Corporate Entertainment - Limahl booking information for corporate appearances

From the desk of Limahl.....

"In October 2003 I received an email from VH1/MTV for the usual sort of retro music interview regarding the 80's and I was very busy that week so didn't prioritise it at all. Anyway they were quite persistent and I finally agreed to go and meet them for a quick chat at a trendy restaurant/bar in Notting Hill, west London. I remember when I arrived, there was someone outside filming my arrival in the car which struck me as odd. Then I walked into the restaurant to find a huge film crew and production set with a team of people big enough to make a movie......then the alarm bells started to ring in my head......it seemed more than a run of the mill 'interview' and it wasn't long before the real reason for my being there became apparent.

VH1/MTV (USA) were filming a brand new series called 'Bands Reunited' and the main objective of the programme was to try and get the original members of bands back together, culminating in one off stage performance......all filmed by them of course with lots of 'behind the scenes' reality thrown in for good measure.

Several minutes into the interview (after somewhat softening me up with the polite "what were your musical influences" line of questioning) they hit me with sixty four thousand dollar question "would you Limahl agree to get together with all original members Kajagoogoo ?"

What they didn't know was, we Kajagoogoo had already met up and attempted this in about 1998 (when the renewed 80's interest first began to kick in) but failed, due to unresolved business issues and the first thing that flashed in my head was this first failed attempt.

Anyway, after a slight pause I think I said "well I suppose so" not really committing myself one way or the other (or so I thought) and suddenly all the crew cheered and applauded loudly then the presenter said "thank you" . In my head I immediately thought "did I just say yes" which of course I had not but basically I was cajoled into it......ever so subtlety of course. They were experts and they knew what they were doing (although their expertise didn't work on everyone - I heard that 'Frankie goes to Hollywood' didn't reunite, nor did 'Squeeze' or several other bands).

So there you have it, suddenly I was involved in what would become quite an emotional roller coaster ride for me and I was already quite tender emotionally after losing my dad to cancer the previous month (after a long painful illness). I closed the emotional baggage door to all the questions that had raged in my head, after they so unceremoniously stabbed me in the back 20 years ago when they fired me.

This is basically how I managed to get through being in such close quarters with them, plus there were always a lot of filming/sound crew, producers/directors around so I didn't really feel alone with them (which helped a lot). I also had my own pa/tour manager around for moral support.

I particularly wanna thank VH1/MTV for doing such a great job, the finished programme looked and sounded fantastic and I especially wanna thank all the fans who came down to the 'Scala' Venue in Kings Cross (London) to watch the gig, the atmosphere was electric......I hadn't sang 'Hang on now' in 20 years and it was always one of my favourite tracks (as a ballad) from the only album we recorded together.

With all this interest in the group again, two weeks after the Scala gig, all five original members agreed to meet up at a restaurant in North London for a chat to see if we could indeed resolve those differences or find some common ground......alas it was the usual stalemate. It's worth pointing out that the drummer (Jez) and myself have the same issues with the other three members."