I was 12 years old when Shakespears Sister's hit Stay was released. At the time I was living in a conservative community that was in the grips of Satanic paranoia; everything had a hidden and "evil" message and we young folk had to be extra alert or we'd find ourselves lured into a Satanic sect. So I was a little scared of the spooky Stay music video in which Marcella Detroit tends to a dying lover and battles the angel of death, played by Siobhan Fahey, for his soul. It is a pretty frightening concept I guess. Both women are wearing dark eye make-up - we all knew a smoky eye was the preferred look of a Satanist - while Fahey appears to be wearing a crown of thorns, which surely had to be sacrilegious (it is amazing how religious dogma can screw up an impressionable child). Fortunately, my appreciation of the haunting beauty of the song, as Detroit and Fahey engage in a dramatic vocal battle, won out over the religious propaganda of the time and it became one of my favourite songs of all time.
Later I researched Shakespears Sister a little more and rediscovered their discography. The duo formed in 1989 although it was initially a solo act, created by Siobhan Fahey, who had also been a member of another iconic 80s group, Bananarama. After Marcella Detroit joined her the duo went on to record and release several hits, including their most famous, the aforementioned Stay. If you are like me and the spelling and punctuation of their name is driving you crazy, it turns out that the spelling was accidental and Fahey decided to keep it as a quirk. She'd derived the original name from the song, Shakepeare's Sister (with spelling and punctuation in tact) by The Smiths. The lead single, Break My Heart (You Really)/Heroine, from their debut album, Sacred Heart, was released in 1988 and followed by the hugely successful You're History.
Perhaps the title of successful second single was a bit of foreshadowing for the group. Tensions and personal differences between Detroit and Fahey intensified while Fahey was also battling depression. Eventually it was decided that it was time for Shakespears Sister to take a break - and it was soon clear was going to be a permanent one. Once they had gone their separate ways, with a lot of bitterness and unresolved issues lingering, they didn't speak to each other for about 25 years.
Fortunately for fans, they did speak to each other again and a reconciliation of sorts led to the release of new music in the form of an EP, Ride Again, in 2019. They also released a complication of their greatest hits and popular songs, appropriately titled Singles Party and reunited on stage for a UK Tour titled Shakespears Ride Again. According to James Derek Dwyer from The Queer Review, "in addition to the two new songs written at Joshua Tree, Singles Party gathers all the hits (and should-have-been hits), offering a view of two women who were not only their own muses but now each other’s" and presents a collection of their work that highlights their voices "just as you remember them – at sweet odds in dark harmony". Of course, I got the two-disc deluxe edition which includes remixes, rarities and bonus tracks.
If you missed out on the magic of Shakespears Sister the first time around - or if you succumbed to absurd warnings about the hidden sinister symbolism in their videos and lyrics - now would be a great time to get to know them a little better...or perhaps rediscover them after a couple of decades. Here are some of my personal favourite Shakespears Sister tracks:
You're History
Run Silent
Dirty Mind
Pretty Boy (originally only released on a promotional vinyl edition of Break My Heart (You Really))
Stay
I Don't Care
All The Queen's Horses (be sure to check out the fantastic spaghetti Western-style music video, which is also a tongue-in-cheek reference to their long-standing "feud")
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