Sheeba (1978-1984)
Photo Gallery -
Band Lineups -
Discography
- Audio samples -
Where Are They Now?
The Story
In the summer of 1978, the "long awaited" launch of Sheeba was
announced in newspapers across Ireland. Although most new bands that
appeared earlier in the era had started locally and slowly grew
their reputation across the country, by the 1970's it had become
more common for new bands to be "launched" supported by an all out
publicity campaign. Another change in the format of the band was
that Sheeba was actually just the three female vocalists,
Irene "Maxi" McCoubrey (formerly of Maxi, Dick and Twink), Marion
Fossett (formerly of the Fossett's Family Circus) and Francis
Campbell from Derry. The trio were initially being "backed" by
Jim Farley's Band at the time. We are unsure who was in Jim's
band at that point.
Based on the adverts in locals
papers, the trio was definitely one of the most photographed new
acts the Irish entertainment industry had ever seen. Whereas most
new bands of the era used one or two photos for all their publicity,
it seemed Sheeba had an unlimited supply of photos in different
outfits and hairstyles, prompting their description as Ireland's
most "glamourous" band.
An article by Mick Clare in the
Evening Herald in July, 1978 gave an in-depth view of the band's
origins. Mick Quinn and Peter Dempsey had put the band together with
Manager Dempsey commenting that the band "were simply not interested
in in Ireland but the more lucrative international markets." The
band first appeared in the Irish National Song Contest in March of
1978 singing "It's Amazing What Love Can
Do." Based on newspaper reporting at the time, it would appear the
band had hoped a win in the national contest would launch them onto
the International scene, however they ended up coming in a
disappointing sixth behind that year's winner Colm T. Wilkinson who
would instead go on to international fame.
A few months later, they were
playing the Irish ballroom scene and garnering a lot of attention
from both promoters and patrons alike. Their flashy costumes,
singing talent and beauty captivated audiences across the country.
The exposure gained from the national song contest contributed to
their immediate popularity. They also released their first single
which was Like A Falling Star (although in other markets this
appears to have been the B-side of A Woman Without Love.)
Throughout 1978 and 1979, Sheeba
were constantly touring, supported by Jim Farley and playing a good
mix of ballroom and cabaret gigs. However in May, 1979 we know that
a new band called Daddy Cool and the
Lollipops started playing some midweek gigs on the Dublin
cabaret scene at venues like the Old Sheiling. Daddy Cool was none
other than Jim Farley so we assume it was during this general period
that he stopped "backing" Sheeba.
A new band was formed to back the
girls which would also now be known as "Sheeba." The original
line-up (we think) was: Alistair "Perky" Boggins (guitar), Martin
Brannigan (drums), Shaun Magee (bass) and Denis Woods (keyboards).
Interestingly, the photo below is the only one we have seen which
included the entire band together.
In a recent email (2019), Niall Power told us he joined Sheeba in December,
1979 and the lineup was then Maxi, Marion, and Francis on vocals,
with Denis Woods (keyboards), Shaun
Magee (bass), Perky Boggins (guitar) and Niall on drums.
Niall and Denis would leave in April 1980 to join Stepaside.
In April, 1980, it was reported
that the band had a "new single" out called A Woman Without Love,
which you may recall (above) appeared to be the A-side of their
first single (Like A Falling Star) except in Ireland. They
would also release another single later in the year called Ain't
That Enough For You, neither of which made an impact on the
charts.
Although the three lead singers
would remain constant, the line-up of Sheeba would change pretty
regularly from 1980 through 1982. We thank Trish Clarke for most of
the line-up information below. We know that Jimmy Compton (drums)
and Paul Drennan (keyboards) joined the band when Niall and Denis
left to join Stepaside. Trish
told us that during 1981 Tony Molly (bass), Fran Breen (drums), Anto
Drennan (guitar) and Brian Despard (drums) would all spend time in
the band.
However, more importantly, the
trio would be a part of the Irish Song Contest again in 1981 singing
the song Horoscopes written by Jim Kelly and Joe Burkett and
would prove victorious. As an aside, they would be up against
Ireland's "other" three girl group, the Duskey Sisters who sang
Where Does That Love Come From but would end up tied for third.
In 1982, both groups would again compete but this time the Duskey's
would triumph with Here Today Gone Tomorrow, while Sheeba
placed seventh with the song in Irish, Go
Raibh Maith Agat (Thank You Very Much). Maxi had already
represented Ireland at Eurovision in 1973 when she sang Do I
Dream, but placed 10th that year.
As with all Irish Eurovision
hopefuls, the band was riding high for the next few months,
especially after Johnny Logan became the second Irish person to win
the contest (Dana had been the first to win it all in 1970).
Eurovision that year was held in Dublin following Ireland's win with
Johnny Logan in 1980 with Shay Healy's song What's Another Year?
Unfortunately, Sheeba would place fifth in the
contest but garnered a respectable 105 votes. Buck's Fizz
would win that year with Making Your Mind Up. However, their
recording of Horoscopes would reach number 3 in the Irish
Charts, giving them their first (and only) chart hit.
Obviously disappointed at their
lack of success at Eurovision (and they received no votes from
Britain), they returned to Ireland and continued to successfully
tour up and down the country to appreciative crowds in both the
ballrooms and cabaret throughout the rest of 1981. As previously
mentioned, they would again try the national song contest in 1982,
losing out the the Duskey Sisters.
By August of 1981 they were being
managed by Johnny Hynes (also of the Mick Quinn group) and they
released their follow-up to Horoscopes, The Next Night.
Although it also missed making the charts, it helped maintain the
band's position as one of the top tier pop groups in Ireland. In
October, they were regular weekly guests on
Brendan Grace's new RTE programme
called "That's Showbiz."
At some point in early 1982, the
band went to Miami to play at the Applause Applause Night Club, but
we are not sure how long they were there as they were still being
advertised as appearing in Irish ballrooms on a fairly regular
basis. An article in the Sunday Independent painted a picture
of the band trying to connect with a non-English speaking Latino
crowd who didn't quite appreciate their brand of English-based pop.
One way or another, a few days later the band was back in Ireland
preparing to take part in the National Song Contest yet again.
Although they lost to the Duskey
Sisters in 1982, Sheeba continued to be a very busy pop group during
the period when the ballrooms around Ireland were dying. The summer
of 1982 would see the band busier than ever but this would come to a
tragic end when the three girls were involved in a fatal road crash
just outside Castlebar, Co. Mayo on October 1st. The women driver of
the other car and her four-year-old daughter would be killed and
Maxi, Francis and Marion were all injured with Maxi receiving the
most serious injuries. The tragic story was headline news across the
country for weeks while the girls began the road to recovery.
The band would be off the road
fore a prolonged period and it would not be until May of 1983 that
they made their first public appearance as part of the month-long
run of the "Dickie Rock Is Back" show in the Gaiety theatre in
Dublin. Although we have been unable to find any advertisements for
the band playing the ballrooms in 1983, it was reported by Thomas
Myler in December (see below) that the trio were off to England
after success appearing on ITV television.
A newspaper report we read said
they had spent time in Spain performing and they were once again
picked for the National Song Contest where they sang My Love and
You which was written by former keyboard playing Denis Woods and
Maxi herself. They placed a respectable fourth in the contest.
We have read newspaper reports
that they embarked on a short tour of Japan in early 1984 before
calling it quits, but we could not find any newspaper articles to
support this. However, in March 1984, they announced their
"first
tour in 17 months" in Ireland which started on May 2nd in Limavady,
Co. Derry. The tour would go ahead, but by August, the band had
disbanded and Maxi announced she was going to start a career in
television.
click on thumbnails for full image
