
1988 is probably the year that SAW became just as (If not more so) famous as the artists performing their songs, and truly launching the era of the super-producer. If proof of that were needed they were voted Best British Producer at the annual B.P.I. Awards in February and won Best British Single for Rick Astley's, NEVER GONNA GIVE YOU UP. They also cleaned up at the prestigious Ivor Novello Awards in April, bagging BEST SELLING A SIDE, MOST PERFORMED WORK and INTERNATIONAL HIT OF THE YEAR all for NEVER GONNA GIVE YOU UP as well as being voted SONGWRITERS OF THE YEAR!
​
1988 was a momentous year for Bananarama. They started the year off with a Top 20 hit , I CAN'T HELP IT that was to be the last of the groups releases in their original line-up. Siobhan Fahey made the decision to leave and she was replaced by Jaquie O Sullivan. The next single, I WANT YOU BACK was re-recorded using Jaquie's vocals and gave the girls a huge hit reaching #5. They had a further two singles this year, the brand new song LOVE, TRUTH & HONESTY #23 and the final track lifted from WOW!, NATHAN JONES #15. They released THE GREATEST HITS COLLECTION which peaked at #3 in the album charts and were also entered into the Guinness Book of World Records as the all-female group who have the most chart entries in history, a record they still hold. Not a bad year at all!
​
Then came the SAW record that was possibly the most pivotal of their career. Not simply because it became their most famous (or even infamous) record, or because it launched the career of a true pop icon, but because Kylie Minogue's I SHOULD BE SO LUCKY gave SAW the final nudge into the public consciousness and the forefront of the UK pop music scene.