Dollar
Under the aegis of producer Trevor Horn, this UK singing duo
were designed to appeal to much the same market as Guys And Dolls
before, and Bucks Fizz after them.
Attired in stylish-but-not-too-way-out costumes for UK
television's Top Of The Pops, Thereze Bazaar and David Van
Day made a promising start with November 1978's Shooting Star
(number 14 in the UK).
For the next four years, it was unusual for the latest Dollar
single to miss the Top 20. With vocals floating effortlessly above
layers of treated sounds, the team's biggest work included Love's
Got A Hold On Me, a revival of The Beatles' I Wanna Hold
Your Hand, Mirror Mirror (Mon Amour), Give Me Back
My Heart and the futuristic Videotheque.
By 1982, however, sales had become erratic, and, coupled with
failure to crack the US charts, as well as Bazaar and Van Day's
growing antagonism towards each other, Dollar signed off with a
"best of" compilation harrying the album lists.
While Van Day managed a small hit with Young Americans
Talking in 1983, overall lack of record success as individuals
prompted a reunion in 1986, but their cover of the Erasure song O
L'Amour (1987) made little impact. Van Day subsequently joined
the two-billionth line-up of Bucks Fizz in addition to running a
mobile hamburger wagon!
Bazaar moved to Australia and out of the music business. She
reunited with Van Day in 2002 to perform on the 80s nostalgia
tour, 'Here And Now'.
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