer and guitarist John Strike, playing two tours of Germany. Gibb then disbanded his new act.
Alan Barton was joined by singer Dene Michael to continue as Black Lace; a single, Wig-Wam-Bam, reached number 63, but Viva La Mexico which was released to capitalise on the FIFA World Cup football competition flopped because England was knocked out. Black Lace, now Alan Barton and Dene Michael, appeared as themselves in the 1986 film Rita, Sue and Bob Too which featured Gangbang and Have a Screw, recorded by Barton and Gibb the previous year. Black Lace had a hit with the album Party Crazy.
1987 saw a switcharound; Colin Gibb returned to Black Lace, whilst Alan Barton left to join 70s hit band Smokie. Dene Michael became a full-time member of Black Lace and he and Gibb released the single Jammin' the Sixties under the name Barracuda. The record was BBC Radio One Record of the Week, but failed to hit the charts.
Summer seasons at the Blackpool Tower followed in 1989 and 1990, along with the release of the single Music Man. Distribution problems led to the record only reaching number 52 in the UK chart.
In 1991 Dene Michael left the band, to be replaced by session singer Rob Hopcraft. Black Lace released the single Penny Arcade penned by Sammy King, which had originally been a hit for Roy Orbison. The band appeared on the BBC’s Children in Need. Meanwhile former band member Dene Michael formed a new group using the name Barracuda but disbanded it shortly afterwards.
In 1992 Black Lace toured Australia, but new band member Rob Hopcraft was unhappy with a hits album released by an Australian record company, as it featured a photo of his predecessor Dene Michael.
1994 saw the release of the single Bullshit (Cotton Eyed Joe), but the race for the charts was won by the Swedish band Rednex with another version of the same song. An album, Saturday Night followed.
In 1995 Alan Barton died as a result of a coach crash in Germany while touring with Smokie. His funeral was held at Wakefield Cathedral on May 3 1995. Also in that year Black Lace shot a promotional video for the single Electric Slide in Benidorm, the first video not to be filmed in the UK, and played on British breakfast station GMTV live from Torremolinos in Spain.
Black Lace played one-off shows in 1996 at DJ conventions in Canada and Atlantic City, USA and released Action Party and Best Of albums. Colin Gibb was presented with special Agadoo guitar to celebrate band's 20th anniversary.
August 15 1997, was 'Agadoo Day'. Black Lace played 20 shows in 24 hours in Manchester, London, Watford, Northampton, Sheffield, Barnsley, Wakefield, and Leeds, finishing at the Frontier Club, Batley. The event raised over £25,000 for Marie Curie Cancer Care. Peugeot used Agadoo in a TV advertisement for the new 106 car and Black Lace released Agadoo 106 Mix which was in the charts for one week.
A 1999 Black Lace charity reunion concert was organised by ex-drummer Terry Dobson to celebrate 20 years since the band represented the UK in the Eurovision Song Contest. Balne Lane WMC was the venue with all proceeds going to the Wakefield Hospice. Coincidently in this year the Eurovision Song Contest was again held in Jerusalem, Israel. Live television interviews took place with ITV's Calendar and the BBC's regional news programmes on the day of the event. The late Alan Barton's son Dean took Alan's place in the band, but original member Steve Scholey declined to attend.
Rob Hopcraft left the band in 2000, and Colin Gibb joined Eagles tribute band The B-Eagles, playing bass. In 2002 Gibb emigrated to Tenerife. Semi-retired, he played the original Black Lace party shows in hotels and restaurants on the island, occasionally visiting the UK for TV appearances. In 2003 an adult-themed album called Blue, originally recorded in the UK by Colin Gibb and Dene Michael, was released in Tenerife.
In 2004 Gibb took his Black Lace show to mainland Spain, with a residency at The King Lives On cabaret bar on the Costa Blanca, but after a few months moved back to Tenerife for shows in 2005. He returned to the Costa Blanca with another Black Lace show in 2006. Gibb was married in the UK in 2007 to long time girlfriend, Sue Kelly.
2008 saw Gibb playing bass in a Tenerife five-piece rock band called It's Immaterial, in addition to performing the Black Lace Show
In 2009 former band member Dene Michael, who had been in Black Lace from 1986 to 1991, started performing again as Black Lace alongside Liverpudlian singer Ian Robinson. They released a new mambo version of Agadoo, and in the accompanying video Dene Michael was seen asking Ian Robinson "Remember when we did Agadoo?", although neither band member was actually in Black Lace when the song was originally released. Bruce Jones, who played Les Battersby in the UK TV soap opera Coronation Street, directed and played a cameo role in the video which was filmed in a single day. Comedian Roy "Chubby" Brown and another former Coronation Street actor, Kevin Kennedy, who played Curly Watts in the soap opera also made cameo appearances in the video, as did several members of the cast of the ITV sitcom Benidorm. The video, filmed on location in Spain, features new line-up driving a red Alfa-Romeo GTV Spider along a promenade whilst being followed by a procession of people performing the actions to the famous "Agadoo, push pineapple shake the tree" dance. The record attracted some media attention, but it flopped.
On 4 November 2009 Black Lace was filmed by British airline easyJet performing a re-written version of Agadoo, launching a new air service between Gatwick airport and Agadir in Morocco.
Founder-member Terry Dobson is still playing the drums in the Wakefield band Mr Twister. His recently completed book "And Then Came Agadoo" published by Authorhouse in November 2009, which describes starting up the band with Ian Howarth in 1969, Dobson's life and times and continued friendship with band members past and present.
Colin Gibb, now living in Tenerife, continues to play Black Lace shows, and is still represented by Now Music and manager John Wagstaff.
Dene Michael and Ian Robinson have recorded a new version of Music Man for BBC Children in Need 2009, and are also represented by Now Music and John Wagstaff.
Singles
1979 Mary Ann
1979 So Long Susie Baby
1981 Birdie Song
1982 Superman
1983 Hey You
1984 Agadoo
1984 Do The Conga
1985 El Vino Collapso
1985 I Speaka Da Lingo
1985 Hokey Cokey
1986 Viva La Mexico
1985 Wig Wam Bam
1990 Music Man
1994 Bullshit (Cotton Eyed Joe)
1995 She'll Be Coming Round The Mountain
1996 The Electric Slide
1997 Agadoo 106 Dance mix
2000 Follow the Leader
2009 Mega-Mega Mix: 23min non stop party mix (Spain)
2009 Agadoo mambo (Dene Michael)
2009 Music Man 2009 (Dene Michael)
Albums
1984 Black Lace
1984 Party Party
1985 Party Party 2
1986 Party Crazy
1987 16 Greatest Party Hits
1990 20 All Time Party Favourites
1993 Action Party
1995 Saturday Night
1997 Greatest Hits
1998 What a Party
2000 Black Lace's Greatest Ever Party Album
2006 Black Lace: Greatest Hits
2007 The 'Blue' Album (Spain only, Banned in UK)