The group, originally a trio, consisted of friends Sara Dallin, Siobhan Fahey, and Keren Woodward.

(1989), recorded with comedy duo French and Saunders and comedian Kathy Burke for the charity Comic Relief.

After O'Sullivan's mid-1991 departure, Dallin and Woodward continued Bananarama as a duo, with further Top 30 hits including "Movin' On" (1992), "More, More, More" (1993), "Move in My Direction" (2005), and "Look on the Floor (Hypnotic Tango)" (2005).

Fahey temporarily rejoined Bananarama in 2017, and the band toured the UK and North America as a trio between November and August that year.

Bananarama formed in September 1980 when teenagers and childhood friends Sara Dallin and Keren Woodward moved from Bristol to London and met Siobhan Fahey.

Dallin and Fahey were studying journalism at the London College of Fashion (University of Arts) and Woodward was working at the BBC in Portland Place.

This caught the attention of ex-Specials member Terry Hall, who invited them to collaborate with his new vocal group Fun Boy Three on their album and the single "It Ain't What You Do (It's The Way That You Do It)".

During 1982 and 1983, Bananarama did several promotional US press tours and TV appearances the first being on The Uncle Floyd Show and on American Bandstand and Solid Gold.

Single "Rough Justice" (UK #23) was written about Thomas Reilly, the band's road manager and brother of Fahey's boyfriend Jim Reilly (drummer of the Northern Irish punk band Stiff Little Fingers), who was shot and killed by a British soldier in Belfast in August 1983.

The album contains the group's most commercially successful single to date, a cover version of Shocking Blue's 1969 song "Venus", which peaked at No.

5 in his "15 unforgettable Stock Aitken Waterman singles" list, describing it as a "timeless classic of 80s synth pop, an instantly recognisable foot-tapping gem", while underlining the "provocative video and all its fire, sexy choreography, coffin dancing and red patent-leather devil outfits".

During a press tour in New York City, the group also recorded a song "Riskin' a Romance" featured in the film The Secret of My Success (1987).

All sales from the single were donated to charity in response to the capsizing of the ferry MS Herald of Free Enterprise, which killed 193 people.

3), a mock girl-group created by British female comedy duo French and Saunders, with fellow comedian Kathy Burke.

Other tracks venture deep into the dark tunnel of dreamland: Pulses from an alternate universe underline fizzy computerized harmonies; sleepy voices trying hard to wake up ask 'What color are the skies where you live?' ...

He presented the album as "a concept project [Waterman] billed "ABBA-Banana", and considered "Movin'On" and "Last Thing on My Mind" as "classics".

The album and its three singles — "I Found Love", "Every Shade of Blue", and "Take Me to Your Heart" — were only released in some European countries, North America, Japan, and Australia, but not in Britain.

In 1999, Dallin, Woodward, and Fahey were interviewed together for an episode of the BBC music documentary series Young Guns Go For It dedicated to the group.

The album also included a cover of George Michael's "Careless Whisper", Latin- and R&B-influenced dance songs, and reinterpreted versions of their earlier hits.

In 2005, Dallin and Woodward collaborated with Murlyn Music Group, writing and recording in Sweden for six months to produce the album Drama.

2 on the US Hot Dance Club Play chart as an import, becoming Bananarama's biggest US dancefloor hit since "Venus" two decades earlier.

On 19 March 2007, Bananarama's first six studio albums were reissued by Rhino Records on CD with bonus material, including alternative versions, remixes, and B-sides.

[25] In August 2009, they performed at the 80s Rewind Festival in Henley-on-Thames alongside other 1980s acts which included Rick Astley, Belinda Carlisle, and Kim Wilde.

114) backed by Ian Masterson's 2010 reworking of the 1995 single "Every Shade of Blue" and "The Runner" (originally recorded by The Three Degrees), remixed by Buzz Junkies.

[27][28] In April 2011, Bananarama appeared on ITV's hit comedy Benidorm and performed "Love in the First Degree", "Robert De Niro's Waiting...", and "Movin' On".

[29] On 9 July 2012, Warner Music imprint Rhino Records released a greatest hits CD and DVD Collection 30 Years of Bananarama to celebrate the band's 30th anniversary.

[30] The CD features Bananarama's 22 best-known singles, from their 1981 debut, "Aie a Mwana", to their 2009 effort, "Love Don't Live Here".

In February 2018, they played four dates in North America: Los Angeles, San Francisco, and New York City in the United States; and Toronto in Canada.

On 22 December 2018, Dallin and Woodward again appeared as contestants on the Christmas Special of the game show Pointless Celebrities.

[37] On 15 June 2022, the album title track "Masquerade" was released as the first official single, and its music video followed two days later.