December 17: Sara Dallin of Bananarama "Cruel Summer, "Venus" is 52-years-old today.

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Sara Elizabeth Dallin was born in Bristol, England.  She attended St George's School for Girls in Bristol with Keren Woodward and studied journalism at the London College of Fashion where she met Siobhan Fahey from Dublin.

In 1980, when Sara was 19, she, Woodward and Fahey founded Bananarama. The name Bananarama is a mixture of the children's TV show "The Banana Splits" and the Roxy Music song "Pyjamarama."

Bananarama experienced their greatest success during the period from 1982 to 1989. Bananarama had a number of top ten hits during that period including "Shy Boy," "Cruel Summer," "Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye," "Robert De Niro's Waiting," "Venus" and "I Heard A Rumour."

In 1988, Siobhan Fahey left the band and was replaced by Jacquie O'Sullivan - formerly of the Shillelagh Sisters - as the trio continued to enjoy chart success. Then, three years later O'Sullivan left the band to pursue a solo career.

Sara and Keren continued Bananarama as a duo and had several minor hits in the nineties. The original line-up reformed briefly in 1998, recording a version of Abba's "Waterloo" as part of Channel 4's "Eurotrash" Eurovision tribute.

 

Keren and Sarah recorded the album "Exotica" in 2001 which includes re-recorded versions of "Venus" and "Robert De Niro's Waiting" as well as a cover version of "Careless Whisper." In February 2002, Keren and Sarah performed live at the London Astoria to mark their 20th anniversary, and were joined by Siobhan as a special guest star.

In 2002, they recorded the song "Love him, Leave him, Forget him" to be used in Sky TV's Is Harry On The Boat? - a show about holiday reps in Ibiza.

In 2005, Bananarama released the album Drama and the single "Move In My Direction" which reached number 14 in the charts giving them their first UK top 20 hit in over 15 years.

Since 1988, Bananarama have been listed in the Guinness World Records as the all-female group with the most chart entries.

Dallin and Woodward, who have been friends since they were four-years-old, continue to tour and record as Bananarama.

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