West End - It's Raining Men

West End were another 90s girl group and consisted of Dawn, Sheryl and Lorraine. They have one appearance in the top 75, when "Love Rules" made #44 in August 1995. The track was a dance track sampling the speech made by King George VIII in 1936 when he abdicated the throne to marry Wallis Simpson.

After this, the girls appeared on the 1995 charity single "The Gift Of Christmas" alongside some 90s popstars such as Dannii Minogue, Deuce and Michelle Gayle! The track made #9 in December 1995. The girls then returned the following year with a cover of the Weather Girls "It's Raining Men". Unfortunately the single was never released in the UK, despite a video being made, and being shown on cable music channel The Box reguarly. I even saw it a good few years afterwards! After this, the girls split, though I have a suspicion that a few of them have sang on other records, but I haven't been able to find anything out. Incidentally, the girls are not the same West End who appeared on "The Love I Lost" featuring Sybil, who were not even a group, and were just a fictional band!

The version of "It's Raining Men" I have posted is the Extended Radio Mix, which was supposed to appear on one of the CD singles. It was produced by Mike Stock and Matt Aitken of SAW fame, and is a pretty good version of the track, I even think it's better than Geri's attempt a few years later. There was also a Motiv8 mix, which is amazing! Yet another girl group consigned to history, but I'm glad they gave us this little gem!