Banderas were a British music duo of the early 1990s who were signed to

London Records London Recordings (or London Records and London Music Stream) is a British record label that marketed records in the United States, Canada, and Latin America for Decca Records from 1947 to 1980 before becoming semi-independent. The London nam ...

. The band was an offshoot of Jimmy Somerville's band

the Communards The Communards were a British synth-pop duo formed in London in 1985. They consisted of Scottish singer Jimmy Somerville and English musician Richard Coles. They are best known for their cover versions of Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes fe ...

, and featured two of his female backing musicians, Scottish vocalist Caroline Buckley and English violinist/keyboardist Sally Herbert. The duo are mostly remembered for their

hit single A hit song, also known as a hit record, hit single, or simply hit, is a recorded song or instrumental that becomes broadly popular or well-known. Although ''hit song'' means any widely played or big-selling song, the specific term ''hit record'' ...

"This Is Your Life", which peaked at No. 16 on the UK Singles Chart in March 1991. The track was co-written with songwriter Roger Swallow and contains samples of the song "Crack Attack" by

Grace Jones Grace Beverly Jones (born 19 May 1948) is a Jamaican singer, songwriter, model and actress. She began her Model (person), modelling career in New York State, then in Paris, working for fashion houses such as Yves Saint Laurent (brand), Yves St ...

from her 1989 album '' Bulletproof Heart''. The duo appeared on

BBC One BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's oldest and flagship channel, and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television b ...

's ''

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

'' on 21 March 1991 to perform the song. The duo's album, '' Ripe'', peaked at No. 40 on the

UK Albums Chart The Official Albums Chart is the United Kingdom's industry-recognised national record chart for album, albums. Entries are ranked by sales and audio streaming. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the O ...

, and featured further singles "She Sells" (No. 41) and "May This Be Your Last Sorrow" (which did not chart). The album features

Johnny Marr John Martin Marr (Birth name#Maiden and married names, né Maher; born 31 October 1963) is a musician, songwriter and singer. He first achieved fame as the guitarist and co-songwriter of the Smiths, who were active from 1982 to 1987. He has sinc ...

(the Smiths) on guitar and Bernard Sumner ( New Order) on guitar and backing vocals, as well as backing vocals on "Why Aren't You in Love with Me?" by Jimmy Somerville ( Bronski Beat/the Communards).

Post-Banderas careers

Sally Herbert became a record producer and in February 2021 teamed up with Somerville to record a cover of "Everything Must Change" by

Nina Simone Nina Simone ( ; born Eunice Kathleen Waymon; February 21, 1933 – April 21, 2003) was an American singer, pianist, songwriter, and civil rights activist. Her music spanned styles including classical, folk, gospel, blues, jazz, R&B, and po ...

, as a charity record for End Youth Homelessness, a network of projects which includes Centrepoint in London and a number of other homeless charity organisations around the UK.

Discography

Albums

* '' Ripe'' (1991) – UK No. 40

Singles

References

English pop girl groups English all-female bands English pop music duos Female musical duos All-female electronic bands Musical groups established in 1991 1991 establishments in England London Records artists All-female pop bands {{UK-band-stub