Black Lace

Black Lace is a British pop group best known for novelty party records, including their biggest hit, "Agadoo". 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 seventh with the song "Mary Ann". With numerous lineup changes, Black Lace went on to have success with a number of lightweight party anthems 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.

Early years (1973-81)

Terry Dobson and school pal Ian Howarth formed The Impact as a five-piece pop group in 1969 with Alan Barton, Steve Scholey and Nigel Scott. The group also performed under the names Penny Arcade and Love or Confusion.

Howarth took a hiatus from the band to get his BA from Loyola College in Montreal, but had returned to the line-up in 1974. Dobson also left to be replaced briefly by Neil Hardcastle. Dobson then re-joined, and Nigel Scott left in 1974. That same year, the band adopted the name Black Lace. Howarth left the band for good in early 1976 after an fist fight with Dobson during a live performance. Howarth had discovered that Dobson was sleeping with his girlfriend, Mary Ann. Black Lace would later record a song named after her. Howarth 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)

The band was managed by 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. 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 seventh and "Mary Ann" only reached number 42 in the UK charts, one of the lowest chart positions for any Eurovision entry at that time.

The band's follow-up single, "So Long Suzy Baby", failed to stir interest but Black Lace continued live performances, notably at the festivals Sopot in Poland and Golden Orpheus in Bulgaria, and 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 2.5 million people but the success was tarnished by a rift between the band and its manager and a split from record label EMI.

The band toured Denmark in 1980 supporting Suzy Quatro and working with Tommy Seebach, a Danish entertainer. Black Lace and Seebach 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.

Chart success (1981-87)

In 1981, Terry Dobson left Black Lace and joined the Castleford rock band Stormer (formerly known as Method), which had a recording contract with Ringo Starr. Steve Scholey also departed, leaving the band as a duo of Colin Gibb and Alan Barton. It was this line-up that would give the band its biggest chart success.

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 "The Birdie Song" under the name Busby in 1981, recorded at Neil Ferguson's Woodlands recording studio in Castleford, but the record was beaten to the charts by a recording of the song by The Tweets.

Black Lace's 1983 "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" failed to reach the charts. 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.

The band's biggest success came in 1984 with the single "Agadoo" selling over one million copies worldwide, and reaching number two in the UK chart. It was 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 their 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 follow-up single was "Do The Conga," 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 650,0000 copies in the first five weeks, reaching double platinum status and leading to the band doing TV shows in Germany, Luxembourg, France and Denmark.

In 1985, the BBC proclaimed that Black Lace was the world's hardest working band—performing more than 65 shows a month—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 and rifts formed, 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. The record reached number 42 in charts. Further releases "I Speaka Da Lingo" and "The Hokey Cokey" got to numbers 49 and 31, respectively. Black Lace also participated in recording of the #1 hit You'll Never Walk Alone as part of the charity ensemble 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 took a year out of live work with Black Lace, to concentrate on other projects. He returned to playing live gigs with Barton the following year.. During this time, Gibb toured Party Party with singer and guitarist John Strike, playing two tours of Germany, after which Gibb 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 stand-in 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. The band had a hit with the album Party Crazy.

1987 - present

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, but in 1996 Gibb was also made bankrupt by the Inland Revenue.

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 1999 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.

In 2000, Rob Hopcraft left the band and Colin Gibb was joined by female singers/dancers 'Kat & Cameil' Gibb also joined Eagles tribute band The B-Eagles, playing bass.

In 2002 Gibb emigrated to Tenerife. Semi-retired, he played 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 years previously 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' also playing with Duo's 'Just 1 More' and 'To The Limit' 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 a new addition, 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 new Agadoo attracted some media attention, but it failed to chart.

On 4 November 2009 the new incarnation of 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, for release on the video-sharing website YouTube.

Founder-member Terry Dobson is still playing the drums in the Wakefield band Mr Twister. His book And Then Came Agadoo was published by Authorhouse in November 2009. In it Dobson describes starting up the band with Ian Howarth in 1969, Dobson's life and times and his continued friendship with band members past and present.

Colin Gibb remains in Tenerife, continues to play Black Lace shows and is still represented by Now Music and manager John Wagstaff.

Dene Michael and Ian Robinson recorded a new version of Music Man for BBC Children in Need 2009, and are also represented by Now Music and John Wagstaff. In 2010 they recorded yet another version of Music Man, this time entitled We Are The England Fans, as an unofficial England supporters' song to coincide with the 2010 FIFA World Cup. The record flopped.

Singles

1979 "Mary Ann" (UK #42)
1979 "So Long Susie Baby"
1980 "Hey Hey Jock McRay" (Denmark only)
1981 "The Birdie Song"
1982 "Superman" (UK #9)
1983 "Hey You"
1984 "Agadoo" (UK #2)
1984 "Do The Conga" (UK #10)
1985 "El Vino Collapso" (UK #42)
1985 "I Speaka Da Lingo" (UK #49)
1985 "The Hokey Cokey" (UK #31)
1986 "Viva La Mexico"
1986 "Wig-Wam Bam" (UK #63)
1990 "I Am The Music Man" (UK #52)
1994 "Bullshit"
1995 "She'll Be Coming Round The Mountain"
1996 "The Electric Slide"
1997 "Agadoo (106 Mix)"
2000 "Follow The Leader"
2009 "Mega-Mega Mix" 23-minute non-stop party mix (Spain only)
2009 "Agadoo Mambo"
2009 "Music Man 2009"
2010 "We Are The England Fans"

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)

2010 The Blue Album - Banned in the U.K (World wide distribution)

External links

• Black Lace website
• Colin Gibb - Black Lace
• NOW Music Co (Black Lace) web page
• Black Lace, Agadoo music video, 1984
• Black Lace performs Agadir version of Agadoo, 4th November 2009
• Agadoo mambo music video, 2009
• We Are The England Fans, 2010
• And Then Came Agadoo book website
• All Music Guide to Black Lace