Bow Wow Wow
Bow Wow Wow are an English new wave band, created by manager Malcolm McLaren in 1980. McLaren recruited members of Adam and the Ants to form the band with then 13-year-old Annabella Lwin on lead vocals. They released their debut EP Your Cassette Pet in 1980 and had their first UK top 10 hit with "Go Wild in the Country" in 1982. The band's music was characterized by a danceable new wave sound that drew on a Burundi beat provided by Dave Barbarossa on drums, as well as the subversive, suggestive, and sometimes exuberant lyrics sung and chanted by their teenage lead vocalist.
Formation
In 1980, former Sex Pistols manager McLaren persuaded David Barbarossa, guitarist Matthew Ashman and bassist Leigh Gorman to leave Adam Ant and form a new group he was managing. The band embarked on a six-month audition process for a lead singer. Talent scout Dave Fishel heard 13-year-old Lwin singing along to the radio at a West Hampstead dry cleaner where she worked, and Fishel persuaded McLaren to audition her. Shortly after Lwin joined the group, McLaren added a second lead singer, George Alan O'Dowd, dubbed "Lieutenant Lush". His stay was short-lived, however; O'Dowd soon formed a new band called Culture Club and went on to stardom under the name Boy George.EMI Records
Bow Wow Wow signed with EMI Records in July 1980 and released their first single, "C·30 C·60 C·90 Go!" shortly after that. Initially released only on cassette, it was the world's first-ever cassette single. EMI did not promote the "cassingle" due to its lyrics, which promoted home taping at a time when music piracy was a hot-button issue. The B-side, "Sun, Sea and Piracy", also promoted home taping, then lying on a beach and enjoying the fruits of this labour. Both tracks were on side one of the tape, making the second side blank, presumably so the listener could follow Annabella's lead. Despite its lack of promotion, "C·30 C·60 C·90 Go!" reached No. 34 on the UK Singles Chart and stayed on the chart for seven weeks.Bow Wow Wow performed on a Peel Session on 20 October 1980, and in November, they released the cassette-only mini-album Your Cassette Pet. It contained only eight tracks and was not available on vinyl; therefore, it was ineligible for the UK Albums Chart. However, it peaked at No. 58 on the UK Singles Chart. One notorious track from the mini-album was "Sexy Eiffel Towers". It was credited to Ashman, Barbarossa, Gorman, and McLaren and included suggestive moaning and heavy breathing performed by then-14-year-old Lwin. Other controversial tracks included "Louis Quatorze", "Uomo Sex Al Apache", and "Radio G-String". All tracks on My Cassette Pet are credited to the four men except "Fools Rush In". McLaren was already renowned for his creative use of provocation to raise public awareness of his projects.
Both "C·30 C·60 C·90 Go!" and Your Cassette Pet ranked among the top 10 "Tracks of the Year" for 1980 by NME. When their second single, "W.O.R.K. " failed to chart, EMI dropped the group.
RCA Records & ''See Jungle! See Jungle! Go Join Your Gang, Yeah! City All Over, Go Ape Crazy''
In 1981, after splitting from EMI, Bow Wow Wow signed with A&R head Bill Kimber at the U.K. division of RCA Records. Their first full-length album was released in October of that year: See Jungle! See Jungle! Go Join Your Gang Yeah, City All Over! Go Ape Crazy! The cover photograph depicted the band recreating Édouard Manet's Le Déjeuner sur l'herbe with a then 14-year-old Lwin posing nude, with her side turned toward the camera and arm and leg positioned to hide explicit content. The cover caused outrage, and Lwin was almost made to quit the band due to the controversy. Lwin's mother alleged exploitation of a minor for immoral purposes and instigated a Scotland Yard investigation. As a result, the band was forbidden to leave the UK until McLaren promised not to promote Annabella as a "sex kitten". Regardless, the photo appeared a second time on the cover of the band's follow-up EP The Last of the Mohicans.From See Jungle! See Jungle! Go Join Your Gang, Yeah, City All Over! Go Ape Crazy!, Bow Wow Wow scored its first UK top 10 hit with "Go Wild in the Country" in early 1982. The single featured a third appearance of the band's take on Manet's Le Déjeuner sur l'herbe on the sleeve. Around the same time, Bow Wow Wow toured the US, opening for the Pretenders and the Police. The band was set to tour Europe, opening for Queen, but they were poorly received by Queen's fans and were dropped from the tour before the dates were completed. In May, they toured Japan, supporting Madness.
''The Last of the Mohicans''
In May 1982, RCA Records released the four-track The Last of the Mohicans, produced by Kenny Laguna and containing their biggest hit single, "I Want Candy". The remake of the 1965 hit by the Strangeloves was featured in an early music video on MTV. The single reached No. 9 on the UK Singles Chart in June 1982. The EP also included a remixed version of "Louis Quatorze", which first appeared on Your Cassette Pet. The Last of the Mohicans peaked at No. 67 on the US Billboard 200, their highest entry on the chart.Laguna also produced Bow Wow Wow's follow-up single, "Baby, Oh No", the first single from Bow Wow Wow to chart in America. The lyrics to the song were later reworked for advertising use by the Japanese cosmetic brand Perky Jean by Shiseido.
''I Want Candy''
Following the success of the "I Want Candy" music video on MTV, RCA compiled an album, I Want Candy, to capitalize on their newfound American audience. Once again, the cover photo featured a nude Lwin painted entirely in gold. Side one of I Want Candy contained all four tracks from The Last of the Mohicans and "Baby, Oh No". Side two consisted of four tracks from See Jungle! See Jungle! Go Join Your Gang, Yeah. City All Over! Go Ape Crazy! and "El Boss Dicho", the B-side to "Go Wild in the Country". The album peaked at No. 123 on the Billboard 200.Meanwhile, EMI reissued all their recordings under the same title I Want Candy. The EMI album matched See Jungle's position of number 26 on the UK album charts. It was released in North America as Twelve Original Recordings and elsewhere as Original Recordings.
''When the Going Gets Tough, the Tough Get Going''
In 1983, RCA released Bow Wow Wow's second full-length album, When the Going Gets Tough, the Tough Get Going. At the behest of Ashman, Lwin wrote all the lyrics on the album. The cover photography was by David Bailey, and the album credits gave "a kiss" to "Jim" and John Belushi, who had both recently died.The lead single, "Do You Wanna Hold Me?", reached No. 47 in the UK, but fared best on the Dutch charts, where it peaked at No. 3. With the help of a video in heavy rotation on MTV, the song achieved moderate success in the US, reaching No. 77 on the charts.
The group had planned to embark on a world tour in support of When the Going Gets Tough, the Tough Get Going, but tensions within the group were rising, as the members were suffering from illness and exhaustion after a successful but intense U.S. tour. In September 1983, Lwin was suddenly and unceremoniously fired from the band. She reportedly learned of her ousting by reading it in NME. Shortly after their breakup, they appeared in the 1984 Rob Cohen British-American comedy film Scandalous, performing "Where's My Snake?" and "What's the Time ".
Post-breakup
The remaining members formed a new group, Chiefs of Relief, with guitarist Ashman as its lead singer. Their sole album was a 1988 self-titled release issued in the US on Sire Records. Ashman later played with other bands, such as Max and Rams. He was a member of Agent Provocateur when he died from diabetes complications. They released the album Where the Wild Things Are in 1997, posthumously featuring Ashman on guitar, bass guitar, and Vox organ.Barbarossa/Barbe went on to work with other artists, including Beats International, Republica, Chicane, Adamski and Roland Gift of Fine Young Cannibals. He performed live with Adam Ant in 1995, and both he and Gorman toured with Ant in 2014 - thus reuniting the three surviving members of the Ants lineup that McLaren had broken up in January 1980 - for a series of concerts recreating the album Dirk Wears White Sox as part of Ant's band "The Ministers of the New New Super Heavy Punk Funk" with a concert at Hammersmith Apollo in April 2014. Barbe wrote two novels, Mud Sharks and We Were Looking Up.
Gorman went into production after the demise of Chiefs of Relief. In 1989, Silver Bullet's "Twenty Seconds To Comply", which Gorman produced, reached No. 11 on the UK Singles Chart. The Soho single "Hippychick" went top 10 and topped the dance charts on both sides of the Atlantic. Gorman earned a gold record for his work on the track. He subsequently joined Soho for a US tour and appeared on The Arsenio Hall Show.
Gorman worked with McLaren again, co-writing and producing the 1994 album Paris. The jazz-influenced album sold well throughout Europe, resulting in an album of Gorman's ambient dance mixes. The duo collaborated on several high-profile TV commercials and two film scores. Gorman himself wrote and produced music for television spots for clients such as Coca-Cola, MCI, Nike, Inc., Pepsi, and Renault. In the summer of 1997, his remix of Mr. President's "I Give You My Heart" spent three weeks in the Top 10 of the UK Dance Chart. He joined the rave band Electric Skychurch in 2006.
Known simply as "Annabella", Lwin remained with RCA Records, and her first solo release was the 1985 single "Don't Dance With Strangers", produced by the System. She followed up with the album Fever in 1986. The title track, a cover of the Peggy Lee classic, was recorded with and produced by multi-instrumentalist Jim Lea of Slade. Another single from the album, "War Boys", produced by John Robie, spent six weeks on the US Billboard Hot Dance/Disco, chart, peaking at No. 28. "Don't Dance With Strangers" and "Fever" were included on The Best of Bow Wow Wow, released by BMI on 29 October 1996.
She formed a new band, Naked Experience, and collaborated with seasoned musicians and songwriters such as Billy Steinberg and Ellen Shipley. In 1994, Sony Soho Square released two singles, "Car Sex" and "Do What You Do", billed as "Annabella Lwin". "Car Sex" made the Top 10 in the UK Dance Chart, while the remixed dance follow-up "Do What You Do", produced by Steve Lironi, spent one week at No. 61 in the UK Singles Chart. In 1999, Cleopatra Records released Virgin Voices: A Tribute To Madonna, Volume One. It contained a cover of "Like a Virgin" credited to "Annabella Lwin of Bow Wow Wow".