BOW WOW WOW were formed by Sex Pistols manager Malcolm McLaren in 1980 who recruited members of Adam & The Ants and new vocalist Annabella Lwin (also originally including Boy George as second vocalist before he left to form Culture Club).
The debut BOW WOW WOW single was ‘C-30,C-60,C-90 GO!’ which was released on cassette only initially reaching No.34 in the UK singles chart in 1980. The band’s debut LP ’See Jungle! See Jungle! Go Join Your Gang, Yeah! City All Over, Go Ape Crazy’ was released and this contained the band’s first top 10 hit ‘Go Wild In The Country’. BOW WOW WOW toured at the time with The Pretenders, Madness, Queen, and The Police.
In 1982, a cover of ‘I Want Candy’, originally released in the 1960’s by The Strangeloves, became the first transatlantic BOW WOW WOW hit single. After splitting in 1983, Annabella formed The Naked Experience working with Guy Chambers, Jason Nevins and Utah Saints amongst others.
To my knowledge the early days BOW WOW WOW only performed once in Brighton and that was on 14th October 1981 at the Corn Exchange. Annabella’s Bow Wow Wow played the Concorde 2 on 9th August 2016, but neither incarnation has played live in Shoreham-by-Sea before as far as I can tell. However, it has been announced that Annabella’s Bow Wow Wow will be heading out on a 21-date UK tour next October and November and that they will be calling in at the Ropetackle Arts Centre on Friday 24th October 2025. Tour tickets can be purchased HERE.
www.instagram.com/annabellatheoriginalbowwowwow
