Valentines Day nostalgia & celebrating 30years of Lisa & Ian's first live gig!

14/2/2015

1985 'Ede Bop' - Andy Morris (Front Left) Lisa (Middle) Suzanne (behind) & Ian Devaney (Front right)

30 years ago on this very day, 14th February 1985, Lisa's career took a new turn by performing a St.Valentine's day concert at Rochdale Football Club (in their hometown of Rochdale). Lisa and her band thought no one would attend after putting out loads of handprinted posters around the town. To their surprise around 300 people turned up and the gig was an amazing success.

Lisa, was 18 at the time and joined by her old school mates, Ian Devaney (as we all know married Lisa in 1998) and Andy Morris together with four other musician friends including her younger sister Suzanne, who lent a hand on backing vocals. They performed under the band name 'Ede Bop'. The St.Valentine's concert was effectively their very first live appearance together.

At that time, Ede Bop had only been together for about four months. They spent their early days developing their many and varied musical talents, rehearsed on a regular basis in hope of getting a recording contract. They later changed their name to 'Blue Zone' and eventually got signed by an independent label Rocking Horse Records (later taken over by Arista).

In 1986, after two relatively unsuccessful singles, 'Love Will Wait' & 'Finest Thing' they released 'Thinking about his baby' which became a massive success on the back of the B-side track Big Thing. This track was a massive underground club hit and sold 10,000 copies in its first week. They went onto record their first album Big Thing and were joined by some incredible musicians, including Jocelyn Brown on backing vocals and a guest brass section led by the much admired Jerry Hey who was well renowned for his work with Michael Jackson. What followed thereafter has proven to be an amazing musical journey for Lisa and Ian, filled with all the right ingredients to complete a perfect partnership in every way.

So today we would like to thank you for the music, wishing you both many more creative and successful years and eternal happiness together. Happy Valentines Day!