Kajagoogoo

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Kajagoogoo
Kajagoogoo in Bochum, Germany, 2008. L-R: Nick Beggs, Stuart Neale, Limahl, Jez Strode, and Steve Askew.
Background information
Also known as	Kaja, Art Nouveau
Origin	Bedfordshire, England
Genres	New Wave Synthpop Pop rock
Years active	1979–1986 2003–present
Labels	EMI Records Parlophone Spectra Records
Associated acts	Limahl
Website	Official Website
Members
Limahl Nick Beggs Steve Askew Stuart Croxford Neale Jez Strode

Kajagoogoo are a British pop band, best known for their hit single, "Too Shy", which reached #1 in the UK Singles Chart (#5 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100) in 1983.

Beginnings

The band was originally 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 Jeremy "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 were unable to get a record deal.

In 1981, they advertised for a lead singer, ultimately auditioning and choosing Christopher Hamill, who then went under the stage name Limahl (an anagram of his surname). The name of the group was then changed to Kajagoogoo, coined by phonetically writing out a baby's first sounds, which gave them 'GagaGooGoo' - and with a minor alteration, it became 'Kajagoogoo'.^[1]

Success and decline

The band attracted the interest of three record labels (and Duran Duran's Nick Rhodes), while performing at the Embassy Club, in London. The group was eventually signed to EMI, in July 1982, and Rhodes was hired to produce their first album, White Feathers along with Duran Duran's EMI producer Colin Thurston. In between events, they supported Birmingham band Fashion on tour. Their debut single, "Too Shy", was released in January 1983 and went to the top of the charts (before any of Duran Duran's singles had done so, Rhodes ruefully noted). Follow-up releases, "Ooh to Be Aah" and "Hang on Now", also both reached the UK Top 20, and the album White Feathers reached no.5 in the UK album chart.

As success came, tensions began to rise in the band, which eventually culminated in Limahl being fired by the other band members in mid-1983 and Beggs then taking over as lead singer. The first single by the new four-piece Kajagoogoo was "Big Apple", which made the Top Ten in late 1983. Their next single, "The Lion's Mouth", made the Top 30 but it wasn't long before public interest waned, and the hits dried up. The subsequent new album, Islands, was less successful, peaking at only no.35 in the UK. Strode then left the band and, in an attempt to gain some credibility and to lose their bubblegum image, the remaining three members relaunched as Kaja in 1985. The four-piece version of the band, including Strode, had already made their appearance in the U.S. as Kaja the previous year, when a different edition of the Islands album was released there as Extra Play, peaking at no.185 on the Billboard charts. The single "Turn Your Back On Me" did well on the US Dance Charts peaking at no.2 for two weeks.

Following the name change to Kaja, the band (now a trio) released the single "Shouldn't Do That" (UK #63) in 1985. The song was also featured on the soundtrack to Santa Claus: The Movie. The band also released their third album, Crazy People's Right to Speak, but it failed to chart. In 1986, the band decided to split up.

Reunions

The original five-piece line-up of the band briefly joined forces again on VH1's Bands Reunited in 2004. Following the VH1 reunion, the original group received offers to continue to play in this line-up,^[2]but disagreements continued between band members and the reunion was short-lived. The group felt that the VH1 feature was unfairly edited to portray simplified reasons as to Strode and Limahl had left the band in the 1980s, and complained that it also suggested the band remained together in the fairy tale ending.^[3]

In 2007, Nick Beggs, Steve Askew and Stuart Neale decided to continue to play together as Kajagoogoo and released the track "Rocket Boy" on 24 June 2007, the first Kajagoogoo single in 22 years. The single received airplay on Steve Wright's BBC Radio 2 show in the UK, and a new album, Gone to the Moon, was also recorded and was scheduled for release but then postponed until late 2008 when it became available via the live shows and "Kajashop", the band's website store.^[4] (although it was made available for free download on the band's official website until February 2009).

In February 2008, the three Kajagoogoo members announced plans to reunite with original members, lead singer Limahl and drummer Jez Strode. This was due in part to Bradley Snelling, the organizer of the Retrofest event and the band's new manager, who had succeeded in arranging for Kajagoogoo to have their first photo shoot in 25 years. The band wrote on their official site that "The atmosphere was relaxed, jovial and, after 25 years, Kajagoogoo, in their original five-piece line-up are back". Since reforming, the band have written new material, released an EP, and have extensively toured throughout Europe (with the first date taking place in Denmark on 14 June 2008, at Esbjerg Rock Festival.^[5]).

Current activities

Kajagoogoo are currently writing new material following the completion of their "Space Cadet" tour, which kicked off in Liverpool, England on 17 September 2009, and ended in Southampton on October 1st.^[6]

On 24 August 2009 Kajagoogoo headlined The Hobble on The Cobbles all day music event in Aylesbury in Buckinghamshire

On 7 September 2009, the long awaited retrospective 'Best Of' CD/DVD was released by the band's original label EMI Records called 'Too Shy - The Best Of Kajagoogoo & Limahl'. It features two of the newly recorded tracks from the 'Death Defying Headlines E.P.', plus a brand new promotional video, newly commissioned by the label to showcase "Space Cadet", one of the new recordings .^[7]

On 14th December 2009, EMI (UK) released the "White Feathers (Manhattan Clique Remixes) E.P." .^[8]

On 16th December 2009, Kajagoogoo performed their last remaining UK concert of 2009 with a return to 'The Stables' in Wavendon, Milton Keynes.^[9]

Discography

Studio albums

• 1983 - White Feathers (UK #5, U.S. #38)
• 1984 - Islands (UK #35) (released in the US as "Extra Play" under the name Kaja, U.S. #185)
• 1985 - Crazy Peoples Right to Speak (as Kaja)
• 2008 - Gone to the Moon (free Internet download until February 2009/CD-R Release [recorded as Kajagoogoo without Limahl or Jez Strode])

Live albums

• n/k - Live in Tokyo 1984 (CD-R Release via the Nick Beggs website/Currently available via 'Kajashop' digital download) **also available on bootleg under the title 'Thanks Japan'

• 2009 - BBC In Concert - Kajagoogoo (Live at Hammersmith Odeon 30th May 1983) EMI Digital Release 7th December 2009

Compilations

• 1993 - Too Shy: The Singles and More
• 1996 - The Best of Kajagoogoo & Limahl
• 1996 - The Very Best of Kajagoogoo (also includes Limahl's "The Never Ending Story" and "Only for Love")
• 2000 - Best of the 80's Kajagoogoo & Limahl
• 2003 - The Very Best of Kajagoogoo & Limahl
• 2009 - Too Shy: the Best of Kajagoogoo & Limahl (CD & DVD)

Singles

• 1983 - "Too Shy" Germany #1; UK #1, Switzerland #2; Sweden #4; Austria #4; Netherlands #5; U.S. #5
• 1983 - "Ooh to Be Ah" (UK #7)
• 1983 - "Hang on Now" (UK #13, U.S. #78).
• 1983 - "Big Apple" (UK #8)
• 1984 - "The Lion's Mouth" (UK #25)
• 1984 - "Turn Your Back On Me" (UK #47, U.S. Dance Chart #2)
• 1985 - "Shouldn't Do That" (as Kaja) (UK #63)
• 2007 - "Rocket Boy" (CD single) (as Kajagoogoo; Beggs, Neale and Askew only)
• 2008 - "Death Defying Headlines EP" (Website CD-R & download)
• 2009 - "Death Defying Headlines The Dance Remixes EP" (Website CD-R & download)
• 2009 - "White Feathers (Manhattan Clique Remixes) EP " EMI (UK) Digital Release

Videography

• 1983 - Kajagoogoo: White Feathers Tour (Picture Music International: VHS/Beta/Laserdisc)
• 1983 - Too Shy - The Video E.P. (Picture Music International: VHS/Beta/Laserdisc [Pioneer Artists])
• 2009 - Too Shy: the Best of Kajagoogoo & Limahl (CD & DVD)

Footnotes

In popular culture

• In The Fairly Oddparents movie Fairly OddBaby, one of the names Jorgen von Strangle suggests for Poof is Kajagoogoo, a reference to this band.

• In May 20, 2009 episode of The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, Stewart remarks that fuel standards are the only thing unchanged in America since 1985 with the exception of "his love of Kajagoogoo". An image of the band is displayed and Stewart further quips "You're not too shy shy. You're just right".

• In the pilot episode of the Fox series Fastlane, Kajagoogoo is mentioned in a game played in the jail scene with Van.

• Reference to the band used by Adam Sandler in his song "Dip Doodle"

• "Too Shy" was recorded in Simlish for The Sims 2: Open For Business.

• In the BBC2 sitcom Beautiful People Simon's mother refers to attending a Kajagoogoo concert in retaliation for her husband's love of Enya.

References

• Paul Gambaccini, Tim Rice, Jonathan Rice (1993), British Hit Singles, Guinness Publishing Ltd.
• Paul Gambaccini (1983), Kajagoogoo

External links

• The Official Kajagoogoo Website
• Fabryka Industrial Rock webzine interview with Nick Beggs (2006)
• - The Official Limahl Website