Fun Boy Three

Fun Boy Three were an English new wave pop<ref name=Allmusic>[[[:Template:Allmusic]] Fun Boy Three Allmusic bio]</ref> band, active from 1981 to 1983 and formed by singers Terry Hall, Neville Staple and Lynval Golding after they left the Specials. They released two albums and had seven UK top 20 hits.

History

Fun Boy Three reduced the ska sound that they and Jerry Dammers had crafted with great success with the Specials and initially took a more minimal approach with the focus on percussion and vocals.<ref name="Green">Green, Jim & Robbins, Ira "Fun Boy Three", Trouser Press, retrieved 27 January 2010</ref> For their second album they assembled a six-piece backing group including a cellist and a trombone player, allowing the record to feature more diverse and expansive arrangements, and also enabling them to play live instead of being a purely studio group as previously. The band enjoyed six UK top 20 singles, starting with "The Lunatics (Have Taken Over the Asylum)" and including the top 10 hits "It Ain't What You Do (It's the Way That You Do It)", "Tunnel of Love" and "Our Lips Are Sealed".<ref name="charts">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> They created two albums of which the eponymous debut was the more successful. The follow-up album Waiting, produced by David Byrne, was well-received critically.<ref>[[[:Template:Allmusic]] Review] from Allmusic</ref><ref name="rcreview_Wait">Fun Boy Three from Christgau's website</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Following the trio's last UK hit "Our Lips Are Sealed", co-written by Terry Hall and Jane Wiedlin of the Go-Go's, who had a U.S. hit with the song a year earlier, they then toured the United States and split afterwards.Template:Cn

They were credited with helping launch the career in 1982 of Bananarama, whom Hall first saw in The Face magazine.Template:Cn The three women provided credited chorus vocals on the hit "It Ain't What You Do (It's the Way That You Do It)"; the Fun Boy Three later sang on the Bananarama song "Really Saying Something", both reaching the top 5 in the UK.<ref name="charts" />

Discography

Studio albums

List of studio albums, with selected details and chart positions

Title	Details	Chart positions					Certifications (sales thresholds)
		UK <ref name=occ>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="British Hit Singles & Albums">Template:Cite book</ref>	AUS <ref name=aus>Template:Cite book</ref>	NL <ref name="NL">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>		NZ <ref name="Nzcharts">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>	US
The Fun Boy Three	Released: March 1982 Label: Chrysalis	7	84	10	17	—	BPI: Gold<ref name="tsort82">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Waiting	Released: February 1983 Label: Chrysalis	14	—	47	11	104	BPI: Silver<ref name="BPI">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>
"–" denotes releases that did not chart or were not released in that territory.

Live albums

List of live albums, with selected details

Title	Details
Live on the Test	Released: 1994 Format: CD Label: Windsong International Note recorded 1983

Compilation albums

List of compilation albums, with selected details

Title	Details
The Best of Fun Boy Three	Released: 1984 Format: LP, CS Label: Chrysalis
Really Saying Something: The Best of Fun Boy	Released: 1997 Format: CD Label: Chrysalis
The Complete Fun Boy Three	Released: 4 August 2023 Format: 5×CD + DVD Label: Chrysalis Catalogue

Singles

Year	Title	Chart positions						Certifications	Album
		UK <ref name="occ"/><ref name="British Hit Singles & Albums 519">Template:Cite book</ref>	AUS <ref name=aus/>	IRL <ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>	NL <ref name="NL"/>	NZ <ref name="Nzcharts"/>			US Club Play
1981	"The Lunatics (Have Taken Over the Asylum)"	20	43	28	—	46	—		Fun Boy Three
1982	"It Ain't What You Do (It's the Way That You Do It)" (Fun Boy Three with Bananarama)	4<ref name="occ"/>	55	5	3	37	49	BPI: Silver<ref name="BPI"/>
	"Really Saying Something" (Bananarama with Fun Boy Three)	5<ref name="occ"/>	74	9	16	—	16	BPI: Silver<ref name="BPI"/>	Deep Sea Skiving (Bananarama album)
	"The Telephone Always Rings"	17	—	29	49	—	—		Fun Boy Three
	"Summertime"	18	—	13	—	—	—		—
	"The More I See (The Less I Believe)"	68	—	—	—	—	—		Waiting
1983	"The Tunnel of Love"	10	—	14	38	—	—
	"Our Lips Are Sealed"	7	—	13	—	—	—
	"The Farm Yard Connection" (Germany only)	—	—	—	—	—	—
"–" denotes releases that did not chart or were not released in that territory.

External links

• {{#if:Fun Boy Three|Template:PAGENAMEBASE discography at Discogs|{{#if:Template:Wikidata|Template:Wikidata Template:PAGENAMEBASE discography at DiscogsTemplate:EditAtWikidata|Template:PAGENAMEBASE discography at Discogs}}}}
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