Susan Fassbender (born Susan Kathryn Whincup, later Baggio, 30 April 1959 – 2 May 1991) was an English singer, songwriter and musician best remembered for the single "Twilight Café", which reached No. 21 in the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

in February 1981.

Career

Born in

Wibsey Wibsey (population 14,530 – 2001 UK census) is a ward within the City of Bradford Metropolitan District Council, West Yorkshire, England. The population had increased to 14,671 at the 2011 Census. Wibsey is named after Wibsey village which ma ...

Bradford Bradford is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Bradford district in West Yorkshire, England. The city is in the Pennines' eastern foothills on the banks of the Bradford Beck. Bradford had a population of 349,561 at the 2011 ...

West Yorkshire West Yorkshire is a metropolitan and ceremonial county in the Yorkshire and Humber Region of England. It is an inland and upland county having eastward-draining valleys while taking in the moors of the Pennines. West Yorkshire came into exi ...

, England, Fassbender (which was her mother's maiden name) began studying classical piano,

clarinet The clarinet is a musical instrument in the woodwind family. The instrument has a nearly cylindrical bore and a flared bell, and uses a single reed to produce sound. Clarinets comprise a family of instruments of differing sizes and pitches ...

and

timpani Timpani (; ) or kettledrums (also informally called timps) are musical instruments in the percussion family. A type of drum categorised as a hemispherical drum, they consist of a membrane called a head stretched over a large bowl traditionall ...

(later also playing synthesizer) at age 13. Eventually she met guitarist Kay Russell, who would become her songwriting partner throughout her career. Both women wrote lyrics and melodies together. Prior to their collaboration, Russell was with poet Nick Toczek in a Bradford-based new wave outfit called Ulterior Motives. After impressing their future manager Alan Brown at a musical instrument shop, Fassbender and Russell signed to independent record label Criminal Records and wrote "Twilight Café", which was released in 1980. Two appearances on

BBC Television BBC Television is a service of the BBC. The corporation has operated a public broadcast television service in the United Kingdom, under the terms of a royal charter, since 1927. It produced television programmes from its own studios from 193 ...

's ''

Top of the Pops ''Top of the Pops'' (''TOTP'') is a British Record chart, music chart television programme, made by the BBC and originally broadcast weekly between 1January 1964 and 30 July 2006. The programme was the world's longest-running weekly music show ...

'' followed in January 1981, with a band also consisting of drummer Gary Walsh and bassist Mike Close. By this point, ownership of the single had passed from Criminal to

CBS Records CBS Records may refer to: * CBS Records or CBS/Sony, former name of Sony Music, a global record company * CBS Records International, label for Columbia Records recordings released outside North America from 1962 to 1990 * CBS Records (2006), founde ...

. In March 1981, Fassbender appeared on German television programme, ''

Disco Disco is a genre of dance music and a subculture that emerged in the 1970s from the United States' urban nightlife scene. Its sound is typified by four-on-the-floor beats, syncopated basslines, string sections, brass and horns, electric pia ...

''. Two other singles followed soon after, namely "Stay" and "Merry-Go-Round". "Stay", the second single, was promoted by an appearance on ''

Cheggers Plays Pop ''Cheggers Plays Pop'' is a British children's game show broadcast on BBC1 from 10 April 1978 to 7 November 1986 hosted by Keith Chegwin Keith Chegwin (17 January 1957 – 11 December 2017) was an English television presenter and actor, ap ...

'', a children's programme. Both tracks were collaborations between Fassbender and Russell. In January 1982, Fassbender and Russell appeared on another British TV show, ''

Multi-Coloured Swap Shop ''Multi-Coloured Swap Shop'', more commonly known simply as ''Swap Shop'', is a British children's television series that aired on BBC1 from 2 October 1976 to 27 March 1982. It was ground-breaking in many ways: by broadcasting on Saturday mornin ...

'', to promote "Merry-Go-Round". After release of the latter singles, Susan Fassbender and Kay Russell both retired temporarily from the music industry, to marry and for Fassbender to raise three daughters. She was married in 1983, when her name became Susan Baggio. Further songs were written, separately and together, by both women, but no further interest was shown by the industry in releasing the new material. A new album of unreleased Fassbender and Russell demos entitled '' Twilight Café (The Demo Collection 1981–1985)'' was released through

Platform Records Platform Records is a UK-based independent record label, created in Edinburgh in 2007. Initial artists included The Shermans who scored two UK Independent Chart top 30 singles with "Calling It Wrong" (peaking at number 23), and "Venom" (peak ...

on iTunes and Amazon on 30 April 2012. Susan Fassbender died by suicide in May 1991, at the age of 32.

Discography

Singles

*"Twilight Café" / "(We'll) Get Around It" (1980) UK #21, IE #24 *"Stay" / "Comment Ça Va" (24 April 1981) – released as "Fassbender–Russell" *"Merry-Go-Round" / "Reasons" (1981) "Twilight Café" was released on Criminal Records and later CBS in both the UK and Germany, and on Lark Records in Belgium and the Netherlands, also later on CBS. The latter two singles reverted to Criminal and Lark. "Twilight Café" was also available as a 12" maxi single in Germany. All tracks were written by Fassbender and Russell.

Albums

*'' Twilight Café (The Demo Collection 1981–1985)'' (April 2012, Platform Records) *''Building A Dream'' (June 2016, Platform Records) *''Live in Concert (1981)'' (June 2016, Platform Records) In 2012,

released ''Twilight Café (The Demo Collection 1981–1985)'', a 20 track album of previously unavailable recordings from Susan Fassbender and Kay Russell. The collection included the original demo version of the duo's hit single, as well as other songs familiar to Fassbender/Russell fans, including several of those featured on the second and final of their CBS 7" singles. The release contained 70 minutes of music, remastered from cassette tapes preserved by Kay Russell. A follow-up collection entitled ''Building A Dream (The Demo Collection Volume 2)'' containing 17 further recordings, was released on 17 June 2016, along with a separate 10 track release entitled ''Live in Concert (1981)''.

References

Other source

* ''

Record Mirror ''Record Mirror'' was a British weekly music newspaper between 1954 and 1991 for pop fans and record collectors. Launched two years after the ''NME'', it never attained the circulation of its rival. The first UK album chart was published in ''Re ...

'', p. 8, "Into the Twilight Zone", 24 January 1981

External links

Susan Fassbender
at Discogs

at MusicBrainz
Kay Russell official site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fassbender, Susan 1959 births English women singer-songwriters English singer-songwriters People from Wibsey Musicians from Bradford English new wave musicians Women new wave singers 20th-century English singers English women pop singers 20th-century English women singers 1991 suicides 1991 deaths Suicides in England