A-Z Artist Index  Compilations  Record Labels  Media
Help Us!  Contact Us  Resources  Timeline

Menage A Trois

From: Dublin

Active: 1980

Style: Pop

Lineup:

Bio:

Menage A Trois was a one off pop single featuring Irish actor Gabriel Byrne, who had achieved some considerable fame at the time in Ireland thanks to the TV series Bracken (an agricultural drama). According to In Dublin magazine:

"Gabriel Byrne has shaken the bracken from his wellies and moved to the city in earnest. And, to prove it, he's got himself a nice little Menage a Trois going with the lovlies May Pang and Pandora Moore. Musically, that is. Which is not bad going when you consider that Byrne has had almost no previous experience of singing before coming up to join Moore & Pang in their current single, 'Jet Set Superstar'. But then, anything goes in the world of vinyl and so, though both women have some musical blood in their bodies (Ms Pang's name appearing on the credits of John Lennon's 'Walls And Bridges' album), neither of them actually sings on the new single. Instead, Twink joins Byrne in the vocals, with the girls miming along for the video. All of which should make for complications on live gigs, but doesn't. Because there aren't any. Menage a Trois do not perform live, because they are, you see, a fantasy set, existing, explains producer Barry Devlin, only on disc and on film."--John Kennedy

The song was written by Barry Devlin, and arranged and produced by Devlin and Jim Lockhart, both ex Horslips. Gabriel Byrne doesn't so much sing as do an impression of Inspecteur Clouseau. Seasoned session singer Twink provides the female vocals.

In an interview in 2010, May Pang, who was John Lennon's girlfriend in the mid-70s, explains how she'd met Byrne while working in Dublin and then ran into him in London circa February 1980, and at her suggestion had some photos taken with him by Iain MacMillain, for use as publicity photos by Byrne. Which begs the question, which came first, the photo or the recording?



Discography

• Jet Set Superstar / Jet Set Superstar (version)
7" - Spider Records - WEB035 - IRL - 1980 - no PS



Help!

We need your help to correct and/or complete this entry. If you can provide more information about this band, have scans, photos or any other memorabilia we can use, or spare copies of any releases, then please get in touch.




See Also:

A-Z Artist Index  Compilations  Record Labels  Media
Help Us!  Contact Us  Resources  Timeline