Fairground Attraction

Fairground Attraction
left to right: Reader, Dodds, Edwards, Nevin
Background information
Origin	Scotland
Genres	Acoustic pop
Years active	1987–1990
Labels	RCA
Past members
Eddi Reader Mark E. Nevin Simon Edwards Roy Dodds

Fairground Attraction were a British acoustic pop band. They are best known for their hit single "Perfect", and for helping to launch the career of lead vocalist Eddi Reader.

Career

In 1987 Fairground Attraction were signed to RCA, and launched their first single, "Perfect", in April 1988. It was an immediate success, reaching number one on the UK Singles Chart. Their album The First of a Million Kisses was a blend of folk, jazz, country, and cajun elements (all but one of its songs being written by Nevin). Released in May 1988, it followed the success of "Perfect" by entering the UK Albums Chart at number three, and rising to number two; it was eventually certified platinum. Three other singles were released from the same 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 "Perfect" won the award for best single, and The First of a Million Kisses won best album.

Although they were popular in European countries, and toured the United States, their main success outside the UK was in Japan, where they toured in 1989 (a tour that produced their only live album, Kawasaki Live in Japan 02.07.89).

In September 1989, however, during the recording of their second album, rumours of arguments circulated, and in January 1990 the band split up. An album Ay Fond Kiss was released in 1990, and one of its songs, a cover of Patsy Cline's 1957 country hit "Walkin' After Midnight", became their last single. The album was made up of B-sides and other material recorded alongside the first album (many being collaborations by just two band members). Material for the second album went on to be recorded by Nevin with Brian Kennedy under the name Sweetmouth, although eight tracks have since appeared sung by Reader on the Kawasaki Live in Japan 02.07.89 album.

Personnel

• Eddi Reader — vocals - born 28 August 1959, Glasgow, Scotland
• Mark E. Nevin — guitar - born 13 August 1959, Ebbw Vale, Wales
• Simon Edwards — guitarrón
• Roy Dodds — drums - born 11 July 1958

Discography

Singles

Release date	Title	Chart Positions
		UK [1]	Australia [2]	New Zealand [3]
March 1988	"Perfect"	1	1	4
July 1988	"Find My Love"	7	-	34
November 1988	"A Smile in a Whisper"	75	-	-
January 1989	"Clare"	49	-	-
May 1990	"Walking after Midnight"	97	-	-

Studio albums

• The First of a Million Kisses (1988)
• Ay Fond Kiss (1990)
• Kawasaki Live in Japan 02.07.89 (2003)

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 Best of Fairground Attraction (2004)

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

1. ^ http://www.chartstats.com/artistinfo.php?id=5094
2. ^ http://australian-charts.com/showitem.asp?interpret=Fairground+Attraction&titel=Falling+Backwards&cat=s
3. ^ http://charts.org.nz/search.asp?cat=s&artist=fairground&artist_search=starts&title=&title_search=starts

External links

• Eddi Reader's official site
• Mark E. Nevin's Web site