Get ready to rock to the sounds of the Eighties ...
MARION McMULLEN turns back the clock with some of the stars of the decade who are coming out to play at the Let’s Rock retro festival dates across the country
TOYAH
What is your strongest memory of the 1980s? I SING my hits at least two to four times a week these days – the 80s are alive and kicking. But if I was to look back for a strong memory, it would be how large the clothes were. Everything was big and baggy.
What was your favourite gig?
DRURY Lane Theatre, Christmas Eve, 1981. Headline artist for BBC TV’s The Old Grey Whistle Test – there were 12 million viewers tuned in. I was slightly nervous!
Did you ever have a starstruck moment? (DAVID) BOWIE, always Bowie. He took my breath away. I have run away from him twice because I was speechless.
Did you embrace 1980s fashion?
I WAS very individualistic, so I like to think 80s fashion embraced me. All my clothes were one-off designer made. I liked the big shoulders ’til I realised how out of proportion they were.
NIK KERSHAW
What is your strongest memory of the 1980s? BEING accosted by Miles Davis at a gig in New York and him asking me to write something for him. Yes, that actually happened.
Did you ever have a starstruck moment? I MET David Bowie twice. On both occasions, the power of speech failed me.
Did you embrace 1980s fashion?
NO I did not, as was apparent to the record company. They had to employ a stylist to make me vaguely presentable. To this day I still believe that the only excuse for high waisted trousers, braces and a snood is if you’re on a skiing holiday. My favourite look was ‘Blue
Steel.’
LIMAHL
What is your strongest memory of the 1980s? YOU wouldn’t be surprised that my response is ‘hair’ – lol.
Did you ever have a starstruck moment? KENNETH Williams on a Granada TV show set in Manchester and Grace Jones at TV-AM (remember TV-AM?)
Did you embrace 1980s fashion?
I DID – and there is photographic evidence out there to support that. Hair, shoulder pads and baggy jumpers.
LEVEL 42’S MARK KING
What is your strongest memory of the 1980s? GETTING a slot on Top Of The Pops was always a thrill, and getting to rub shoulders with the other artistes was a hoot. Having grown up with the show, to actually find yourself on it was so exciting.
Did you ever have a starstruck moment? YES, and I still do embarrassingly enough. I think I’m just a fan at the end of the day, so bumping into celebs at various dos is a real treat. Meeting Jimmy Page at The Silver Clef awards for Nordoff Robbins was brilliant.
Did you embrace 1980s fashion? I THINK I’m on thin ice here and we seemed to be a band of no fixed fashion, which is evident in the photos that come back to haunt you. I blame the stylists... ha ha!
KIM APPLEBY, OF MEL & KIM
What is your strongest memory of the 1980s? THE 80s was an innovative time, musically and creatively. We all worked very hard at putting our stamp on our look and trying to be as different as possible. Hence the Let’s Rock crowd having the opportunity to emulate their favourite idol. You know immediately who they are.
Did you ever have a starstruck moment? MEL and I had two starstruck moments. One was when we met Smokey Robinson at the Montreux Pop Festival. He was the sweetest guy and complemented us on our performance. We couldn’t believe he knew who we were. The second was when we met Whitney Houston at her private party that she held after playing Wembley.
She’d sent her personal assistant Robin to come find us as she wanted to meet us. We spent the whole evening hanging with her on her table, talking girly stuff etc. She was amazing, so bubbly. Bless her.
Did you embrace 1980s fashion?
WE were 80s fashion!
GARY DALY OF CHINA CRISIS
What is your strongest memory of the 1980s? THAT would have to be meeting and performing with some of our greatest musical heroes, including supporting David Bowie on his Glass Spider tour. Likewise The Police, Orange Juice, Santana, Simple Minds, Tina Turner...
Did you ever have a starstruck moment? MEETING Bowie and also Sir Paul McCartney. My bandmate Eddie (Lundon) actually works for Sir Paul’s Liverpool Institute of Performing Arts and he very kindly invited me in to meet Sir Paul... who was completely lovely and insisted on getting his photograph taken with us... awwww.
Did you embrace 1980s fashion?
EDDIE and myself were very much of the charity shop look – long overcoats, short back and sides haircuts. Then, of course, we succumbed to the dreadful mullet hairdo... ahaaaa awful!
ROLAND GIFT OF FINE YOUNG CANNIBALS
What is your strongest memory of the 1980s? GETTING to number one in the USA the same week my girlfriend chucked me.
Did you ever have a starstruck moment? MEETING the actor Tom Courtney in Amsterdam.
What was your favourite 80s look? SKI pants.
TIGHT FIT
What is your strongest memory of the 1980s? SOME of the best memories of the 1980s are of being a part of Top Of The Pops and meeting other groups that we were fans of.
What was your favourite gig?
ONE gig that was very special to us was shortly after the band reunited, performing at London Pride to a crowd of over 25,000 people in Trafalgar Square and having them all singalong with our hits.
THOMAS DOLBY
What is your strongest memory of the 1980s? THE amazing variety of innovative music! All things were possible, all chords, all beats, all hairstyles.
What was your favourite gig?
PLAYING Live Aid with David Bowie at Wembley Stadium in 1985.
Did you ever have a starstruck moment? MEETING Buzz Aldrin, the second man on the Moon. He did a cameo on the music video for She Blinded Me With Science.
JENNIE BELLE STAR OF THE BELLE STARS
What is your strongest memory of the 1980s? PADDED shoulders and ra-ra skirts, electronic music and the New Romantics.
Did you ever have a starstruck moment? NO, BUT I did meet and talk to two people that I have always admired – David Bowie and Eartha Kitt.
Did you embrace 1980s fashion?
PADDED shoulders and baggy trousers were my fave.
Let’s Rock is the biggest wholly independent series of retro festivals. Go to letsrock80s.com for tickets.