Fun Boy Three

Fun Boy Three were an English new wave pop^[1] 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.

Fun Boy Three
Left to right: Terry Hall, Neville Staple, Lynval Golding
Background information
Origin	United Kingdom
Genres	New wave pop[1]
Years active	1981 (1981)–1983 (1983)
Labels	Chrysalis
Spinoff of	The Specials
Past members	Terry Hall Lynval Golding Neville Staple June Miles-Kingston Bethan Peters

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.^[2] 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".^[3] 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.^[4][5][6]

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.^{[citation needed]}

They were credited with helping launch the career in 1982 of Bananarama, whom Hall first saw in The Face magazine.^{[citation needed]} 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.^[3]

Discography

Fun Boy Three discography
Studio albums	2
Live albums	1
Compilation albums	3
Singles	9

Studio albums

List of studio albums, with selected details and chart positions

Title	Details	Chart positions					Certifications (sales thresholds)
		UK [7][8]	AUS [9]	NL [10]	NZ [11]	US
The Fun Boy Three	Released: March 1982 Label: Chrysalis	7	84	10	17	—	BPI: Gold[12]
Waiting	Released: February 1983 Label: Chrysalis	14	—	47	11	104	BPI: Silver[13]
"–" 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 [7][14]	AUS [9]	IRL [15]	NL [10]	NZ [11]	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[7]	55	5	3	37	49	BPI: Silver[13]
	"Really Saying Something" (Bananarama with Fun Boy Three)	5[7]	74	9	16	—	16	BPI: Silver[13]	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.