The Doll were a punk rock/ new wave band from

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

, England, who had a top-thirty hit in 1979 with "Desire Me".

History

The Doll formed in October 1977 with a line-up of Marion Valentine (vocals, guitar), Adonis Yianni (keyboards), Christos Yianni (bass guitar), and Mario Watts (drums).Strong, Martin C. (2003) ''The Great Indie Discography'', Canongate, , p. 57Thompson, Dave " The Doll Biography,

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databa ...

, retrieved 2010-09-21 They were signed by

Beggars Banquet Records Beggars Banquet Records is a British independent record label. Beggars Banquet started as a chain of record shops owned by Martin Mills and Nick Austin and is part of the Beggars Group of labels. History In 1977, spurred by the prevailing ...

, who included their track "Trash" on the ''

Streets Streets is the plural of street, a type of road. Streets or The Streets may also refer to: Music * Streets (band), a rock band fronted by Kansas vocalist Steve Walsh * ''Streets'' (punk album), a 1977 compilation album of various early UK punk ba ...

'' compilation and issued their debut single, "Don't Tango on my Heart", in January 1978. They hit 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 ...

with their second single, "Desire Me", which spent eight weeks on the chart, peaking at number 28 in January 1979, and led to the band appearing on ''

Top of the Pops ''Top of the Pops'' (''TOTP'') is a British 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. For most o ...

''.Doll
, Chart Stats, retrieved 2010-09-21 Female singer Valentine became the unintended focus of attention from the press as a result, making her a 'punk sex symbol'. Valentine and Christos Yianni recruited a new line-up including Denis Haines (keyboards),

Jamie West-Oram The Fixx are a rock band from London, England, founded in 1979. The band's hits include " One Thing Leads to Another", " Saved by Zero", " Are We Ourselves?", and " Secret Separation", each of which charted in the Top 20 of the Billboard Hot ...

(lead guitar), and Paul Turner (drums). The new line-up recorded an album titled ''Listen to the Silence'', and a handful of other singles, but failed to repeat their earlier success and split up in spring 1980.

After the Split

later enjoyed success with alternative band

The Fixx The Fixx are a rock band from London, England, founded in 1979. The band's hits include " One Thing Leads to Another", " Saved by Zero", " Are We Ourselves?", and " Secret Separation", each of which charted in the Top 20 of the Billboard Hot ...

. Denis Haines subsequently played keyboards with fellow

artist Gary Numan. With other members of Numan's backing band he later formed Dramatis. Christos Yanni (bass/vocals) joined The Shoppers, a post-punk band on the London scene with Steve Brain (guitar/lead vocals), Maxine Tarte (keyboards/vocals) and Gavin Hearne (lead guitar/vocals).

Discography

Albums

*''Listen to the Silence'' (1979), Beggars Banquet Track listing : # The One Kiss (4.07) # Zero Heroes (3.13) # Ce Soir, Cheri (3.49) # Cinderella With A Husky Voice (4.15) # Memories (2.48) # You Used To Be My Hero (4.00) # True Love (3.40) # Frozen Fire (3.24) # Carmina (3.30) # Listen To The Silence (4.42) # Something Rare, Something Beautiful (5.05)

Singles

*"Don't Tango on my Heart"/"Trash" (1978), Beggars Banquet - personnel listed as Baby Doll (guitar & vocals), Adonis (keyboards), Whizz Kid (bass) and Mario Watts (drums) *"Desire Me"/"T.V.Addict"/"Burning Up Like a Fire"/"Desire Me (Extended Version)"(1978), Beggars Banquet - UK No.28 *"Cinderella with a Husky Voice"/"Because Now" (1979), Beggars Banquet *"You Used to be my Hero"/"Because Now" (1980), Beggars Banquet *"Burning up Like a Fire"/"Frozen Fire" (1980), Beggars Banquet

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Doll English new wave musical groups English punk rock groups Musical groups established in 1977 Musical groups disestablished in 1980 Musical groups from London Female-fronted musical groups