Don’t call Voice Of The Beehive baby, they’ll be singing “Monsters And Angels” at you!
Do you remember Voice Of The Beehive? Do YOU remember Voice Of The Beehive? For a while at the end of the 1980’s and beginning of the 1990’s, this Anglo-American band delighted us with their catchy pop-rock tunes that hardly anyone could be offended by. They came, they sang, the went. But where and why…?
Formed in London in 1986, sisters Tracey and Melissa came all the way from California to ‘hook up’ with former Madness members Mark Bedford and Daniel Woodgate together with Mike Jones and Martin Brett. The group toured and played live as well as providing backing tracks for other artists and it was here that London Records signed them in 1987. The group released their debut single “Just A City” that Summer, although the song failed to chart. A second single “I Say Nothing” was slightly more successful, reaching No.45 in the UK and No.73 in Australia.
Recording for the band’s debut album began at the end of 1987 and a third single “I Walk The Earth” came in early 1988. This peaked at No.42 in the UK, but did nothing elsewhere. It wasn’t until the late Spring that Voice Of The Beehive began to taste success with “Don’t Call Me Baby”, arguably their signature tune, which made it to No.15 in the UK and No.48 in Australia, although the band were not having much success elsewhere, particularly Stateside.
Their album “Let It Bee” followed soon after making No.13 in the UK and No.53 in Australia. The group re-issued “I Say Nothing” which this time reached No.22 in the UK AND entered the US Modern Rock chart at No.11! Another re-issue came next, “I Walk The Earth”, which stopped short of its first attempt by four places! A fifth single, “Man In The Moon”, would barely scrape into the top 100 in the UK.
Not to worry, Voice Of The Beehive were back in 1991 with their second album “Honey Lingers”, from which the lead single, the glorious “Monsters And Angels”, returned them to the UK top twenty and, hoorah, entered the US singles chart, peaking at No.74 and No.8 on the Modern Rock chart!
The album would follow “Let It Bee” into the UK top twenty and also get a brief showing on the Australian album chart. The second single was a cover of The Partridge Family’s 1970 US chart topper “I Think I Love You”, which Voice Of The Beehive took to No.25 in the UK and No.12 in Australia. while the third and ultimately final single was the beautiful “Perfect Place” (UK No.37, Aus No.31).
The boys all left the group in the years that followed and by the time Voice Of The Beehive released their third album “Sex And Misery” in 1996, it was just Melissa and Tracey that were still present as a duo. The album spawned four singles including “Scary Kisses” which became the band’s second and last US chart entry (No.77) and of the four, only the lead single “Angel Come Down” registered in the UK. The album flopped and that was that. A “Best Of” was issued in 1997, after which Tracey and Melissa abandoned Voice Of The Beehive.
In the years since, Tracey became a teacher back home in California, Melissa began the Made In Heaven clothing company, Martin Brett formed Brett Dempsey Music Productions while both Daniel and Mark returned to Madness and began touring and recording new music at the end of the 1990’s and continue to do so to this day! Oh, and Mike Jones lives in Norwich(!) where he still plays his guitar, although I’ve yet to track him down!
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