BACK in the Eighties, three girls ruled the UK charts – churning out hit after hit. Then one of the most bitter splits in pop tore Bananarama apart.
But now Sara Dallin, Siobhan Fahey and Keren Woodward have ended a 30-year feud to cash in on the reunions craze.
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During the decade when the girls were at the top of their game, they sold more than 40million records and racked up even more hits than the Spice Girls.
The group was a goldmine and experts estimate they raked in at least £5million each.
And we can now confirm the main aim of their proposed tour is to make even more.
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Jon Roseman, who directed many of Bananarama’s videos, including Robert De Niro’s Waiting, told us: “I never thought they’d patch things up but they’ve reached an age when it’s now or never for them.
“Their kids are grown up and they have realised the money isn’t going to last for ever so they’ve decided to relive their youth.”
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The trio, who said they ended their rift in the wake of George Michael’s death in December, set up a new company called Three B Live last month — ready for the money to come pouring in from ticket sales and merchandise for the tour, which kicks off in November.
But some of their other business ventures have struggled.
Childhood friends Keren, 56, and 55-year-old Sara now own two companies together, called In A Bunch (started for the whole band in 1982) and Sarkazm, but recent figures show they were barely scraping by.
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In A Bunch was there to handle the band’s massive royalties but by 2008 its profit was just £6,289, with net assets at £29,142.
The latest accounts show no turnover and total assets of £30,769 — down from £84,467 in 2013.
It’s not clear why Sarkazm was set up, in 2008, and its assets have shrunk from £5,489 in 2010 to £496 this year.
The financial high was in 2009 when it had assets of £3,070.
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Keren and Sara — using the Bananarama name — have recently been offering to sing at private parties and corporate events.
Siobhan, 58, has been the most successful of the trio, largely thanks to her nine-year marriage to Eurythmics star Dave Stewart, who is worth £40million and owns luxury homes around the world.
But her London-based property letting company appears to have struggled in recent years too.
Fahey Enterprises was dissolved last year before becoming active again weeks later.
And her management firm Punclose faced being struck off the official register of companies last March. The action was discontinued days later.
Siobhan faced similar actions in 2011 and 2013, but they were also discontinued.
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It is understood the singer still owns several properties and according to the latest accounts filed in June last year, Punclose has total assets of £519,261.
Sara owns a house in North London worth at least £1.2million, and Keren has a Cornish farmhouse which, until recently, she shared with her estranged husband, Wham! star Andrew Ridgeley, who has a £20million fortune of his own.
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Bananarama was formed in 1979 after Keren and Sara, from Bristol, met Irish musician Siobhan while they were fashion students in London.
They became friends with rock hellraisers such as Malcolm McLaren and Paul Cook of the Sex Pistols, who helped them launch their career. It spawned mega-hits including Venus and Cruel Summer.
But in an exclusive interview last week, their legendary former producer Pete Waterman told The Sun on Sunday how they argued constantly and stormed out of the studio if any man dared to disagree with them.
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He said: “I fought with them about everything. They saw themselves as punks who were not prepared to be manipulated by any man.
“If I dared to argue or if I didn’t see things the way they did, they just walked out.
“They made it clear they would never change and anyone who didn’t like it could get lost. Siobhan was the feistiest one.
"Trying to get her to focus her talent on the band was difficult, and we have not spoken in a very long time.
“I’m in touch with Sara and Keren but it got to the point where they had come a long way, taken on the world and wanted to do different things — which is why they fell out. It was sad.”
After Siobhan left the band in 1988 to start Shakespear's Sister, Pete — the brains behind hit factory Stock Aitken Waterman — never heard from her again.
The band’s final performance that year was plagued with controversy after they ripped clothes off their hunky male backing dancers during a live TV broadcast of the Brit Awards.
But it came as no surprise to Pete, who says Bananarama delighted in causing headaches for everyone around them.
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He said: “I never knew what was going to happen next. I was once arrested because the girls set off a hotel fire alarm and told the police I was their dad.
“And they would get me out of bed in the early hours to pick them up from a club if they couldn’t find a taxi.
“They were the only people, apart from my mum, who ever called me Peter. It was their way of telling me they were the boss.
“They were cutting-edge and without them we would never have had Madonna.”
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Pete was not the only man who tried to tame pop’s wild women.
Siobhan left rocker Jim Reilly, the frontman of rock band Stiff Little Fingers, after getting pregnant during a whirlwind affair with Dave Stewart, and quit the band to start a new life with him in LA.
The couple married in 1987 and had two sons but divorced in 1996 after a constant stream of rows.
When Siobhan’s attempts at a solo career and various bids for movie stardom failed, she checked herself into a psychiatric unit to get treatment for severe depression.
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Meanwhile, Sara’s engagement to Bananarama backing dancer Bassey Walker did not survive until their wedding day.
The couple went their separate ways when their daughter Alice, 25, now a wannabe pop princess, was just a baby.
Back in 2009 Sara confirmed she had a new partner, but she refused to say who it was.
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Keren enjoyed a fling with fashion model David-Scott Evans which led to the birth of her only son, Thomas, now a 29-year-old TV producer.
But she walked out to be with Andrew at the peak of his Wham! fame, attempting to adapt to his reclusive lifestyle.
Keren called time on their on-off relationship two years ago.
Announcing the band’s reunion last week, the It Ain’t What You Do hitmakers claimed the loss of George Michael on Christmas Day led to them planning the comeback.
Keren said: “George’s death was the instigating factor for saying yes to doing this now.
“He was such a huge part of our lives. It just makes you think, ‘Life’s too bloody short’.”
