Babble was a British-New Zealand electronic dance music group active in the 1990s. It was formed by Tom Bailey and Alannah Currie, formerly of the

Thompson Twins Thompson Twins were a British pop band formed in 1977 in Sheffield. Initially a new wave group, they switched to a more mainstream pop sound and achieved considerable popularity during the mid-1980s, scoring a string of hits in the United Ki ...

), with Keith Fernley.

History

Babble was established in 1992 when Tom Bailey and Alannah Currie decided to drop the Thompson Twins name and begin recording new music under the name Babble. The decision to adopt a new name stemmed from the duo's aspirations of exploring different musical ideas and recording more experimental music. During the spring of 1992, the duo approached their long-time engineer Keith Fernley and he joined Babble as a full time member. The trio then spent five weeks in India to collect sound and sample recordings for future recording use. Babble's debut album '' The Stone'' was recorded at Bailey and Currie's home studio, the Sugar Shack, in London. British rapper

Q-Tee Q-Tee (born Tatiana Mais, 1976 in Kidbrooke, London) is a British rapper. She provided rapping vocals on two songs by Saint Etienne; the first of these being "Filthy" (B-side to "Only Love Can Break Your Heart" and also released on '' Smas ...

provided rapping vocals on "Beautiful" and Quest vocalist Amey St. Cyr provided additional vocals on " Take Me Away" and "Tribe". Meanwhile, the band's first released track, "Chale Jao", was included on the soundtrack of the film '' Coneheads'' in 1993. ''The Stone'' was originally set for release in the autumn of 1993, but was postponed until 8 March 1994. During 1993, "Beautiful" was issued in the UK as a 12-inch promotional single and "Tribe" was issued in the US as a 12-inch and CD promotional single. A full UK release for "Beautiful" was planned for the summer, but did not materialise. In 1994, "Take Me Away" was released as a single in the US (and as a 12-inch promotional single in the UK) and reached number 18 on the US ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

Hot Dance Music Club Play Hot or the acronym HOT may refer to: Food and drink *Pungency, in food, a spicy or hot quality *Hot, a wine tasting descriptor Places *Hot district, a district of Chiang Mai province, Thailand **Hot subdistrict, a sub-district of Hot District ...

chart. It was followed in the US by the double A-side single, "Beautiful"/"Tribe". During 1994, Babble collaborated with American actress and singer

Traci Lords Traci Lords (born Nora Louise Kuzma; May 7, 1968) is an American actress and singer. She entered the adult film industry using a fake birth certificate to conceal that she was two years under the legal age of eighteen. Lords starred in adult f ...

on her debut studio album ''

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'', released by Radioactive Records in 1995. Babble wrote and produced three tracks for the album: "Fly", "I Want You" and "Father's Field". "Father's Field" was originally recorded with different lyrics and the title "Just Like Honey". It was re-recorded as "Father's Field" after Lords wrote her own set of lyrics. In 1994, Bailey and Currie relocated to New Zealand and set up a new home studio there, which was used for the recording of the band's next album. Bailey and Currie began working on the new material themselves before Fernley arrived in New Zealand in early 1995. ''

Ether In organic chemistry, ethers are a class of compounds that contain an ether group—an oxygen atom connected to two alkyl or aryl groups. They have the general formula , where R and R′ represent the alkyl or aryl groups. Ethers can again b ...

'' was released on 27 February 1996. The album's only single, "

Love Has No Name "Love Has No Name" is a song from British-New Zealand electronic dance music group Babble, which was released in 1996 as the sole single from their second and final studio album ''Ether''. The song was written by Alannah Currie (lyrics) and Tom Ba ...

", which features vocals by New Zealand singer

Teremoana Rapley Tere Veronica Rapley (born 1973), generally known as Teremoana Rapley, is a New Zealand musician, television presenter and television producer, best known for her work in the 1990s with Upper Hutt Posse and Moana and the Moahunters. In the 2 ...

, reached number 10 on the US ''Billboard'' Hot Dance Music Club Play chart. New Zealand singer Taisha Kuhtze provided vocals on "Sun" and "Tower". Babble began recording demos for a third album, but Warner Brothers decided to drop the band from their roster and Babble then ceased further activities.

Members

* Tom Bailey * Alannah Currie * Keith Fernley

Discography

Studio albums

*'' The Stone'' (1994) *''

'' (1996)

Singles

*"Beautiful" (1993) *"Tribe" (1993) *" Take Me Away" (1994) *"Beautiful"/"Tribe" (1994) *"

" (1996)

References

{{Authority control English electronic music groups English dance music groups Reprise Records artists Warner Records artists Musical groups established in 1992 Musical groups disestablished in 1996 Thompson Twins 1992 establishments in the United Kingdom