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Frankie Goes To Hollywood
 

Frankie Goes To Hollywood

Fact Sheet

Country  England, UK
Years active1980-1987
Frankie Goes To Hollywood (FGTH) were one of the big UK pop acts of the 1980s.

Emerging from the late 1970s Liverpool punk movement (key member Paul Rutherford had previously been in bands including The Spitfire Boys and Big In Japan), FGTH followed the pattern of a fairy tale popstar life. After a few years of small shows in and around Liverpool, FGTH were signed up to Trevor Horn's new ZTT record label after a raw video for the song "Relax" was shown on music programme The Tube. Many remixes soon followed, creating a seemingly insatiable market for extended 12" versions. A Frankie t-shirt was a major fashion statement in 1984, with a number of different versions based around the famous Katherine Hamnett slogan Ban Nuclear Weapons NOW : "Frankie Say Relax Don't Do It", "Frankie Say War Hide Yourself", "Frankie Say Arm The Unemployed". (T shirts with "Frankie Says" - were fakes...). Contrary to popular belief, Frankie could play their instruments, as two world tours testified, and also only two of the band members, Holly Johnson and Paul Rutherford, were actually gay.

Frankie releases are still coming out, with re-released singles and 12" mix CDs appearing every few months somewhere in the world.

Frankie Goes to Hollywood are no longer together or touring. A more recent band also called "The New Frankie Goes To Hollywood" fronted by Davey Johnson, who claims to be Holly Johnson's brother, plays a few Frankie tracks, but actually has nothing to do with FGTH. Likewise "Davey Johnson" is no relative of Holly's.

Also not to be confused with the Frankie Goes To Hollywood conventions related to The Rocky Horror Picture Show.




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