KAJAGOOGOO

By 1983, and at the end of the New Romantic period, Duran Duran had already established themselves as an international chart success. It was at this time however that the band's keyboardist, Nick Rhodes undertook a spin-off project by co-producing a new pop band
with Colin Thurston (who worked with Howard Jones and Duran Duran) called Kajagoogoo.

Fronted by a lead singer with a spiky blonde haircut, Kajagoogoo were essentially a soft melodic group hailing from Leighton Buzzard in Hertfordshire. They consisted of lead singer, Chris Hamill (whose stage name Limahl is an anagram of his surname), Nick Beggs (vocals / bass), Jez Strode (drums), Steve Askew (guitar) and Stuart Croxford Neale (vocals / synthesiser).

With a tried and tested New Romantic image they scored an instant number one hit with the catchy "Too Shy" in February that year and two more Top Twenty hits before Limahl left to pursue a solo career.

By this time their image was starting to look a little dated but Beggs pushed on, now as lead singer, and the new line-up achieved a number 8 single with "Big Apple" before the year was out. The band steadily fell down the charts with successive releases and in 1985, having changed their name to Kaja (telling journalists that Kajagoogoo was a bit of a mouthful) they broke up. More recently, at the end of the nineties, Nick Beggs toured with Howard Jones and
Limahl performed solo at numerous venues around the country.


Recommended listening: White feathers ?, Kaja ?