❚ ONE OF THE GOD-LIKE SHAPERS of the new music of the Eighties was playing live in London this week and afterwards we met again for the first time since 1981. He is August Darnell, aka Kid Creole frontman of the Coconuts, and when I remarked on what a vital conduit he had provided between New York, London and Paris assisting the exchange of new indie bands, no-wave dance music and other strange flavours on Michael Zilkha’s ZE Records label, he was flattered to be remembered that way. Yes they were fertile times, he agreed, as post-punk pop, disco, funk, dub and Latin all collided with artsy pretension spiced with irony. He loved that rules were being broken.
In 1980 Darnell became a producer at ZE and his collaborations boosted the careers of James Chance, Cristina, Was (Not Was), Don Armando’s Second Avenue Rhumba Band and Material, while introducing the category of “Mutant Disco”. The edgy compilation album bearing that name distinctly helped to make ZE “the most fashionable label in the world” in the opinion of The Face magazine by 1982. Woodwork squeaks and out come the freaks!, according to Was (Not Was).
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Darnell had set out in 1974 writing lyrics with the funky Dr Buzzard’s Original Savannah Band in which vibraphone player Andy Hernandez was known as his “trusty sidekick” Coati Mundi. Hernandez served as Darnell’s on-stage comic foil, as well as his musical director and arranger. Their first hit single on RCA was Cherchez La Femme with Cory Daye the lead vocalist. The album went gold and the band was nominated for Best New Artist in the Grammy awards.
In 1980 he formed his own band as Kid Creole and the Coconuts, his style as lounge-lizard vocalist being defined by a Latinised Cab Calloway type in a zoot suit and broad-brimmed hat, alongside “Sugar-Coated” Coati Mundi in a line-up of instrumentalists and singing dancers. Sire released the Coconuts album, Fresh Fruit in Foreign Places, in June 1981, while the next album in May 1982 was boosted by its instant appeal in the UK under the title Tropical Gangsters. The LP hit number three, and three singles – I’m a Wonderful Thing Baby, Stool Pigeon and Annie I’m Not Your Daddy – made the Top Ten.
As a dynamic live act with unique visual appeal, the Coconuts toured the world, confirming Darnell as a respected composer, arranger and producer. They recorded 11 albums and scored more hit singles including Dear Addy, Endicott, The Sex of It, and My Male Curiosity.
And now here were many of those familiar strains being given brilliant new life on-stage at the Boisdale restaurant in Canary Wharf this week, thanks to a powerful seven-piece band and three slinky dancers. Of course August Darnell was showing his age – heavens, aren’t we all these days? Despite which, his generous set was driven by his own rich voice and every ounce of sheer bazzazz. There was no beating Don’t Take My Coconuts!
➢ Previously at Shapersofthe80s: 2012, Mutant Disco update
New York, May 1981: When I first met August Darnell, here with Jim Fouratt, promoter of the Spandau Ballet/Axiom gig and fashion show at the Underground club. (Photo © Shapersofthe80s)
Michael Zilkha and Michel Esteban: in 1978 founders of the record label combined their initials to make ZE and based themselves in both New York and Paris
➢➢ Shapers of the 80s ➣➣ 