Limahl

Limahl was the stage name of the lead singer of the 1980s pop band Kajagoogoo.

Born in Wigan, Christopher Hamill changed his name to Limahl (an anagram of his surname) at the time he was recruited by the other four band members. An advert was placed in one of the music magazines asking for a 'front man who could sing and look good'. They got Limahl.

Soon afterwards they released their first single Too Shy which stormed to No.1 in the UK charts and put him on the map.

Later the same year, the band fired him acrimoniously ("I've been betrayed!" was Limahl's famous quote after the story was released) amidst claims of jealousy and tension. The accepted version of events was that the band struggled with fame and Limahl's popularity was proving too much of a diversion from the music. Or, as Limahl put it: "I was sacked for making them a success."

Limahl continued with a solo career, achieving hits with Only For Love and the theme to the successful children's film Never Ending Story.

He hit hard times after 1984, though was comforted by the fact that his former band divebombed into oblivion spectacularly after firing him.

Years after he disappeared from the limelight, he was photographed coming out of a job centre. The pictures were published in a Sunday newspaper, highlighting a story of how the once mighty can fall.

When the boom for 80s nostalgia began, Limahl donned an orange wig identical to his original Kajagoogoo hairstyle and started playing gigs, performing the hits he had with the band and by himself. His willingess to send himself and the whole era up gained him plenty of respect, and other declined acts of the 1980s followed him back on to the stage.

The Limahl/Kajagoogoo remains one of the great ego clashes of the 1980s and is filled with irony and a sense of sadness - the band fancied success over respectability so changed their name and hired a good looking singer, then fired him when he did exactly what was required of him on accepting the job.

Once back in obscurity, Kajagoogoo tried to come back without their focal point but didn't realise that Limahl's presence was why the fans had arrived, and therefore his departure was why the fans deserted them again.

Aside from all that, Limahl's voice was one of the purest and most recognisable of the decade, but the 'credible' musicians playing around him rarely gave him a great song on which to use it.