Bananarama reflect on 40 years in pop as they hit back at online ageism: ‘No one says it about Mick Jagger’
Exclusive: Sara Dallin and Keren Woodward defend Madonna against "ridiculous" ageism as they mark more than four decades in music
As they celebrate more than four decades in pop with their career-spanning Glorious – The Ultimate Collection, Bananarama have come to the defence of Madonna against ageist trolls claiming she’s too old to tour.
“It’s absolutely ridiculous,” Keren Woodward sighs. “There’s always been sexism and ageism in this industry and there still is, whether it comes from a record company point of view, journalists and now people online. Get over it! No-one says it about Mick Jagger.”
Sara Dallin is equally incensed. “It’s alright for an older guy to just stand there with a guitar and jeans, but then you have a woman who puts on a phenomenal, creative show and all some people can talk about is how old she is.”
“We learned to write songs and got better and better at it”
Like Madonna, Bananarama came to fame in the 80s – first as a trio featuring Sara, Keren and Siobhan Fahey, then with Jacqui O’Sullivan, and finally as a duo for the bulk of their career. They still perform live (and have three shows coming up at the London Palladium this April) and continue to co-write new music.
Of their longevity, Sara says: “It’s not something we ever planned for. We just recorded a demo, seemed to be in the right place at the right time back in the early 80s and it seemed like fun because we were kids. Then ‘Cruel Summer’ became a top 10 hit in America and we thought ‘Wow, this could actually be a career’.”
She smiles proudly. “We learned to write songs and got better and better at it, and we tried to steer our own ship as opposed to have somebody else tell us what we should do. I think the authenticity is key to our success, really. Why we’re successful is because we stick to what we know and what we’re good at.”
They’ve always had a strong LGBTQ fanbase. “But again that’s not something we set out to have,” Keren says. “At some point we just gravitated towards each other and suddenly you find that all your friends are part of that community. A lot of the people we hung out with went to Heaven, Daisy Chain and places like that, and they were interesting because they were so creative.”
Glorious – The Ultimate Collection is out CD, vinyl and download on 8 March