15/07/2018
For the ShoutOut coverage of Bristol Pride on B.C.F.M. and Pirate Nation Radio, some notes were prepared on the headline acts for the presenters. Here they are.
Group Biogs for Pride 2018
Many people of a certain age will remember SNAP! from their massive breakthough hit The Power which was released in April 1990 and went on to become a Europe wide smash during the long hot spring and summer of that year. For some of us, it is one of the defining tracks of the rave generation. SNAP! Hail from Frankfurt in Germany, and actually date from 1985, when a previous group called Organisation for Fun was releasing singles.
In the early nineties, hit after hit single followed including the Christmas number “Mary Had a Little Boy”. Above all else, towered “Rhythm is a Dancer”, released in July 1992, which shot up the hit parade to become number one in Germany, the UK, France, Switzerland, Austria, the Netherlands and Belgium.
SNAP! Pursued a more progressive house sound after 1994, and received a solid amount of airplay on London's underground radio stations during this period. Officially disbanded in 1996 with a Greatest Hits Compilation, the group didn't stay apart for long, and its main members returned to working together in 2000.
But it's from their first, enormous Euro hit that ShoutOut's own Terry takes his philosophy for dealing with homophobes. As rapper Turbo B proclaims over the kicking beats:
So peace, stay off my back
Or I will attack and you don't want that
Alexandra Burke is one of the biggest stars ever to perform at Bristol Pride, in all the years it has existed, dating back to the first Avon Gay Pride Festival in the summer of 1976.
She comes from an impeccable soul and dance music pedigree, as her late mother was a member of the legendary band Soul II Soul. Alexandra's own big break came in 2008, when she won ITV's “X Factor” contest with “Hallelujah”, a cover of a relatively obscure Leonard Cohen song from 1984. Burke breathed new life into Cohen's plaintive lyrics and compositions and her single soared to the top of the Charts to become that year's Christmas Number 1.
Alexandra has continued to enjoy album and singles success, and has branched out into fashion, with a range of clothing in association with boyband JLS, the label called 2KX. She's continued to be a prominent feature on television, with work on ITV, Manchester United's Online TV channel and BBC-1's Strictly Come Dancing.
And we should also remember the work that Alexandra has taken on in the field of fundraising and disaster relief: she has been involved in charity work for the relief of the 2010 Haiti Earthquake, Breast Cancer Care and Save the Children. She also cares deeply about animals and along with other celebrities, posed naked for a campaign by animal welfare group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, under the slogan “I'd rather go naked than wear fur”.
Most recently, Alexandra has this year enjoyed theatre work, performing in a re run of the 1980s musical Chess, which was scored by the ABBA masterminds Benny and Bjorn.
Republica have a long history that predates their own formation. Keyboardist Tim Dorney had previously been in “Flowered Up”, one of the largely forgotten bands of the baggy rave era of 1989 to 1990. Meanwhile, singer Saffron had been in trance pop group N-Joi.
Republica came together in 1994, and immediately got taken to the nation's hearts with their singles “Ready to Go” and “Drop Dead Gorgeous”, from their debut album. Republica were in the right place at the right time, as a whole movement of female led bands including Elastica, Echobelly and Lush were putting a new type of feminist pop front stage.
After their second album, “Speed Ballads”, the group went on ice for a few years. However, they began gigging again in 2010 and released a new updated dance version of “Ready to Go” which took them to the top of the dance music playlists in clubs and radio. A new EP and a special session for Brentwood's community radio station Pheonix FM followed and today the team are still touring and writing new material.
