Haysi Fantayzee

Haysi Fantayzee was a British pop[2] band of the early 1980s. Their best known songs are "John Wayne Is Big Leggy", released in 1982 and "Shiny Shiny", released in 1983.[2]

Haysi Fantayzee
OriginEngland
GenresPop, new wave[1]
Years active1981–1983
LabelsRegard Records, RCA Records
Associated actsAnimal Magnet, E-Zee Possee
Past membersJeremy Healy - Vocals
Kate Garner - Vocals
Paul Caplin - Keyboards

Career

Haysi Fantayzee was an avant-garde, new wave pop project emanating from the Blitz Kids street arts scene in London in the early 1980s. The group's music combined reggae, country and electro with political and sociological lyrics couched as nursery rhymes.[3]

Catapulted to stardom by their visual sensibilities, Haysi Fantayzee combined their extreme clothes sense – described[4] as combining white Rasta, tribal chieftain and Dickensian styles – with a quirky musical sound comparable to, but distinct from, other new wave musical pop acts of the era, such as Bow Wow Wow, Adam and the Ants and Bananarama.[5] They appeared several times on the BBC Television programme Top of the Pops.

The band was formed in 1981 and consisted of Jeremy Healy (also known as "Jeremiah"), Kate Garner, and Garner's boyfriend songwriter/producer/manager Paul Caplin.[2] They released four singles in 1982 and 1983: "John Wayne is Big Leggy", "Holy Joe", "Shiny Shiny", and "Sister Friction". They followed up with an album, Battle Hymns for Children Singing.[6]

Before they were signed, the band attracted attention by sending video performances with their demo tapes to record companies, a highly unusual practice at the time. Their outfits were often designed by Garner, and the two singers looked like distorted mirror images of each other, with similar hair and make-up.

In a 1983 interview with David Maples on the Los Angeles-based TV show MV3, Jeremy Healy accused the singer known as Boy George (George O'Dowd) of imitating his unusual look. Boy George later responded: "When Jeremy saw my locks he was livid. Both he and Kim [Bowen] stopped speaking to me. They thought I had stolen their look. It wasn't their look to steal..."[7]

Garner also appeared alongside Bananarama in the music video for "Who's That Girl" by Eurythmics. She had a brief solo career after the break-up of Haysi Fantayzee, and then pursued a career in photography in Los Angeles, California.

Healy released the single "When Malindy Sings" in 1984, and later became a DJ and album mixer for other artists, including his former schoolfriend, Boy George.[8] He recorded on George's More Protein record label under the name E-Zee Possee.

Caplin went on to a career as an entrepreneur. He founded several technology firms, most recently Caplin Systems Ltd, which he sold in 2014. He now makes music with his wife Zeeteah Massiah.

Discography

Albums
Year Title Peak chart positions
UK
[9]		 AUS
[10]		 GER
[11]
1983 Battle Hymns for Children Singing 53 48 40

Singles
Year Title Peak chart positions
UK
[9][12]		 AUS
[10]		 AUT
[13]		 GER
[11]		 IRE
[14]		 NZ
[15]		 SWI
[16]		 US
[17]
1982 "John Wayne Is Big Leggy" 11 — 13 3 22 — 4 —
"Holy Joe" 51 — — — — — — —
1983 "Shiny Shiny" 16 3 — 22 11 37 — 74
"Sister Friction" 62 — — — — — — —
"Chizoola" — — — — — — — —
"—" denotes releases that did not chart

See also

References
  1. "Totally 80s: Haysi Fantayzee is Big Leggy". 31 December 2014.
  2. "Biography by Andy Kellman". Allmusic.com. Retrieved 20 March 2009.
  3. Haysifantayzee.net Archived 17 August 2009 at the Wayback Machine
  4. Peter Holt writing in the Ad Lib column in London newspaper The Standard, 16 June 1983
  5. New Musical Express, 10 July 1982
  6. "Haysi Fantayzee - Shiny Shiny (Official Video)". Youtube. Retrieved 19 February 2019.
  7. Boy George; Bright, Spencer (1995), Take It Like a Man: The Autobiography of Boy George, Sidgewick & Jackson, p. 164
  8. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 12 June 2006. Retrieved 18 July 2006.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  9. "Official Charts > Haysi Fantayzee". The Official UK Charts Company. Retrieved 8 February 2017.
  10. Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992. St Ives: Australian Chart Book. p. 135. ISBN 0-646-11917-6. N.B. The Kent Report chart was licensed by ARIA between mid-1983 and 19 June 1988.
  11. German chart peaks:
  12. Roberts, David (2006). British Hit Singles & Albums (19th ed.). London: Guinness World Records Limited. p. 247. ISBN 1-904994-10-5.
  13. "austriancharts.at > Haysi Fantayzee in der Österreichischen Hitparade" (in German). Hung Medien. Retrieved 16 December 2010.
  14. "The Irish Charts – All there is to know > Search results for 'Haysi Fantayzee'". Fireball Media. Retrieved 8 February 2017.
  15. "charts.nz > Haysi Fantayzee in New Zealand Charts". Hung Medien. Retrieved 8 February 2017.
  16. "hitparade.ch > Haysi Fantayzee in der Schweizer Hitparade" (in German). Hung Medien. Retrieved 8 February 2017.
  17. "Billboard > Artists / Haysi Fantayzee > Chart History > The Hot 100". Billboard. Retrieved 8 February 2017.
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