The Missing Persons Story – Part 1.

Recently I have done some pieces about quirky singers and pop groups from the 80s. I was wondering if there was anyone else who could be featured here. I don’t get too excited about the modern wave of pop stars, the last ones I had an interest in came on to the scene about a decade ago now such as Paloma Faith and Lady Gaga. I did wonder if there was anyone who could fit the description of being “the Lady Gaga of the 80s”, and I was pleased when I discovered someone who definitely could.

The group is Missing Persons, and it’s always good to discover that a group that I had previously barely heard of and realise that they had an interesting story in the 80s. Their frontwoman is Dale Bozzio (I can’t recall ever coming across a woman called Dale before). Dale Consalvi was born in March 1955 in Massachusetts. Before getting into music she appeared in some rather naughty magazines, and went on to collaborate with Frank Zappa.

In 1980, Missing Persons were formed, they could be put into the New Wave genre. They were a quintet, and along with Dale, other members included drummer and Dale’s husband Terry Bozzio (they married in 1979), and guitarist Warren Cuccurullo. Although they didn’t have any hit singles or albums in this country, I wondered if they had made any UK TV appearances, so I went on YouTube, and I was pleasantly surprised. As always, this piece won’t be 100% accurate or comprehensive, but here are some of the highlights of their story.

Dale was the definition of small but perfectly formed, with a very distinctive look, including her hair, which was sometimes red, or even – yes! – blue, and plenty of make-up. She also wore what were often described as “fishbowls” containing some foil. It seems that she was rather pleased with her looks and followed the old phrase “if you’ve got it, flaunt it”, and if she had half the chance she would probably have worn nothing at all above the waist on stage. Dale was also known for having a squeak in her singing voice. I very much doubt she’s been to any pubs near where I live, but I’ll let her off because she made some great songs.

In 1980 the “Missing Persons EP” was released, which reached no. 46 on the US album chart, and they appeared in the 1981 film Lunch Wagon. But it was during 1982/1983 that they had their biggest success. In 1982 their first single “Mental Hopscotch” was released. It wasn’t a hit, but there was a video made. There was also a video made for “Noticeable One”, but that wasn’t a single.

But next up in 1982 was “Words”, and this is arguably their most famous song. The video has had 6.6 million views on YouTube, making it their most popular. This reached no. 42 (their equal-highest placing in America), and it also reached no. 10 in Australia, which I’m sure is their first and only Top Ten placing on a singles chart anywhere in the world. This one contained the lyric “I think I’ll dye my hair blue“. Please do! Also in this year, their first album “Spring Session M” (an anagram of “Missing Persons”) was released, reaching no. 17 (their highest-charting album in America), and no. 40 in Australia, where they loved it.

Then in 1982 the next single was “Destination Unknown”, another one of their more well-known ones. This also reached no. 42 in America, and no. 89 in Australia, their final hit there. This one had a video, and I know that I shouldn’t take too much notice of YouTube comments, but the amount of people who have said “Lady Gaga stole her look from Dale” is remarkable. They performed this one on various shows including TopPop in the Netherlands.

And in October 1982, they made what I’m sure is their first UK TV appearance, when they performed “Destination Unknown” on CITV’s Razzmatazz! They weren’t exactly the first group that I would expect to appear on the show, but the youngsters loved them I’m sure. Dale also had a rather unusual hairstyle by her own standard at this point. I doubt it’s all her own work. I don’t think they played “Peggy Babcock” though. Missing Persons were now doing well, suddenly Dale was being invited to awards ceremonies, and plenty of people were taking notice of them.

In 1983, “Windows” was released, which reached no. 63 in America. I couldn’t find a video for this one, but they did perform this on shows in various countries. And in March 1983, Missing Persons made another UK TV appearance when they performed a few songs on Channel 4’s The Tube. There was the slight problem that they provoked almost no response at all from the studio audience who seemingly had no idea who they were.

Also in March 1983, Dale appeared on the cover of Sounds, which I’m fairly sure is their only UK weekly music magazine cover, where they were tipped to be the next big thing. Dale is someone who also gave good value in interviews. And although they didn’t feature in an article, an advert for “Words” (which was released in the UK in this month) appeared in Smash Hits.

Watch out for more in part two…

The YouTube Files – The Belle Stars Story (Part 2).

Let’s continue the story of The Belle Stars as we go into 1983… 

In January 1983 “Sign Of The Times” was released which reached No. 3. It would become their most successful single by some distance, and it is definitely the one that they remain best known for to this day. It also reached No. 75 in America. In January and February 1983 they performed this twice on Top Of The Pops. In January 1983 they appeared on the cover of Melody Maker and performed four songs on The Tube. 

In February 1983 their first and only album “The Belle Stars” was released which reached No. 15, and they performed “The Clapping Song” at The British Rock And Pop Awards. In March 1983 Sarah-Jane (who was considered by many to be the most glamorous member of the group) appeared on the cover of Record Mirror. They were finally a big deal, could they maintain this success? 

In April 1983 “Sweet Memory” was released which reached No. 22. They really pushed this one with lots of TV appearances but it would turn out to be their final Top 40 hit single. In May 1983 it would lead to their sixth Top Of The Pops appearance, and they also performed this on plenty of other shows including Cheggers Plays Pop, Get Set, The Oxford Road Show, Razzmatazz, and Saturday SuperStore. 

In August 1983 “Indian Summer” was released which reached No. 52. This was another good one, but it missed the Top 50. The video featured a guest appearance from Humphrey Bogart (not the Humphrey Bogart?!). They also appeared on The Main Attraction and the Saturday Morning excitement of No. 73 (which I imagine was an ambition of many pop groups around at the time). 

In October 1983 “The Entertainer” was released which reached a rather disappointing No. 95. Feargal Sharkey made a guest appearance in the video. They performed this on No. 73, Razzmatazz, Russell Harty’s show, and Hold Tight, on the scary-looking stage that went up and down. In December 1983 they made their seventh and final appearance on Top Of The Pops to perform “Sign Of The Times” for a third time as part of the Christmas special. 

In June 1984 “80s Romance” was released which reached No. 71. Their sound had evolved a lot by this point and this was a much more soulful single. Along with the regular video there was also an extended version that included a look behind the scenes. However, the trends were so fast-moving in this era of pop music that this turned out to be their final hit single. Barely a year on from their biggest success, they were now, as the phrase goes, “down the dumper”. Because there wasn’t much interest, work on the second album was abandoned, and The Belle Stars went their separate ways. But wait, because the story doesn’t end there… 

The Belle Stars just about carried on into the mid-80s, but they were now a trio, consisting of Lesley, Miranda and Sarah-Jane (I think Miranda and Sarah-Jane were the only ones who lasted the whole course from 1979-1986). In April 1986 “World Domination” was released. Once again, their look and sound was rather different from a few years earlier, there were definitely no saxophones on this one (maybe they just wanted to be more like Bananarama, ha-ha). 

I did like this one, and it is rather odd to think that this is (just about) the same people that made “Let’s Do Rock Steady”. I am also rather fond of the video (and the 12″ version), but music fans had long since moved on, this wasn’t a hit, and even a Paul Hardcastle remix couldn’t give it a boost (it’s also curiously absent from the various best-ofs). Work on the third album was abandoned, and by this point, it really was all over. I’m not even sure if they remained in the music industry after this or stayed in touch with each other. But that’s still not the end. 

In March 1989, long after it was originally released (and long after their split), a new version of “Iko Iko” became their biggest hit in America after it was featured in the soundtrack to the film Rain Man, and it reached No. 14. In June 1989 this version reached No. 98 in the UK. Beyond a few best-ofs (and a concert at London’s Marquee Club from 1984 being released on DVD), there hasn’t been much activity from the group since this.

But in December 2002 my mum and sister went to a Here And Now concert at the London Arena, where pop acts from the 80s performed some of their biggest hits, and The Belle Stars were on the lineup. Their peak was almost two decades ago even then. Again, they consisted of a trio, but I’m not sure if any original members were even involved, they could’ve been anyone by this point.

They performed only three songs, and of course “Sign Of The Times” was one of them, they didn’t really have much choice. It’s a shame that a lot of people think that they were mismanaged, but I presume that they are are all still out there somewhere, and Jennie does still occasionally perform her songs from The Belle Stars years in concert. As usual when looking back at this era, it’s a surprise to realise they must all be getting on for 60 years old by now (and it seems that Sarah-Jane this year actually turned 65!). How is it even possible.

A Return To The Mysterious World Of Danielle Dax.

As it’s the 60th birthday of Danielle Dax (yes, really), I thought that I would take the opportunity to have another look at her interesting career. Think of this piece as a sort-of deluxe extended version of the one that I did on here about a year ago, as I have found out some more things. Although it won’t ever be 100% comprehensive, I have tried to put together some more information that is worth sharing about Danielle’s TV appearances and magazine interviews in the 80s and early-90s. 

pre-1983: Danielle started her music career in a group called The Lemon Kittens who made three albums, “Spoonfed And Writhing” (1979), “We Buy A Hammer For Daddy” (1980), and “The Big Dentist” (1982). The earliest magazine interview that I have found with Danielle is from Sounds as early as January 1981. She then decided to launch a solo career…

1983: Around this time Danielle performed regularly at the Batcave club in London, and in June she was featured in an article in No. 1 magazine checking out the current goth scene. 

In October Danielle appeared on BBC2’s Riverside‘s Halloween special in what I presume is her first TV appearance to perform “Pariah”. When I found this on YouTube I was very surprised by her striking look of heavy make-up and bright red waist-length hair. It was a remarkable moment, and it is definitely one of my favourite songs by her. When I searched for Danielle on the BBC Genome, this was her earliest mention. I thought that it was good for her to get a namecheck in Radio Times.

I then found the page on a Twitter account that uploads old Radio Times pages, and I was very surprised to discover that there was also a picture of Danielle. Radio Times was Britain’s biggest-selling magazine at this time, I never expected her to feature. I even went so far as to buy this Radio Times online, and then I scanned the picture to feature in my first piece. I still get pleased when I see it appear in an online image search for Danielle, hopefully seeing the picture has brought more people wanting to find out about her career to my site. Also in this year Danielle’s first solo album “Pop-Eyes” was released. 

1984: Danielle appeared in horror film The Company Of Wolves (shown on BBC2 in December 1993 and November 1997, and BBC1 in September 1996), it was a shame that she wasn’t in more films, as it was a memorable performance. In November Danielle had what I’m fairly sure is her one and only reference in Smash Hits. There is a video on YouTube of Danielle performing “Bed Caves” in Holland, I’m not sure what year it’s from but it seems to be from around this time. In December Danielle performed “Hammerheads” on Channel 4’s The Tube. Also in this year her second solo album “Jesus Egg That Wept” was released. 

1985: Some more of Danielle’s TV appearances have turned up on YouTube since my last piece. Firstly, a performance of “Evil Honky Stomp” on TV in Norway… 

…and a performance of “Yummer Yummer Man” on TV in France. She definitely travelled around the world a lot. Danielle was also interviewed in NME, although I’m fairly sure that she never appeared on the cover of a music magazine in the UK, but she did also feature in a few fanzines. 

1986: There is a video on YouTube of Danielle’s concert at a small club in Switzerland, featuring performances of “Evil Honky Stomp”, “Hammerheads”, and “Pariah”. The compilation album “Up Amongst The Golden Spires” was also released in this year. 

In November Danielle was interviewed in No. 1 magazine talking about her spooky observations on life. So there was a picture of Danielle in No. 1 but not Smash Hits? Maybe No. 1 wasn’t such a bad magazine after all. 

1987: I thought that I would try and find out the exact date of when Danielle’s concert at the Camden Palace in September 1985 was shown on TV (as part of the Live From London series). It seems that it was planned to be shown on LWT in May at 1am just before closedown, but then it was postponed (I’m not sure why), and it was eventually shown in June (only in the LWT region I think). It has been released on DVD. There is also an hour-long concert of Danielle in Tokyo that was shown on Japanese TV online. Another compilation album “The Chemical Wedding” was released. 

Danielle never appeared on BBC1’s Top Of The Pops, but in July her video for “Big Hollow Man” was shown on The Chart Show on Channel 4, along with some facts that insisted that Danielle was huge in Japan. The video was also featured on the Indie Chart but it wasn’t played. She also performed this on TV in Germany. Also in this year Danielle’s third solo album “Inky Bloaters” was released. 
In December Danielle appeared on ITV’s Night Network to review the latest singles along with snooker star Steve Davis. I found an interview online where Danielle was asked what it was like to meet Steve, and she said that he was great, and he also phoned her granddad to say hello which made his day. Well my life was definitely enhanced for learning that piece of information. 

1988: In April the video for “Cathouse” was featured on The Chart Show‘s Indie Chart and Chart File Update (it was also Single Of The Week in Sounds). This led to more interviews in various magazines including Record Mirror and NME (with a picture in colour!). “Cathouse” is also Danielle’s most viewed video on YouTube with about 356,000 views. Another compilation album “Dark Adapted Eye” was also released. 

1989: It seems that around this time Danielle was beginning to be pushed in the American market a little more, and she signed to a major label. An article appeared about her in Billboard magazine where she was described as “one woman with the imaginative bravery to break loose”.

In April the video to “White Knuckle Ride” was played on The ITV Chart Show‘s Indie Chart. This video was the first time that I came across Danielle’s music while I was watching some old clips of The ITV Chart Show on YouTube, and I presumed that as much as I liked the song she was just some random here today/gone tomorrow indie woman trying to have a go, but it turned out that I was totally wrong about that. 

In July Danielle was interviewed by the computer on Channel 4’s Star Test. Although she was often portrayed as somewhat eccentric and mysterious (as Radio Times memorably put it), many people have commented that on this show she does come across as rather sensible and grounded, offering some interesting answers. I’m not really sure what motivated her to take part (apart from having a single to promote of course), but I’m glad she did. 

1990: A video was made for “Tomorrow Never Knows”, a cover of The Beatles song (I don’t know if this one was shown on The ITV Chart Show though). Also in this year Danielle’s fourth and final solo album “Blast The Human Flower” was released, which might have been a final attempt to have some commercial success. However, despite good reviews from critics the album seemed to fall into the Catch-22 of being too unusual to be mainstream, but too mainstream to be unusual. 

1991: I couldn’t find much for this year, apart from a few concert pictures, and a magazine article about Danielle visiting a radio station in America where she was described as a “sultry siren”. Unfortunately, this was around the time that Danielle left the music business, despite much praise from critics and fans, her hard work over the past decade and unique approach to music had brought her no hits. There isn’t much known about what she did next, even her official website has little information about her career post-1991, but here’s a few things that I have found out.

post-1991: Danielle’s most high-profile release since “Blast The Human Flower” has been the 1995 best-of “Comatose Non-Reaction”, which was released on her own record label Biter Of Thorpe. Isn’t it about time that all her albums were re-released in a big nice shiny boxset? I’d buy it. Away from music, Danielle has worked as a home and garden designer, and in May 1997 she appeared on BBC2’s Home Front and won their design competition. This edition hasn’t turned up on YouTube, I would very much like to see it, if anyone does upload it I will be your friend.

Also around the late-90s there were various shows about home design on ITV including Des Res and Our House, and it seems that Danielle might have contributed to these too (again I think these were only shown in the Carlton/LWT region), along with various magazine articles about her design work. I have also seen people say that Danielle was on the team of various TV makeover shows including BBC1’s Changing Rooms and ITV1’s 60 Minute Makeover, but again I don’t know if that’s right.

This all leads to when I found an article online about Danielle doing a small-time gig (her first for a very long time) about a year or two ago at a club in Dalston in London, which is only about a mile from where I live, I was very surprised to say the least. The article also featured some pictures of Danielle on stage, the first that I’ve seen of her for about 25 years, and she now seems to have bright blue hair and big red lips, and I couldn’t help but think that she looked like Stormer from 80s cartoon Jem. 

You’ll never believe what Danielle Dax looks like now!

I should conclude by saying that I have noticed that many people still seem to have a lot of admiration and fondness for Danielle’s work, and although I only really discovered her myself about a year or two ago, I can clearly see why. And the amount of times that I’ve seen people say “she should’ve been bigger than Madonna” and regret that it didn’t work out for her is remarkable. Thanks for lots of great memories!

The YouTube Files – The Mysterious World Of Danielle Dax.

When I remembered that this year is the 25th anniversary of “Stay” by Shakespear’s Sister’s epic run at Number One on the singles chart in the UK, I decided that I wanted to do a blog piece sharing my memories of that song and give the group a reappraisal. Whilst putting the piece together I discovered something about Siobhan Fahey that I couldn’t believe and I ended up writing about that remarkable story instead. I then started to wonder if there were any other women with an extrovert personality who made similarly spooky or just plain weird records around the same time, and I was very pleased when I discovered someone who just about perfectly fitted the criteria of what I was looking for.

When I decided to review the Channel 4 interview show Star Test recently, I was very pleased when I discovered that Siobhan had appeared on the show as a guest. Whilst trying to find some other editions to watch on YouTube, I found one which featured a musician called Danielle Dax. I must admit that I knew nothing about her beyond remembering seeing a couple of her videos played on The Chart Show‘s Indie Chart in the late-80s on YouTube, but seeing her on this show finally made me curious to discover more about her, and I was very surprised by what I discovered. It seems that Danielle could be described as one of the best-kept secrets in British music in the 1980s.

Danielle Dax was born (in the same month as Siobhan in an almost interesting coincidence) in Essex and throughout the 1980s she made several creative albums. She was also in total control, writing her songs (which sometimes featured rather hard-hitting lyrics), playing a wide variety of rather unusual instruments, and she even organised her tours and interviews, not settling for any interference from record labels or anybody else on the direction of her career. In the articles that I found about her work online, words such as “unique”, “experimental” and “cult” turned up several times, and she was often compared to the likes of similarly out-there singers Kate Bush and Siouxsie Sioux. However, despite her obvious talent, pioneering work and interesting personality being acknowledged, she had precisely zero hit singles and albums in this country, before she dropped off the scene, and a lot of people still can’t believe that she was never a huge success. This piece will take a look back at the small amount of Danielle’s TV appearances and music videos that I have found on YouTube as I wondered why she never hit the big time… 

1983: After leaving the Lemon Kittens, Danielle released her first solo album “Pop-Eyes” (which had a famously grotesque cover) and made one of her earliest TV appearances on the BBC2 music show Riverside shown on Halloween where she was simply described by Radio Times as “mysterious” and performed her song “Pariah”. I must admit that my jaw almost dropped the first time I saw this. Not only because it’s a very odd song featuring strange squeaking and buzzing noises with bizarre lyrics that showed off her remarkable vocal range (“walking sick sick they walking the town“), but I was also surprised by Danielle’s distinctive look with her massive red hair and heavy make-up which made her look like a long-lost cast member of post-apocalyptic drama The Tribe, or maybe pop group Strawberry Switchblade (ask your dad), which is a great thing of course. It was a fascinating performance and it was the moment that I realised what an intriguing talent she was. Who knows, maybe in a parallel universe somewhere “Pariah” spent eight weeks at Number One on the singles chart. 

The “mysterious” Danielle Dax appears in Radio Times in October 1983

1984: Danielle made a brief but memorable appearance in the horror film The Company Of Wolves. Although she only appears for a couple of minutes and has no dialogue, you certainly noticed her. She played a wolfgirl who is taken in by a priest (played by the old boy in early-90s sitcom Waiting For God, I’ll never look at that show in the same way again). She spent four hours in makeup! According to the IMDB this is Danielle’s only acting credit, I wondered if I would ever see it on TV, and then the film turned up recently late at night on the London Live channel, which was an odd coincidence. 

Also in this year, Danielle appeared on Channel 4’s music show The Tube where she was interviewed by Paula Yates and performed her song “Hammerheads”. The only article about Danielle in Smash Hits that I have been able to track down is a paragraph from a November 1984 issue about “Jesus Egg That Wept” including the fact that she likes to play the honkytonk piano. Described as “weird“, unsurprisingly. 

1985: Danielle performed a concert at The Camden Palace, which in 1986 was shown on LWT as part of their Live From London series (I haven’t been able to track down when exactly, but probably rather late at night and only in the LWT region). I was rather surprised to discover that this concert has been released on DVD, where she entertained the crowd by playing 15 songs including such bangers as “Here Come The Harvest Buns” and “Yummer Yummer Man”, and it was a great experience to see one of her shows and be in her company for an hour. 

1987: Danielle made a video for her single “Big Hollow Man”. She also performed this song on a German TV show. 

Also in this year Danielle also appeared as a guest on ITV’s late-night entertainment show Night Network, where she reviewed the latest singles alongside snooker champion Steve Davis which made for an unlikely pairing. And Danielle performed a concert in Tokyo which was shown on Japanese TV. I’m not sure how successful she was in other countries but it seems that she has fans all over the world. 1988: Danielle’s single “Cathouse” which featured some fancy visual effects was played on The Chart Show‘s Indie Chart on Channel 4. Also around this time, Danielle was interviewed in various music magazines including NME and Melody Maker, although I’m fairly sure she never appeared on the cover of any of them. 

1989: Danielle appeared on The Chart Show‘s Indie Chart on ITV with her great single “White Knuckle Ride”. 

Also around this time, Danielle made what must be one of her most high-profile TV appearances when she was a guest on Channel 4’s prime-time interview show Star Test and she faced the computer’s probing questions. She introduced herself by saying “I write and record all my own music, I produce it, I paint, I design record covers, I make clothes”. She revealed some interesting things about herself, for example when asked “which is your best physical feature?”, she said “ooh, my hair!”. Also, when asked “what’s the one thing you don’t have in your life that you would really like?”, she said “a cat”. According to her website, Danielle now owns four cats, so I suppose it is sometimes possible to get what you want in life. 

1990: In what was seemingly a final attempt to push Danielle into the big time, she signed to a major record label and released the album “Blast The Human Flower”, which featured a psychedelic cover of the Beatles song “Tomorrow Never Knows” which was fairly mainstream by her standards. Her look in the video was somewhat toned down by this point, although she still had a rather large red beehive hairstyle. It seems that also around this time she appeared on BBC2’s Juke Box Jury but that doesn’t appear to be online. However, once again this wasn’t a success and Danielle missed out on fame. She was then dropped by her record label, and about a decade after her first album was released, she practically vanished off the music scene altogether, but it was also rumoured that around this time she became ill. Intriguingly, although there was a best-of album released in 1995 called “Comatose Non-Reaction: The Thwarted Career Of Danielle Dax”, there seems to be almost zero audio or visual evidence online of Danielle’s existence post-1991, which just adds to her mystique. Danielle is most certainly still with us though and the story doesn’t end here… 

After that..: In more recent years after leaving music behind Danielle’s career took an unlikely swerve and she has gone to have some success as an interior and garden designer, with her Brixton home which she designed herself featuring in several magazines. In May 1997 Danielle featured in BBC2’s interior design show Home Front when she was one of the three finalists nominated for the Radio Times/Home Front Amateur Decorator Of The Year award. 

The finalists were challenged to decorate a room on an estate in Nottinghamshire. They had 48 hours, a limited budget, and four of their own items to decorate the room. The winner was determined by a judging panel of the show’s presenters, along with a phone vote that was open to viewers to choose their favourite. “I’ll be looking for someone who is courageous with bold and original designs and ideas” said judge and Home Front presenter Anne McKevitt. As it turned out, Danielle won the competition and appeared on the show a few times, and her work in this area has gone on to be much acclaimed.