Frankie Goes to Hollywood
80s heroes are making a comeback at the ESC
Holly Johnson is back as the frontman for Frankie Goes to Hollywood.
© imago/PA Images
They haven’t been on stage together for 36 years. Now Frankie Goes to Hollywood is making a big comeback at the ESC.
In 1987, British pop group Frankie Goes to Hollywood disintegrated. Since then, the original line-up has not performed again. For the opening ceremony of the Eurovision Song Contest on May 7th, the five founding members will reunite in their hometown of Liverpool and give their first concert in 36 years. The ESC announced this on the official website of the music competition.
For the first time since the dissolution, the regular singer Holly Johnson (63) is there again, who is also making his comeback himself announced via Instagram. There he shared a short Eurovision teaser for Frankie Goes to Hollywood performance. He wrote that he was happy to be able to announce the reunion. Previously, there were repeated disputes between Johnson and his band. After a scandal in London’s Wembley Arena in 1987 between Johnson and bassist Mark O’Toole (59), the band finally broke up. As a result, there were several comeback attempts, but never in the full cast with Johnson as a singer.
Frankie Goes to Hollywood shaped the 80s with their songs
Frankie Goes to Hollywood is still considered one of the most successful and style-defining music groups of the 80s. The most famous songs of the British are the world hit “Relax” and the ballad “The Power of Love”. The band have only released two studio albums since their inception, but are still considered one of the most influential groups of their time. In 2004, all five founding members reunited on a TV show on US broadcaster VH1. However, no song was performed at that time.