Fairground Attraction were a London based folk and

soft rock Soft rock is a form of rock music that originated in the late 1960s in Southern California and the United Kingdom which smoothed over the edges of singer-songwriter and pop rock, relying on simple, melodic songs with big, lush productions. S ...

band. They are notable for the 1988

hit Hit means to strike someone or something. Hit or HIT may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Fictional entities * Hit, a fictional character from '' Dragon Ball Super'' * Homicide International Trust, or HIT, a fictional organization ...

songs " Perfect" and " Find My Love", both taken from the group's multi-platinum selling debut album, '' The First of a Million Kisses''. The band won two

Brit Awards The BRIT Awards (often simply called the BRITs) are the British Phonographic Industry's annual popular music awards. The name was originally a shortened form of "British", "Britain", or "Britannia" (in the early days the awards were sponsored ...

in 1989, but split the following year. Lead vocalist

Eddi Reader Sadenia "Eddi" Reader MBE (born 29 August 1959) is a Scottish singer-songwriter, known for her work as frontwoman of Fairground Attraction and for an enduring solo career. She is the recipient of three BRIT Awards. In 2003, she showcased the w ...

subsequently launched a solo career.

Career

Fairground Attraction were put together in London by guitarist and songwriter Mark Nevin, who had previously played with Kirsty McColl. After meeting Scottish singer Eddi Reader they played small venues in London with band members Simon Edward and Roy Dodds. In 1987,

RCA Records RCA Records is an American record label currently owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America. It is one of Sony Music's four flagship labels, alongside RCA's former long-time rival Columbia Records; also ...

signed Fairground Attraction, and in April 1988 released their first single, "Perfect", an immediate success, reaching number one on 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 May 1988, RCA released their album '' The First of a Million Kisses,'' a blend of folk, jazz,

country A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. It may be a sovereign state or make up one part of a larger state. For example, the country of Japan is an independent, sovereign state, whi ...

, and

cajun The Cajuns (; French: ''les Cadjins'' or ''les Cadiens'' ), also known as Louisiana ''Acadians'' (French: ''les Acadiens''), are a Louisiana French ethnicity mainly found in the U.S. state of Louisiana. While Cajuns are usually described as ...

elements (with all but one of its songs written by guitarist Mark Nevin). The album duplicated the success of "Perfect". After entering the

UK Albums Chart The Official Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales and (from March 2015) audio streaming in the United Kingdom. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the Official Charts ...

at number three, and rising to number two, it was eventually certified

platinum Platinum is a chemical element with the symbol Pt and atomic number 78. It is a dense, malleable, ductile, highly unreactive, precious, silverish-white transition metal. Its name originates from Spanish , a diminutive of "silver". Pla ...

. RCA released three other singles from the album: " Find My Love" (which reached number seven on the UK Singles Chart), "A Smile in a Whisper", and "Clare". At the

1989 BRIT Awards Brit Awards 1989 was the 9th edition of the Brit Awards, an annual pop music awards ceremony in the United Kingdom. It was organised by the British Phonographic Industry and took place on 13 February 1989 at Royal Albert Hall in London. This ye ...

, "Perfect" won the award for Best British Single, and ''The First of a Million Kisses'' won the award for Best British Album. Although they were popular in European countries, and toured the United States, they found their main success outside the UK in Japan, where they toured in 1989. In September 1989, during the recording of a second album, rumours of arguments circulated, and in January 1990 the band split up. Reader and Nevin have both been interviewed about the break up but do not agree on what actually prompted it. RCA later released a second album "

Ay Fond Kiss ''Ay Fond Kiss'' is the second and final studio album released by British group Fairground Attraction. It was released on 18 June 1990. The title is a misspelling of the Robert Burns poem " Ae Fond Kiss", which lead singer Eddi Reader also covered ...

" and one of its songs, a cover of Patsy Cline's "

Walkin' After Midnight "Walkin' After Midnight" is a song written by Alan Block and Don Hecht and recorded by American country music artist Patsy Cline. The song was originally given to pop singer Kay Starr; however, her label rejected it. The song was left unused unt ...

", was their last single and a minor hit. This album though was made up of

B-side The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph records and cassettes; these terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side usually features a recording that its artist, producer, or record compan ...

s and other material recorded alongside their first album (many being collaborations by just two band members). Mark Nevin recorded material intended for the second album with Brian Kennedy, released under the name Sweetmouth in 1991. A live recording of Fairground Attraction from 1989 was later released and as well as hits and tracks from their first album it included eight tracks intended for the aborted second album. This release came in 2003 and documents a show from their Japanese tour, ''Kawasaki Live in Japan 02.07.89''. After the band's break-up, Eddi Reader continued to perform as a solo artist. Mark Nevin worked with

Morrissey Steven Patrick Morrissey (; born 22 May 1959), known professionally as Morrissey, is an English singer and songwriter. He came to prominence as the frontman and lyricist of rock band the Smiths, who were active from 1982 to 1987. Since th ...

, co-writing most of the ''

Kill Uncle ''Kill Uncle'' is the second solo studio album by English alternative rock singer Morrissey, released on 4 March 1991 by EMI Records and HMV Records. The title comes from the color black comedy film '' Let's Kill Uncle'' (1966). Recording ''Kil ...

'' album, and with

Kirsty MacColl Kirsty Anna MacColl (10 October 1959 – 18 December 2000) was a British singer and songwriter, daughter of folk singer Ewan MacColl. She recorded several pop hits in the 1980s and 1990s, including " There's a Guy Works Down the Chip Shop Swears H ...

again, before embarking on his own solo career. Although Reader and Nevin have occasionally worked together over the years, they seem uninterested in reforming the band.

Personnel

– vocals *Mark E. Nevin – electric and acoustic guitars *Simon Edwards – guitarrón *Roy Dodds – drums

Awards and nominations

{, class=wikitable , - ! Year !! Awards !! Work!! Category !! Result , - , 1988 , Smash Hits Poll Winners Party , rowspan=2, Themselves , Most Promising New Act , , - , rowspan=4, 1989 ,

Silver Clef Award The O2 Silver Clef Awards is an annual UK music awards lunch which has been running since 1976. History The Silver Clef fundraising committee was founded in 1976 by musicians and managers from across the British music industry, who wanted to hono ...

, Best Newcomer , , - , Ivor Novello Awards , rowspan=2, " Perfect" , Best Song Musically & Lyrically , , - , rowspan=2,

BRIT Awards The BRIT Awards (often simply called the BRITs) are the British Phonographic Industry's annual popular music awards. The name was originally a shortened form of "British", "Britain", or "Britannia" (in the early days the awards were sponsored ...

, Best British Single , , - , '' The First of a Million Kisses'' , Best British Album ,

Discography

Studio albums

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Compilation albums

*''The Collection: Fairground Attraction, featuring Eddi Reader'' (1994) *''Perfect: The Best of Fairground Attraction'' (1995) *''The Very Best of Fairground Attraction, featuring Eddi Reader'' (1996) *''The Masters'' (1997) *''80s Eternal Best: Fairground Attraction Best'' (1998) *''The Very Best of Fairground Attraction'' (2004)

Live albums

*''Kawasaki Live in Japan 02.07.89'' (2003)

Singles

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IRE Ire or IRE may refer to: Ire * Extreme anger; intense fury * Irē, the Livonian name for Mazirbe, Latvia * A town in Oye, Nigeria * ''Ire'' (album), a 2015 album by the Australian metalcore band Parkway Drive * Ire (Iliad), a town mentioned in ...

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'' , - , align="center" colspan="15" style="font-size:90%", "—" denotes items that did not chart or were not released in that territory. , -

Videos

*''The First of a Million Kisses'' (1990) *:Collection of music videos: "Perfect", "Find My Love", "A Smile in a Whisper", "Clare" *''Live at Full House'' (1990) *:Live performances from German television show called ''Live at Full House'':

References

External links

Eddi Reader's official websiteMark E. Nevin's website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fairground Attraction British folk music groups British soft rock music groups Musical groups established in 1987 Musical groups disestablished in 1990 Brit Award winners