Chart entered : 6 July 1988
Chart peak : 58
The ex-Guys And Dolls duo bravely fought the flag for straight pop in the late seventies but struggled in 1980 after their poorly-received cover of "I Want To Hold Your Hand" vacated the Top 10. After a string of flops and the cessation of their romantic relationship , they approached Trevor Horn at exactly the right time and produced a quartet of singles in 1981-2 that not only restored them to the charts but were lauded by critics as examples par excellence of the "New Pop". However, Horn could not mend their personal relationship and after one more hit, the pair went their separate ways at the beginning of 1983. David Van Day was slightly the more successful as a solo artist managing a minor hit with "Young Americans Talking" while Thereza Bazar's stuff bombed completely. The logic of reuniting was inescapable and they re-formed in 1986. They didn't set the world alight with their next two singles but a hookup with Pete Waterman on a version of Erasure's flop single "Oh L'Amour" a song just begging to be covered restored them to the Top 10 at the beginning of 1988. It then took them six months to decide on a follow-up.
"It's Nature's Way" produced by P.W.L. associate Ian Curnow, is the best record the Pet Shop Boys never made, right down to David's deadpan spoken piece and Thereza's French ad libs a la I'm Not Scared , in the middle eight . Despite the debt, it's a decent song and it was probably down to over-familiarity with that Hi-NRG sound ( it's notable that the next PSB single performed relatively poorly ) that it didn't get a bit higher in the chart.
By the end of the year the duo had split again. Theresa emigrated to Australia and left the music business to raise a family. David managed to release one single "She Said She Said" in 1989 written by Nick Straker and Mark Proctor, a dark Europop ditty which is OK actually but a bit dated for 1989.
When that failed David was unable to secure another record deal and spent the first half of the nineties touring as Dollar with a succession of female singers. In 1995 he took a call from Bobby Gubby and thus began his tempestuous spell in Buck's Fizz which we'll cover fully in their Goodbye post ( not too long off ). He put out cheap CDs of re-recordings with both groups . Towards the end of that time he started to supplement his earnings by running a burger van in Brighton .
In 2002 he persuaded Thereza , who had been working as a vocal coach in Sydney, to reform Dollar to take part in a Here and Now package tour with other eighties artists. This led to an invitation to take part in the reality show Reborn In The USA the following year. Although they were the first evictees after a performance of "Something Stupid" that I missed through having my appendix out, perversely David did the best out of all the artists on the series. After a huge bust-up with Sonia - the editing of the show obscured what the argument was actually about - he was able to launch a whole new career as a professional irritant on reality TV .
Thereza continued to wok with him periodically until 2008 when he neglected to tell her he was going on I'm A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here.
Dollar haven't operated since then . David released a single with fellow contestant Timmy Mallett , the execrable "Biff Baff Boff ", just after the show but thankfully nobody bought it. The following year he released his last single to date "A Big Ship On The Mersey" a cheaply recorded boring drone. In 2010 he married beauty expert Sue Moxley and has made cabaret appearances as a duo with her. A few months ago he had heart surgery following chest pains.
After reading all the hype of their singles with Horn a few years ago, I did investigate. Have to say that besides "Hand Held in Black and White" (which is excellent pop), I never saw the fuss.
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