Dollar is a UK pop vocal duo, composed of David Van Day and the birth of Canada, Thereza Bazar. The duo were successful in the late 1970s and 1980s, reaching ten UK top 40 singles, including ten big hits "Love's Gotta Hold Me" (1979), "I Wanna Hold Your Hand" (1979), "Mirror Mirror" 1979), "Mirror Mirror" (1981), "Give Me Back My Heart" (1982) and "O L'amour" (1987).
Video Dollar (band)
Formation
Thereza Bazar and David Van Day met at 17 o'clock when they successfully auditioned for the Guys 'n' Dolls cabaret. The group enjoyed a number of hit singles in the mid-1970s and during this time Van Day and Bazar became romantically involved. In 1977, the group suffered a setback and the couple complained about the selection of material and musical directions. Van Day and Bazar were asked to leave the group in July of that year, with them openly saying that they had decided to go to concentrate on songwriting. Van Day originally planned to go solo, but eventually they agreed to form a duo. They were taken by French label Carrere Records, under the name Dollar.
Maps Dollar (band)
Careers
1970s and 1980s
The first single dollar, "Shooting Star", was released in late 1978 and, after a slow ascent, reached number 14 on the UK Singles Chart. The follow-up, "Who Were You With in the Moonlight?", Was released in early 1979 and also reached number 14. After two hit singles featuring Van Day on lead vocals, their third, the ballad "Love's Gotta Hold on Me" sung by Bazar. It became the first self-written hit by the Dollar upon entering the Top 10 and was one of the biggest, climbing to number 4 on the UK chart. Driven by this steady success, the group released their debut album, Shooting Stars , which came in the top 40. In a change of pace, the band released the cover of The Beatles little retitle. "I Want to Hold Your Hands", which reached number 9. At the same time, Dollar had their first (and only) US hit with "Shooting Star", which made No.74. In February 1980, the group had scored four Top 20 UK hits, but this did not last long.
In 1980, the Dollar moved to WEA Records. Supported by the success of "Love's Gotta Hold on Me", the couple decided to write and produce all the songs for their second album. Trying to move toward rockier sound, the album, along with its single, failed to sell well. In an effort to generate sales, Van Day and Bazar announced their engagement, but this was later revealed to be a publicity stunt.
In 1981, Bazar approached the record producer Trevor Horn, whom he met during his days at Guys n 'Dolls, and asked him if he would work with them. He agreed, and produced their materials in 1981 and 1982. Horn's production work gave the Dollar a more distinctive sound, and the four singles produced by Horn represented a high point in the band's career. It gave them two other Top 10 singles ("Mirror Mirror" and "Give Me Back My Heart") and two more Top 20 hits ("Videotheque" and "Hand Held in Black and White"). All four singles appeared on the third album duo The Dollar Album , released in October 1982. Production on these four hit singles has brought Horn to the attention of other bands, especially ABC, and it was not long before he was too busy to continue working with the duo. "Give Me Some Kinda Magic", Top 40 Dollar hit has been written and produced itself is the fifth single taken from their third album, released a month before the album in September 1982. The Dollar Album is a mix of business Horn and the duo themselves. It became the biggest of their three albums, peaking at No. 1. 18 in the UK and certified Silver by BPI.
In early 1982, the first recorded recording of twelve recordings of Carrere re-released the first album Dollar Shooting Stars The Best of Dollar . It featured an additional song, "I Want to Hold Your Hand", which was the group's last top 20 hit with a label in 1979. Coinciding with The Very Best Of release, the song "Ring Ring" was released as a single in March 1982, just one week before the release of "Give Me Back My Heart". "Ring Ring" reached No. 61 in the UK.
Split and reform
During a promotional trip to Japan in February 1983, the relationship between the duo became increasingly tempestuous and Van Day left the band. Their latest single ("Two Hearts") was never released in the UK and Dollar fractions.
Van Day is ambitious to be a solo artist after he and Bazar are separated. She released the single "Young Americans Talking", written and produced by the people behind Bucks Fizz. Meanwhile, Bazar recorded the album, The Big Kiss , with producer Arif Mardin, and the theme song for the US film Gotcha! with composer Bill Conti. It was released as a single. But none of them enjoy the same success as their solo artist as Dollar.
In 1986 they have been reformed, and released the single "We Walked in Love" and "Not We Say Goodbye Before". Neither of these met with much success and soon the group searched for another record deal. In late 1987, the group covered Hi-NRG-style Erasure song "O L'amour". In early 1988, the song became one of their biggest hits and peaked at No. 1. 7. The group then hit the stumbling block in deciding the follow-up and passing the bad feeling between the pair's up again. Six months later, they finally released another single, "It's Nature's Way", but it became their last release when the single failed and worked on an album that may have been long overdue. At the end of 1988, the Dollar was dissolved again.
Van Day again attempted to launch a solo career, but to no avail. Bazar decided to finish the music industry and move to Australia where he concentrated on raising his family. During the 1990s, Van Day teamed up with a succession of female singers for the Dollar tour version. In the second half of the decade, he joined the variation of the Bucks Fizz group rival with original member Mike Nolan. Two versions of Bucks Fizz are on tour of Britain and other original Bucks Fizz members, Bobby G takes the case in the High Court against Van Day. In 2001, a judge refused to give a court order against Van Day because he had been operating at Bucks Fizz for five years at the time, while also running a burger car in Brighton.
2000s
In the early 2000s, Van Day persuaded the Bazar to rejoin him in the Dollar for a reunion tour. In 2002, they took part in the 'Here And Now' tour, a series of arena-sized concerts featuring singers and other bands from the 1980s. They followed him by appearing on the reality television show Reborn in the USA in 2003. The show involved a number of chart actions that previously successfully toured together in America with a public vote of different actions each week. They quickly became the center of attention when they engaged in a dispute with Sonia pop star, which was broadcast on television and reported in the newspaper. The dollar was the first act that was canceled and they returned to England. The Dollar made another live performance in 2004, in an event celebrating Trevor Horn's career. It happened at Wembley Arena and Dollar appeared alongside ABC and Pet Shop Boys, among other acts that have worked with Horn for years.
In July 2008, the Dollar reformed again to take part in the British reality television program titled Pop Goes the Band, in which a number of former pop stars are being overhauled and fixed to try to reclaim their former glory. This program aired on Living TV on February 23, 2009. In December 2008, Van Day came fourth in I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Get Out of Here! in ITV1. The show witnessed Van Day writing a new song, "Biff Baff Boff", with a 1980s television presenter and broadcaster Timmy Mallett. The album was released as the only download in December 2008 but failed to create a chart. Her appearance on the show made Bazar angry, who later refused to work with her again.
On February 15, 2010, Cherry Red Records republished the remastered edition and expanded The Dollar Album and The Paris Collection for the first time on CD.
Discography
Albums
Singles
References
External links
- Official Dollar Sites
- David Van Day Official Website
Source of the article : Wikipedia