80's Flashback

Fun Boy Three featuring Bananarama, It Ain't What You Do (It's The Way That You Do It), 1982. After reaching only #92 UK with their first single, 1981's Aie A Mwana (a cover of Black Blood's Swahili-language 1975 proto-disco hit), Bananarama teamed up with former Special's members Fun Boy Three for this cover of Ella Fitzgerald's 1939 recording. It Ain't What You Do proved to be their breakout, reaching #4 in the UK and introducing both groups to American audiences via the below clip, which garnered decent MTV play but yielded scant sales. Banararama teamed up again with Fun Boy Three on their next single, a cover of the Velvelettes 1964 hit, Really Sayin' Something, this time as the lead vocalists, again reaching the UK Top Ten, but again failing to hit the U.S. pop chart. After a couple of more UK successes, their American chart breakthrough finally came the next year with Cruel Summer, which topped out at #8 in both countries. Bananarama has scored 23 UK Top 40 hits to date, but only three in the U.S., including 1986's #1 cover of Shocking Blue's 1970 smash, Venus.