Kajagoogoo

Kajagoogoo were a British pop band best known for their first single, "Too Shy", which reached number one in the UK Singles Chart and number five in the U.S Billboard Hot 100 in 1983. The single was produced by keyboardist Nick Rhodes of Duran Duran and Colin Thurston who was, at the time, Duran Duran's in-house producer.

The band was founded in Leighton Buzzard, Bedfordshire, in 1979 as a four piece avant-garde instrumental group called Art Nouveau, with Nick Beggs on bass guitar, Steve Askew on lead guitar, Stuart Croxford Neale on keyboards and Jez Strode on drums. Art Nouveau released a track called "The Fear Machine". The single sold a few hundred copies, and was played on the John Peel show, but the band could not get a record deal.

In 1981, they advertised for and auditioned lead singers, and finally chose Christopher Hamill. He made his profile, and therefore that of the band, catchier by using an anagram of his surname for his stage name, becoming Limahl. The name of the band was then changed to Kajagoogoo. Writing out the phonetics of a baby's first sounds gave them "GagaGooGoo". With a little bit of "casual" alteration it became Kajagoogoo.

The band attracted the interest of three record labels (and Duran Duran's Nick Rhodes) while performing at the Embassy Club in London. The band was signed to EMI in July of 1982, and Rhodes was signed to produce their first album, White Feathers. In between they supported Birmingham New Romantic band Fashion on tour. The debut single "Too Shy" was released in January of 1983 and went to the top of the charts (before any of Duran Duran's singles had done so, Rhodes noted ruefully). Follow-up releases "Ooh to Be Aah" and "Hang on Now" both reached the UK top twenty as well.

The band fired Limahl in 1983 after a huge disagreement, with Beggs taking over as singer for the second album Islands released in 1984. First single "Big Apple" made the Top Ten, but then the hits dried up completely. In an attempt to gain some credibility and lose the bubblegum image they relaunched as Kaja in 1985. This version of Kajagoogoo was a failure, Strode had already left the band and they went their separate ways in 1986.

EMI Gold released a best-of compilation in 1997, which contained their best work but the compiler was roundly criticised in one local paper for wanting to do such a thing.

Limahl enjoyed a brief successful solo career, scoring a hit with the Giorgio Moroder-produced "Neverending Story," the title track to the hit film of the same name in 1984. Limahl continued to record, working with producers Tim Palmer and De Harris. The result, his debut LP Don't Suppose... (with "Neverending Story" appended as a selling point) was released in the U.K., then in the U.S. in 1985. He then resumed his collaboration with Moroder, resulting in the 1986 LP Colour All My Days, his final project for EMI. His last album, 1992's Love Is Blind, was released only in Germany on the Bellaphon label, and featured an updated take on their seminal hit, "Too Shy `92." . The band briefly joined forces again on VH1's Bands Reunited (26 January 2004, Season 1, Episode 6).

Following the VH1 reunion, the band had offers to continue to play in this lineup but there were still too many disagreements between band-members to make this possible. The band felt that the VH1 feature was unfairly editied to portray simplified reasons as to Limahl's departure and complained that it also suggested the band remained together in the "fairy tale" ending.

In 2007 Nick Beggs, Steve Askew and Stuart Neale continue to play together as Kajagoogoo and a new album is about to be released.

Studio albums

 * 1983 White Feathers - #5 UK, #38 U.S.
 * 1984 Islands - #35 UK (U.S. title Extra Play, as Kaja) - #185 U.S.
 * 1985 Crazy People's Right to Speak (released as Kaja)

Compilations

 * 1993 Too Shy: The Singles and More
 * 1996 The Best of Kajagoogoo & Limahl
 * 1996 The Very Best of Kajagoogoo
 * 2003 Very Best of Kajagoogoo

Singles

 * 1983 "Too Shy" - #1 UK, #5 U.S.
 * 1983 "Ooh to Be Ah" - #7 UK
 * 1983 "Hang on Now" - #13 UK, #78 U.S.
 * 1983 "Big Apple" #8 UK
 * 1984 "The Lion's Mouth" - #25 UK
 * 1984 "Turn Your Back On Me" - #47 UK
 * 1985 "Shouldn't Do That" (as Kaja)- #63 UK

Audio sample


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