In honor of John Robie's birthday today I'd like to feature one of his prime glories. Annabella Lwin's War Boys from 1986 off her Fever album.
Annabella has a claim to fame only a few elite artists have. She was discovered by the music svengali Malcolm McLaren. Furthermore she was an immigrant from Burma transplanted to the U.K. and had her initial fame at the ripe young age of 13! As the lead singer of Bow Wow Wow she made an amazing splash and was part of one of the most loved post punk bands in history.
A lot of money was later spent on launching her solo career in 1986 but it didn't quite happen. Though as a member of Bow Wow Wow from 1980 to 1983 she had a string of hits two of which made it to the U.K. Top 10.
War Boys had all the magic in it's corner. It was produced and mixed by John Robie featured keyboards by Man Parrish and additional work by Paul A. Rodriguez one of the hottest names in mid 80's dance. It's got that hot electro feel that was synonymous with many of the classic tracks of the era, such as releases by New Order. But it flopped, but to me it certainly was not forgotten. Believe it not or not after this 1986 album release she lost her record contract and didn't surface again until a new album Super Boom!! which came out in 2012.
