Seona Dancing

Seona Dancing /ˈʃɔːnə/ were a 1980s British new wave group, best known for providing comedian Ricky Gervais with his first experiences as a public performer. Although the band was not successful, their single "More to Lose" went on to become a teen anthem in the Philippines.

History

In June 1982, in his final year as a student at University College London, Ricky Gervais and his friend Bill Macrae formed Seona Dancing, with Macrae writing the songs and playing keyboards and Gervais writing and singing the lyrics. After recording a sixteen-song demo tape, they were signed by London Records which released two of their singles: "More to Lose" and "Bitter Heart". In June 1983, the duo performed their single "More to Lose" on the ITV syndicated children's television show Razzamatazz. Yet, despite the promotion of "Bitter Heart" through its music video and "More to Lose" by its TV performance, both singles failed to break the Top 40, with "More to Lose" charting at number 117 and "Bitter Heart" at number 79 on the UK Singles Chart. After the lacklustre performance of their two singles, the band split up in 1984.

Seona

Seona is a village in the municipality of Banovići, Bosnia and Herzegovina.

References

Ricky Gervais

Ricky Dene Gervais (/dʒərˈveɪz/; born 25 June 1961) is an English comedian, actor, director, producer, writer and former pop singer and manager.

Gervais worked initially in the music industry, attempting a career as a pop star in the 1980s as the singer of the new wave act Seona Dancing and working as the manager of the then-unknown band Suede before turning to comedy. Gervais appeared on The 11 O'Clock Show on Channel 4 between 1998 and 2000. In 2000, he was given a Channel 4 talk show, Meet Ricky Gervais, and then achieved greater mainstream fame a year later with his BBC television series The Office. It was followed by Extras in 2005. He co-wrote and co-directed both series with Stephen Merchant. In addition to writing and directing the shows, he played the lead roles of David Brent in The Office and Andy Millman in Extras. He will reprise his role as Brent in the upcoming comedy film Life on the Road.

He has also starred in the Hollywood films Ghost Town, and Muppets Most Wanted, and wrote, directed and starred in The Invention of Lying and the upcoming Special Correspondents. He has performed on four stand-up comedy tours and written the Flanimals book series. Gervais also starred with Merchant and Karl Pilkington in the podcast The Ricky Gervais Show, which has spawned various spin-offs starring Pilkington and produced by Gervais and Merchant. He hosted the Golden Globe Awards in 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2016.

Bitter Heart

"Bitter Heart" is a single by British new wave group Seona Dancing, released in 1983. It is a David Bowie-style new wave pop song, sung by a then-unknown Ricky Gervais with synthesizers provided by Bill Macrae. The song was virtually unknown in their homeland of the UK, after only peaking at #79 on the UK Singles Chart, even though it remained in the Top 100 for 3 weeks.

Music video

A video was made in 1983. It has had considerable play in recent years on talk shows interviewing Gervais and has been played on "'80s flashback" shows. The video is most known for Gervais looking almost exactly like David Bowie. The plot of the video is a girl in a wedding dress who was about to get married and has just had her husband leave her, after which she becomes angry and destroys most of the objects in the room.

2012 cover version

In August 2012, British pop group Super 8 Cynics released a cover of the song through Manchester record label Longevity Records.

References

More to Lose

"More To Lose" is a single by British new wave group Seona Dancing, released in 1983. It is an uptempo new wave pop song, sung by a then-unknown Ricky Gervais, who was the lyricist and vocalist of the band. Macrae was the band's composer and keyboard player. The song remains virtually unknown in their homeland of the UK, after only peaking at No. 117 on the UK Singles Chart, but found tremendous success in the Philippines in 1985, a year after the band broke up.

Success in the Philippines

In 1985, a Manila new wave radio station, DWRT-FM started playing a song billed as "Fade" by Medium. The title and artist turned out to be completely bogus, so as to prevent other rival stations finding the song and playing it for themselves. To make it impossible for other DJs to record the song and play it on their own station, DWRT-FM even inserted a station ID midway through the track. Eventually the song's true identity was revealed by DWXB-FM. "More to Lose" became an instant hit among Filipino teenagers, the theme song of countless high school dances across the country. The song also swept the nation's clubs, and received endless airplay on Manila FM stations throughout the mid-1980s.