SHEILA E
(US, one Top 40 hit, no Top 40 albums)

Far better known for being a backing singer for Prince, the suspiciously- psuedonymed Ms E had one solitary solo hit in early '85 with "The Belle Of St Mark"  ("and if he doesn't love me I think I'll probably die") which was less than spectacular but friendly enough.

Biggest Hit: "The Belle Of St Mark", No.18, 1985
Defining Moment: Being asked if Prince was tupping her.

SHEENA EASTON
(UK, eight Top 40 hits, three Top 40 albums)

Not content with forcing penis-shaped parsnips on to our TV screens every Sunday night for an eternity, Esther Rantzen also discovered Scottish squeaker Sheena Easton for us, which was very kind of her. Scottish drama student Easton was chosen as the victim for Rantzen's search for a star show "The Big Time" in '80, which put Easton into a studio and made her sing the hastily-written lyrics for a collection of uninspiring songs in the hope that, maybe one day, she would find fame and fortune in the charts. And, of course, she did, such is the power of television, even television presented by Esther Rantzen. The breakthrough was in '81 when "9 To 5" ("my baby takes the morning train") slithered its way into the Top 10 and put this frightened girl on to the national stage just like that, even though her only previous experience of singing to an audience was a part-time, grant-supplementing job in some crummy backwater smoke-filled clubs where no-one took any notice anyway. It made No.3, followed by the original release "Modern Girl" ("na na na-na-na, na na na-na-na") which had flopped first time round but was a dead cert on re-release, despite the fact that Easton's voice was suspect and the song was shabby. The next three singles were consolidatory, with the original novelty of Easton's rise to fame wearing off, until she added her much improved larynx to the '81 Bond theme "For Your Eyes Only" ("only for you") which remains one of the best signature tunes of a Fleming flick to this day and proved to be Easton's Top 10 swansong. She disappeared to the States, met Prince and recorded the funky "U Got The Look" with him, and then let music take a back seat as her astute investments in real estate made her one of the richest women in music, even though much of her windfall wasn't related to a recording career. She had a last gasp in the Top 20 with the unremarkable "The Lover In Me" in '89, complete with leather-clad raunchiness rendering her totally unrecognisable from the wide-eyed, innocent Scots lass of nine years earlier. Still dabbling, still filthy rich, and probably still dumb-founded at exactly what happened to her.

Biggest Hit: "9 To 5", No.3, 1980
Defining Moment: "Hello, is that Sheena? It's Esther Rantzen here..."

ECHO AND THE BUNNYMEN
(UK, eleven Top 40 hits, six Top 40 albums)

Spiky haired vocalist Ian McCulloch led this  supercool bunch of urchins brought up in a staple early decade production line of new bands but never really getting serious fame status, despite consistently infiltrating the charts throughout the whole of the 80s. With guitarist Will Sergeant as main henchman, McCulloch's rather misty, reflective voice sauntered through three defining eras for the band - an early 80s cult, cutting edge status; a mid-decade briefdom of commercial recognition; and a late spell of hardened sound solely for the discerning. Two Top 10 hits came their way in the shape of "The Cutter" in '83 and their magnum opus "The Killing Moon" a year later, though perhaps the best known vinyl outpouring to those with an unkeen ear was "Bring On The Dancing Horses" ("shiver and say the words of every lie you've heard") in '85. In the same category as the Cure, the Cult and the Jesus And Mary Chain, in that they were loved by a specific earlender, but ignored or misunderstood by the masses. They were far too busy selling albums and gaining serious credibility to worry about the charts. An '89 version of "People Are Strange", for the benefit of The Lost Boys, gave them a little more status with the younger pop freak, but didn't necessarily increase their sales.

Biggest Hit: "The Cutter", No.8, 1983
Defining Moment: Being mentioned by Rick on The Young Ones.

EDDY AND THE SOUL BAND
(US, one Top 40 hit, no Top 40 albums)

Otherwise obsolete Yank gang who did a version of "The Theme From Shaft" in '85 for what we assume was a damned good reason, though we're buggered if we can remember it. Know any more?

Biggest Hit: "The Theme From Shaft", No.13, 1985
Defining Moment: None.

EDELWEISS
(Switzerland, one Top 40 hit, no Top 40 albums)

Oh, God. From the home of the world's largest stash of embezzled Nazi gold came this collection of duo-gender freaks who thought it would be jolly good fun to bastardise Abba's "SOS" in order to make money. And of course, as this was the cultural desert that was '89, they succeeded. Bjorn Again seem like the Beatles in comparison.

Biggest Hit: "Bring Me Edelweiss", No.5, 1989
Defining Moment: Something to do with frilly skirts and mountains.

808 STATE
(UK, one Top 40 hit, no Top 40 albums)

Genuinely brilliant instrumental production team whose swishalong melodies had a unique dual purpose, in that you could both chill or footstomp in response, depending on your mood or location. The one hit before the end of '89 was "Pacific State", an anthem of true ambience which defied the go- bonkers ingredients of several much harder releases of the following couple of years, and made Guru Josh look a right prat by comparison. Lost the plot when they teamed up with MC Tunes, undoubtedly the worst rapper ever to enter a studio.

Biggest Hit: "Pacific State", No.10, 1989
Defining Moment: Being used on God knows how many adverts.

EIGHTH WONDER
(UK, two Top 40 hits, no Top 40 albums)

Having married Jim Kerr and done her fair share of mouth-popping in order to plug frozen peas, actress and professional famous-hubby-nabber Patsy Kensit was lead singer in this rather dim group, who were made to sound much better by having the Pet Shop Boys on board as writers and producers. The result was two Top 40 hits which were probably penned by the boys when they were still awaiting a deal, such was their dullness. Patsy's pop career came to an end after that, so it was time to find another unsuspecting male singer of a big band to harness, which of course, she did.

Biggest Hit: "I'm Not Scared", No.7, 1988
Defining Moment: Probably the mouth-popping bit, to be honest.

ELECTRIBE 101
(UK/Germany, one Top 40 hit, no Top 40 albums)

WE CLAIM partial ignorance here. We know about their 90s stuff, but the one single from '89, apparently called "Tell Me When The Fever Ended", has been released on parole from our brains. The butch sounding (and by all accounts, rather petrifying) Billie Ray Martin was on microphone duty, and she later had a brief but enigmatic solo career, but apart from that, there are memories here which need a pick-me-up.

Biggest Hit: "Tell Me When The Fever Ended", No.32, 1989
Defining Moment: Nope.

(Thanks to THOMMO for further information)