Initially put together in the summer of 1987 by former Dark Burgundy drummer Damien Dare for a society wedding party, Approval Needed started life as a four-piece but soon acquired a keyboard player to storm to success in a regional battle of the bands competition, beating rivals Noggin in the Nög in the final.
The fortunes of both groups have been intertwined ever since, even today there’s no love lost between members of either band. The feud began when Nög guitarist Pete Lumbton jumped ship and joined Approval Needed for their first ever tour, supporting Swedish big-hair rockers Europe.
That classic line-up recorded five top ten albums and a dozen hit singles; at their peak they filled stadiums across Europe, acquiring a particularly loyal following in the Basque Country. Indeed, the Basques rather took Gina to their heart, even claiming them as one of their own – something to do with her nose, apparently. Despite their success at home and on the continent, Approval Needed never cracked the US market and played only a handful of gigs on a brief North American tour which also included dates in Mexico and Canada.
Ironically, the band hired US producer Strobe Lightly for their final and somewhat controversial studio album with the intention of appealing to American audiences. The album did make the US Billboard Hot 100 and the band were finalising a string of dates supporting Cinderella and LA Guns when vocalist Gina Gershwin quit.
The band’s personal lives were the subject of almost as much discussion as their music, leading more than one journalist to dub them the 'West Country Abba' due to the complex nature of their personal relationships. Guitarist Janie Bekynton and bassist Suzi Tuscadero were, for several years, rock’s most famous lesbian couple; in 1988 Janie’s father - and keyboard player Stella’s ex-husband - was jailed for possession of indecent material and in the same year Janie’s mother married the band’s manager, Gary Lumbton, father of guitarist Pete in a glitzy celebrity-studded wedding. Damien and Gina remained engaged for the duration of the band’s existence; they were due to marry on New Year’s Eve 1991 but Gina broke off the engagement in her now infamous interview on Channel Four's The Word?.
But by that time rifts within the band had become strained to breaking point, exacerbated by the publication in a Sunday tabloid of the kiss ‘n’ tell memoirs of Stella’s former nanny, ‘Juicy’ Lucy Laker (nee Worth-Maltravers). In a series of exposés she claimed to have enjoyed a one-night stand with manager Gary Lambton and found Janie and Pete in bed together after a night on the tiles; Gary and Stella divorced – very publicly and acrimoniously – shortly afterwards.
The final instalment of Lucy’s confessions – concerning Gina’s personal life – never saw the light of day as Stella successfully applied for a last-minute injunction. But it came too late to stop Gina from quitting the band, claiming – possibly in an attempt to pre-empt any imminent scandal – she’d broken off her engagement with Damien because she was – and always had been – in love with Suzi.
The broken engagement was news to poor Damien who embarked upon a month-long sex, drink and drugs binge which eventually landed him in intensive care. Although he later reunited with Mickey Blackthorn and Dark Burgundy he was never the same again. At the time Lucy claimed her revelations had nothing to do with Gina’s relationship with either Damien or Suzi and promised that sooner or later the truth would come out.
With Gina gone – apparently on a flight to Mexico City, Pete immediately recruited Noggin the Nög vocalist, Marcus Branson, to replace her. Branson’s tenure – just over a week – was probably one of the shortest in rock history. It was also one of the most unpopular, Approval Needed’s ever loyal fans demanding his immediate dismissal and tearfully pleading for Gina to return; dog excrement was pushed through Pete Lambton’s letterbox and he and his father received several death threats.
They needn’t have bothered. The following Sunday the same tabloid published an interview with Suzi in which she announced her own resignation from the band, saying she couldn’t bear to be in the same room as her treacherous former lover. Undeterred, Pete went once more to Noggin the Nög and tried to poach their bassist, Declan Kildare.
It was one audacious step too far; Stella and Damien immediately declared Approval Needed dead and buried and took out a high court injunction preventing Pete and Janie – now clearly an item – from using the name. The subsequent publicity prompted record company Carrere to bring forward the release of a greatest hits package – and turn it into a double album. It entered the album chart at number one and remained there for several weeks; it was, ironically, Approval Needed’s best selling album.
But that, of course, is not the whole story. With a complete boxed set of their albums due for release this summer and a TV documentary on the band’s rise and fall scheduled for broadcast at the same time, the reunion rumour mill has gone into overdrive.
Will they or won’t they? It’s a difficult one. If they do, will it be the same? With Damien Dare incapacitated they’ll at least require a new drummer – his nephew, Stella’s son would be an ideal replacement and keep it in the family. We, and most Approval Needed fans could live with that but any attempt to substitute either Suzi or Gina would be a mistake of girt, humongous proportions.
We hope they make it back. Not for the money, though they’d all be amply rewarded, but for their art. We don’t normally agree with anything Gary Lumbton says in public but he’s right on one count. There is unfinished business and it needs attending to.
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