Formed in Johannesburg in the early 1980s. A vocal quartet featuring Jervis Pervington, Roy Bramwell, Tommy Maree and Darren Magnussen and backed by session musicians.
They rose to prominence in 1983 when they won the SABC’s “Follow that Star” competition, and received a recording contract as part of the prize. Their first album The Soft Shoes and single “Elvis Astaire” were rushed out to capitalise on their nationwide coverage and both went on to do very well in the charts in 1983.
They released subsequent albums in 1984 (including I’m Dreaming of a Soft Shoes Christmas in time for Christmas 1984) before breaking up.
Springs-based group formed in 1984: Mark Bennet (guitar, vocals, cash register), Jannie van Tonder (trombone), Leon van der Merwe (saxophone), Tracy Bennet (keyboards) and Andre van Niekerk (drums).
Released the single “Mission to Ciro” in 1984 and the cassette An Evening With the Softies in 1985 followed by 4 of those songs on the EP The Softies also in 1985.
Formed in Johannesburg in 1984, morphing out of What Colours? Gary Rathbone (guitar, vocals), Tara Robb (vocals, joined in 1985), Alan Lusk (bass) and Richard Frost (drums).
Released the singles “Teddy Bear” in 1988 and “Be-Bop Pop” in 1989.
Both were included their debut (and only) album Be-Bop Pop released in 1989.
Durban-based group formed in 1980 with Richard Ellis (Songwriter, lead vocalist, percussion), Graham Ellis (drums, bass, vocals), Joe Bozza (bass), Jimmy Cordier (percussion), Richard Pullon (keyboards), Paul Ellis (drums on ‘Rules And Regulations’).
Released the single “Rules And Regulations” in 1981 and the album Law Of The Jungle in 1982.
They broke up in 1983.
Tighthead Fourie was Roger Lucey under another (country) guise.
Formed in Johannesburg in 1984: Tighthead Fourie/Roger Lucey (guitar, vocals), Ray Stadig/Johnny Blundell (guitar), Gene Parkering/Brian Rath (drums), Lorenzo Marks/Dave Marks (bass), Ben Zeen/Warrick Sony (bass), Sakkie de Kock/Lloyd Ross (bass), Tennessee Ferreira/Will Von Will (vocals) and Slim Gedagte/Peter Davidson (vocals). (Different bass players were used on various songs).
Released the single “Whiskey Strait Up”/”No Easy Walk to Freedom in 1984”. Other songs were recorded but not released.
Johannesburg-based guitarist and vocalist. A founding member of Baxtop, formed in 1978 alongside Larry Amos, the band won the SABC Battle of the Bands in 1979 and released the album Work It Out on WEA Records. When Baxtop dissolved, Parr formed the Tim Parr Band.
In 1981 he spotted vocalist Heather Mac performing at folk club Mangles in Braamfontein and invited her to collaborate. From this partnership grew Ella Mental, who formed fully in 1983 with Heather Mac (vocals), Adrian Levi (bass) and Hermann Eugster (drums). The band released the album Uncomplicated Dreams in 1984 on EMI and became one of the decade’s most acclaimed South African acts, with singles including “Pressure” (1984), “See Yourself (Clowns)” (1984) and “30 Million Lonely People” (1985). The band relocated to Ireland in 1986 and subsequently recorded their second album in Los Angeles with producer Stewart Levine, releasing it on Warner Brothers internationally in 1989. Ella Mental disbanded in 1992.
On returning to South Africa, Parr formed the Zap Dragons, who released Zap Dragons Live in 1990. His solo album Still Standing followed in 1996. He has continued to perform and record, releasing the EP Revolution in 2021 and Malachi’s Dream in 2025. He is based in Cape Town, where he performs with the Greenworld Collective.
Short-lived band formed in 1985 as an off-shoot of the Radio Rats: Jonathan Handley (guitar, vocals), Dave Davies (vocals), David Allen (bass), Peter Peyerl (Drums).
Released the single “Padded Rooms” and other songs including “Agony”.
Short-lived group who released one album and did live gigs in the late 1990s. Formed by Warrick Sony of Kalahari Surfers (keyboards, guitar, vocals) and Brendan Jury (viola, vocals) after Urban Creep broke up. They released the album Killing Time in 1998.
Songwriter, composer, vocalist, guitarist, keyboardist and producer who rose to fame in the mid-1970s with the group Rabbitt (formerly Conglomeration).
He left Rabbitt in 1977 to pursue a solo career while also an in-demand session guitarist and was involved in the studio projects Disco Rock Machine and Come With Me.
Launched his solo career in 1978 with the singles “Fantasy” and “Stay With Me” and the album Beginning. This was followed by Face to Face (1979) and Wolf (1981) before he joined Yes for their album 90125.
He continued after that with Yes, as a solo artist and a very successful composer of film music.
Formed in Johannesburg in 1984. After the break-up of the Asylum Kids, Robbie Robb (guitar, vocals) formed Boys Next with Fuzzy Marcus (bass), Neils Jensen (keyboards), Bruce Williams (drums).
Williams changed to keyboards when Clive Dickenson came in on drums.
They released the single ‘Between the sky and the stone’ in 1984. In 1985 they changed their name to Tribe After Tribe and released the Bob Dylan cover ‘As I Went Out One Morning (Damsel)’ as a single and the album Power.
Robbie Robb relocated to the USA soon after and a second album – Tribe After Tribe – was released in 1991.
The 1991 release saw a substantial change in the band’s line-up. Joining Robbie Robb were Robby Whitelaw (bass guitar, bass synth, vocals), PK (drums, percussion) and Barry C. Schneider (techno primal drums). Four further albums were released over the following 16 years.
