The Maisonettes

The Maisonettes was a one-hit band whose single, "Heartache Avenue", reached number 7 on the UK Singles Chart in 1982. The song was later sampled by UK rap group Roll Deep, for the chorus on their UK Top 40 hit, "The Avenue". The Maisonettes' oddness lay not so much in their hit as their combination of maverick indie record label beginnings with a semi-manufactured image that some indie purists might find crass. Their hit, "Heartache Avenue," entered the UK chart in late 1982 and rose all the way up to number seven. Like most of the music they would record over the next year or two, it was fairly mainstream pop / rock with period early 1980s synthesizer-abetted production and a notable (but not overwhelming) 1960s soul-pop influence, with a particularly audible debt to Motown. The song "Heartache Avenue" was discovered by David Virr in a pile of demo tapes in his office, and had been recorded in Birmingham by singer Lol Mason, guitarist Mark Tibenham, and session players Nick Parry (drums) and Mark Cunningham (bass). Virr decided to put it out on his own label, which he named Ready, Steady, Go! To fill out the band, two teenage models, Denise Ward and Elaine Williams, were recruited as backing singers (although "Heartache Avenue" had been recorded with entirely different women session vocalists). As it turned out, however, Ward and Williams could not harmonize well enough to sing with the band live or in the studio, though by the time this was decided, they had already appeared often with the group in media photos and miming on television. They were replaced by two more capable young women singers, but by this time Ward and Williams were well known enough to the public, and the Maisonettes' sales and career evidently suffered with the personnel change. Furthermore, the public interest in the revival of the sounds & fashions of the Mod & Beat Generation era of the 60s was starting to cool off (the break-up of The Jam proving the final nail in the coffin). The Maisonettes never did get into the chart again, although they released an album in 1983 and a few more singles. This lack of further chart action results in the one hit wonder label being applied. This was the second occasion in which Lol Mason was a one hit wonder, having previously been on City Boy's sole hit single, "5-7-0-5" in 1978. Their career is summarized by the 2004, CD reissue Heartache Avenue: The Very Best of the Maisonettes, a 19-track set that included some previously unreleased material.