Black Lace (1980s British pop band)

Black Lace are a British pop band best known for novelty party records, including their biggest hit "Agadoo" as well as "Superman" and "Do the Conga". They first came to the public eye when they represented the United Kingdom in the Eurovision Song Contest 1979 with the song "Mary Ann". At that time, the band consisted of Colin Gibb (known as Colin Routh until 1987), Alan Barton, Steve Scholey and Terry Dobson. The band has undergone numerous line-up changes, with Scholey and Dobson leaving in 1981, followed by Barton in 1987, while Gibb, with the exception of a brief departure during 1986–1987, stayed until 2002. Since 2023, Black Lace has consisted of Phil Temple and 2008 Britain's Got Talent contestant Craig Harper. Terry Dobson and his school-friend Ian Howarth formed the Impact as a five-piece pop group in 1969, the other members being Alan Barton, Steve Scholey and Nigel Scott. The group also performed under the names Penny Arcade and Love or Confusion. Howarth left the band for a short while but returned to the line-up in 1973. Dobson also left and was replaced briefly by Neil Hardcastle. Dobson then rejoined, and Scott left in 1973; in the same year, the band adopted the name Black Lace. Ian Howarth was replaced by Colin Routh during late spring 1976 and after turning professional, the band toured the majority of the UK, managed by Keith Mills, commencing their first summer season at the Skegness Central Pier Bier. The following year their summer season would take them to Butlins in Filey, North Yorkshire and Skegness, Lincolnshire. An EP was recorded and produced by comedian Freddie 'Parrot face' Davies at his studio, which was to be sold at their shows. The group were voted Yorkshire Band of the Year by BBC Radio Leeds, and best clubland group playing at the Winter Gardens, Blackpool. In 1979, Black Lace recorded their first single, "Mary Ann", for ATV Music; a recording contract followed with EMI. As the song required a more 'throaty' vocal, it was decided that Alan Barton would be lead singer on the band's recordings, with Steve Scholey on backing vocals, but that Scholey would remain as lead singer for live performances. The song won BBC Television's A Song For Europe and the band went on to represent the United Kingdom at the Eurovision Song Contest 1979 held in Israel, where they finished seventh. Other television appearances around this time included Nationwide, Multi-Coloured Swap Shop, Top of the Pops and Juke Box Jury. "Mary Ann" reached No. 42 on the UK Singles Chart. The band's follow-up single, "So Long Suzy Baby", failed to chart in the UK (as EMI could not decide on which track should be used, and delayed the planned release date), but achieved success in Europe. Black Lace found success with live performances and TV shows, notably the Sopot International Song Festival in Poland, the Golden Orpheus festival in Bulgaria, and on TV in East Germany, West Germany and Spain. The band toured Denmark in 1980, supporting Suzi 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. In 1981, the band split. Dobson joined the Castleford rock band Stormer, who had a recording contract with Ringo Starr, while Scholey left the music industry. Routh and Barton were left to settle huge debts incurred whilst touring. They continued as a duo initially under the name Lace, but soon reverted to Black Lace and recruited a new manager, John Wagstaff. The duo played the Northern club circuit using pre-recorded backing tracks, which was controversial at the time. They recorded an instrumental single based on the "Chicken Dance", released as "Birds Dance" in 1981 (using the name Buzby instead of Black Lace) However, the record was beaten to the charts by another version of the song by The Tweets, released as "The Birdie Song". "Birds Dance" has since been retitled "The Birdie Song" and included on Black Lace albums. Black Lace's 1983 "Superman" single was their first one under their own name on the Flair label, and a promotional video was shot at Casanova's nightclub in Wakefield. One of the hired dancers was the then unknown singer Jane McDonald. "Superman" reached No. 9 in the UK chart, there was some controversy and accusations of plagiarism as Superman was originally performed by Chris and Anthea Reed during the summer season at Barmston Beach and was not written by Black Lace as the band claimed. This also included the iconic dance moves used with the song. Black lace had recorded them performing it and then released it as their own. The Reeds began legal action but did not have copyright protection which allowed Black Lace to continue with the release. An attempt at a follow-up single, "Hey You!", failed to chart, despite being BBC Radio One's Record of the Week. Black Lace received a silver disc for sales of "Superman". They proceeded to tour Denmark with Danish stars Laban and Snapshots. The band's biggest success came in 1984 with the single "Agadoo", selling more than one million copies worldwide, and reaching No. 2 in the UK chart. "Agadoo" was a hit in Europe, South Africa and Australia. Having been presented with a gold disc for sales in the UK, presenter Richard Whiteley forgot Routh's name and referred to him as "Mr Agadoo" (the name Dene Michael later adopted for himself, despite having no involvement with the record). The duo recorded their first album, Black Lace, at Stuck Ranch studios in Denmark. Around this time, their record distribution company Pinnacle went into receivership, leading to Black Lace and their record company losing an estimated quarter of a million pounds in unpaid royalties for "Agadoo". The band's follow-up single, "Do The Conga", reached No. 10 in the UK chart, and the accompanying album Party Party – 16 Great Party Icebreakers sold more than 650,000 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, another single, "El Vino Collapso", was released, with the video shot in Skegness. It failed to reach the top 40, stalling at No. 42 in the UK Singles Chart owing to it being "banned" by the BBC in the wake of the Heysel Stadium disaster. As it had references to "drinking whilst abroad", it was deemed unsuitable for radio play. Further releases "I Speaka Da Lingo" and "Hokey Cokey" reached No. 49 and No. 31, respectively. Black Lace also participated in the recording of the UK No. 1 hit "You'll Never Walk Alone" as part of the charity ensemble The Crowd, which included members of 10cc, Thin Lizzy, Motörhead, The Hollies, Argent, The Who, The Nolans, The Searchers, Smokie, Gerry and the Pacemakers, plus many more, 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 television appearances included The Old Grey Whistle Test, 3-2-1, ITV Telethon, Miss Yorkshire Television, International Disco Dance Championship, Pebble Mill at One and the Top of the Pops Christmas Special. Because of such a demanding work schedule, Barton and Routh found it necessary to charter a private aircraft to meet the deadlines, but the band's success led to a tax demand in excess of £100,000. In 1986, Routh stepped back from publicly performing with Black Lace after a court case resulting from his relationship with an under-age girl. He was replaced by Dene Michael Betteridge (also known as Michael Dene, as well as Dene Michael). Another single, "Wig Wam Bam", featuring Barton, Routh and Betteridge reached No. 63 in the UK chart, but "Viva La Mexico", which was released to capitalise on the 1986 FIFA World Cup football competition, flopped when England were knocked out. Black Lace (Barton and Betteridge) appeared as themselves in the 1987 film Rita,