Rocky Sharpe & The Replays formed in 1976 from the ashes of Rocky Sharpe and The Razors.
The group enjoyed a string of hit singles between 1978 and 1982 beginning with Rama Lama Ding Dong, a cover of a track originally recorded by The Edsels which reached #17 in the UK Charts. Debut album, Rama Lama, was released on Chiswick Records shortly after.
Their second album, Rock It To Mars, was released in 1980 and spawned the single Martian Hop.
Follow-up albums Come On Let’s Go (1981) and Shout Shout (1982) were not commercially successful, although the single Shout Shout (Knock Yourself Out) reached #19. Meanwhile, the group remained a popular live act in Europe.
Helen Blizard left the group in 1982 and was replaced by Carole Forbes, who used the stage name of Gloria Sunshine.
Rocky Sharpe and The Replays moved to Polydor for their fifth album, Stop! Please Stop! (1983). Despite featuring some of their best work the album was not a commercial success.
When Polydor failed to renew their contract they returned to Chiswick Records and released a number of singles, but commercial success continued to elude them and the band called it a day at the end of 1984.
Sharpe was forced to retire from the business in the late 1980s after being diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. He lived with his wife Paulina until late 2013 when he became a full-time resident at the Queen Alexandra Hospital Home (QAHH) in Worthing. He died in December 2019 at the age of 67.
Rocky Sharpe (Robert Podsiadly)
Vocals Johnny Stud (Jan Podsiadly)
Vocals Helen Highwater (Helen Blizard)
Vocals Eric Rondo (Mike Vernon)
Vocals Gloria Sunshine (Carole Forbes)
Vocals
Video
Related Posts
Darts Darts were formed in August 1976, although the various members were no strangers to the music scene. The line-up included…
Kansas Kansas started out as a bar band playing cover versions of contemporary songs and soul oldies in the American state…
Texas Texas was formed in Glasgow, Scotland, by Johnny McElhone, a veteran of the Scottish rock circuit who had been part…
Tears For Fears School friends Roland Orzabal and Curt Smith formed Tears For Fears after they had spent their teenage years in bands…
Bauhaus Bauhaus were the founding fathers of Goth-rock, creating a minimalist, gloomy style of post-punk, driven by jagged guitars and cold, metallic…
Adventures, The Formed in 1984, The Adventures were a melodic six-piece group from Belfast. Founder member Terry Sharpe had previously been the…
Everything But the Girl Tracey Thorn and Ben Watt first began performing together when they were students at Hull University, taking their name from…
Cockroaches, The Six-piece Australian band The Cockroaches formed in 1979 while four members of the band were attending the same Sydney school (St Joseph's…
