The Bodysnatchers

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During a period when the major 2Tone bands were abroad trying to crack America,the 2Tone stable threw a new band on the public to keep the label flying high.Nicky Summers had an idea for an all girl ska band that came to her after seeing The Specials at the Moonlight Club and Hope & Anchor in London.She tried to join the band The Modettes but that fell apart so she placed an ad in the music rags saying "Rude Girls Wanted"-obviously a host of dirty phone calls ensued but within weeks she had assembled a working band.With Nicky on bass were Penny Leyton,a freelance illustrator on keys,fashion designer Sarah "SJ" Owen on lead guitar,Jane Summers(no relation) on drums,17 year old saxophonist Miranda Joyce and Stella Barker on rhythm guitar.Missing however was a singer but that came in the form of civil servant Rhoda Dakar,who possessed a unique voice.Their hurried first gig was at the Windsor Castle in Harrow Road and from there things went into overdrive.After only 2 gigs,the band were asked by The Selecter to play on their forthcoming tour.Before they embarked around the country- 2Tone records signed them to a 2 single deal.They were very well received on the tour as as they gigged,their debut single "Do Rocksteady",an old Dandy Livingstone cover was issued with their own "Ruder Than You" as B side.It hit Number 22.The group had a sound that totally made them unique-they leaned towards rocksteady and not the punky ska pushed by The Specials and The Selecter,or the fun styles plied by Madness and Bad Manners and this gained them a lot of respect.Its also worth noting that it was this group that gave us one of the most striking and horrifying songs of all time with "The Boiler".(Later released by 2Tone after the Specials split in 81 and credited to Rhoda & The Special AKA by which time The Bodysnatchers had also bit the dust) The band played a number of tracks in session for John Peel when during the summer of 1980 when activity on the 2Tone front was limited.The Bodysnatchers released "Easy Life" and a cover of Winston Francis'"Too Experienced" and it showed tremendous maturity and growth as a unit in such a small space of time.Jane Summers had by now left to complete her education and was replaced by Judy Parsons.However with 2Tone interest starting to fade,the backlash was felt by the girls first and despite a strong single,it only reached Number 50.There was talk of an debut album being prepared as the girls played as support to Toots & the Maytals before going off in October 80 to headline their own tour but by the end of that month-the band were over.There were rumours of unrest with Rhoda & Nicky wanting to take a more political edge to their work but the rest of the band were wanting to play and have a good time.Rhoda & Nicky left and the other girls good time was evident when they went on to form The Belle Stars,whos first single "Hiawatha" was a Bodysnatchers track.Rhoda went on to guest with The Specials (she can be seen on TOTP during The Specials' "Ghost Town") before becoming a fully fledged member of The Special AKA,appearing on TV programmes on all channels with her track "The Boiler" and could often be seen in debate on screen.The Special AKA were the band formed by the remaining Specials after the late 1981 split who released the acclaimed "In The Studio" album and of course Rhoda was also part of the momentous Special AKA"Nelson Mandela" single.Of late she has made a welcome return to the UK Ska circuit and has a new album due out in February 2007 entitled "Cleaning Another Womans Kitchen".



Penny Leyton Original keyboard player for Snatchers and early Bellestars went and joined The Deltones .



Stella Barker original Snatcher and Rhythm Guitarist in Bellestars is supposedly writing a book ,has a child and Its thought she might be writing for TV.



Judy Parsons ,the second of the Snatchers drummers and drummer for The Belle stars was heard to be a scientific mud expert however she could be doing something totally different now. Judy was highly intelligent and so the guess is that she could possibly have joined the cyber age.



Sarah Jane Owen, original Snatcher and lead guitarist to The Belle stars is now a Yoga Teacher living in LA has married several times and is enjoying a stress free life away from England.She has picked up the guitar from time to time to play with various artists but their names evade at this time.



Miranda Joyce original snatcher and Saxophonist to The Belle stars is now a very high brow makeup artist working for celebrities and TV .The Belle Stars maintained a decent chart career with tracks such as "Iko Iko","The Clapping Song",the hugely succesful "Sign Of The Times" and "Sweet Memory" .



Jennie Matthias aka Jennie Bellestar replaced Rhoda as vocalist and Lesley Shone replaced Nicky Summers .Claire Hirst who replaced Penny Leyton and played Saxaphone with Bellestars plays sessions with almost everyone and played with David Bowie for the first Live Aid gig’s she now has her own Jazz Quartet .After the demise of The Belle Stars,Jennie split from Madness' Chris Foreman and moved out to Miamiwhere she helped secure a deal with Paramount pictures for the Bellestars version of IKO IKO and this reignited the Bellestars flame for the American market, The track was used to advertise the film Rain Man with Dustin Hoffman and Tom Cruise and was the biggest hit off of that soundtrack. She came back to England and opened a shop for a short while selling Harry Palmer clothing which Paul Weller so kindly modelled for her. She then joined Nick Welsh & Co and they formed a Ska Punk band called BIG 5 (a bit ahead of its time actually) After Big5 she set up a charitable organisation for young people called S-TEEM this was an arts based organisation that demanded 3 years of her time and throughout saw her pick up several lucrative awards for community led projects. She has since got back into music and has been known to tour and record with bands of all sorts of genre's, She has gone full circle now and Is now recording back with Nick Welsh for Skaville UK also Is assisting with the writing of lyrics and sometimes vocal melodies, this is also something she is currently doing with Rhoda and since they are on the same circuit and because they get on really well it was only natural that they ende up working together and with the same people. Rhoda ,Pauline Black and Jennie formed a group called SKA DIVA where they played some standard covers and of course 3 tracks each that they were well known for.



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