The Maisonettes were an English

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 one-hit

One-hit wonder

A one-hit wonder is a person or act known mainly for only a single success. The term is most often used to describe music performers with only one hit single.-Characteristics:...

 band

Musical ensemble

A musical ensemble is a group of people who perform instrumental or vocal music. In classical music, trios or quartets either blend the sounds of musical instrument families or group together instruments from the same instrument family, such as string ensembles or wind ensembles...

 formed by Lol Mason (formerly of City Boy

City Boy

City Boy were a moderately successful English rock band in the late 1970s, characterised by complex vocal arrangements and heavy guitars. The band consisted of Lol Mason , Steve Broughton , Max Thomas , Chris Dunn , Roger Kent , Mike Slamer , and Roy Ward...

) and Mark Tibenham. Their debut single

Single (music)

In music, a single or record single is a type of release, typically a recording of fewer tracks than an LP or a CD. This can be released for sale to the public in a variety of different formats. In most cases, the single is a song that is released separately from an album, but it can still appear...

, "Heartache Avenue", reached number 7 on the UK Singles Chart

UK Singles Chart

The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...

 in 1982,
and later peaked at number 12 on the Canadian

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

 chart

Record chart

A record chart is a ranking of recorded music according to popularity during a given period of time. Examples of music charts are the Hit parade, Hot 100 or Top 40....

 and number 97 in Australia in early 1983. The song was discovered by David Virr in a pile of demo

Demo (music)

A demo version or demo of a song is one recorded for reference rather than for release. A demo is a way for a musician to approximate their ideas on tape or disc, and provide an example of those ideas to record labels, producers or other artists...

 tapes in his office, and had been recorded in Birmingham by singer Lol Mason, guitarist Mark Tibenham, and session drummer Nick Parry. Virr decided to put it out on his own label, which he named Ready Steady Go!

To fill out the band, two teenage models

Model (person)

A model , sometimes called a mannequin, is a person who is employed to display, advertise and promote commercial products or to serve as a subject of works of art....

, Denise Ward and Elaine Williams, were recruited as backing vocalist

Backing vocalist

A backing vocalist or backing singer is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists...

s (although "Heartache Avenue" had been recorded with different female session

Session musician

Session musicians are instrumental and vocal performers, musicians, who are available to work with others at live performances or recording sessions. Usually such musicians are not permanent members of a musical ensemble and often do not achieve fame in their own right as soloists or bandleaders...

 vocalists, along with session bass guitarist Mark Cunningham). As it turned out, however, Ward and Williams could not harmonize well enough to sing with the band live or in the studio, though by the time this was decided, they had already appeared often with the group in media photos and miming on television.

In 1984 their album

Album

An album is a collection of recordings, released as a single package on gramophone record, cassette, compact disc, or via digital distribution. The word derives from the Latin word for list .Vinyl LP records have two sides, each comprising one half of the album...

, Maisonettes for Sale, was released in Canada, including "Heartache Avenue" and ten other songs. With no further hits coming, the group soon disbanded.

"Heartache Avenue" was later sampled

Sampling (music)

In music, sampling is the act of taking a portion, or sample, of one sound recording and reusing it as an instrument or a different sound recording of a song or piece. Sampling was originally developed by experimental musicians working with musique concrète and electroacoustic music, who physically...

 by UK

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 rap

Hip hop music

Hip hop music, also called hip-hop, rap music or hip-hop music, is a musical genre consisting of a stylized rhythmic music that commonly accompanies rapping, a rhythmic and rhyming speech that is chanted...

 group Roll Deep

Roll Deep

Roll Deep are an Urban Music Awards-winning London-based grime music collective. They were founded in 2002, by a group of MCs including Wiley. Roll Deep were also closely associated with Boy Better Know with members in both. Their debut album, In at the Deep End, was released in June 2005...

, for the chorus

Refrain

A refrain is the line or lines that are repeated in music or in verse; the "chorus" of a song...

 on their UK Top 40 hit

Hit record

A hit record is a sound recording, usually in the form of a single or album, that sells a large number of copies or otherwise becomes broadly popular or well-known, through airplay, club play, inclusion in a film or stage play soundtrack, causing it to have "hit" one of the popular chart listings...

, "The Avenue".

In 2004, Heartache Avenue: The Very Best of the Maisonettes was released in the UK, containing two unreleased tracks, the original "Heartache Avenue" and a remix

Remix

A remix is an alternative version of a recorded song, made from an original version. This term is also used for any alterations of media other than song ....

, and fifteen other songs.

Albums

• Maisonettes for Sale (Canada)

• Heartache Avenue: The Very Best of the Maisonettes

Singles

• "Heartache Avenue"

• "Where I Stand"

• "This Affair" (double A-side)

12" Singles

• "Heartache Avenue" (Canada)

External links

• [ Allmusic.com entry]