geisha
GEISHA was the brainchild of vocalist / guitarist & founding member, Chris Doheny. Formed in Melbourne in 1983, the band comprised of Chris Doheny (vocals / guitar), Ken Sheppard (guitar), John Nyman (keyboards), Donoghue Doheny (bass) and Peter Robertson (drums).
The group, successfully straddling between synth rock and real rock, toured relentlessly and quickly developed a strong fan base. GEISHA was signed by EMI Records in 1984 and entered the studios to record their first single, “Fools Way”. “Fools Way” was released in April 1985 and gained the group widespread national airplay and strong chart activity.
Following the success of “Fools Way”, the group entered the studios with renowned Australian record producer, Peter Dawkins and ex-Beatles engineer Richard Lush to record their debut album, simply titled “Geisha”. Two more successful singles were released in 1985 – “Rainy Day” and “Kabuki”, the later reaching # 1 on the Melbourne music charts later the same year.
GEISHA continued to tour the country promoting their album through early 1986 and appeared on numerous national television shows including ‘Countdown’ and ‘Hey Hey It’s Saturday’. In mid 1986, the group underwent its first line-up change, with bassist Donoghue Doheny, drummer Peter Robertson and keyboardist John Nyman all departing. Chris Doheny and guitarist Ken Sheppard recruited new drummer Brett Luton and continued as a three piece.
Late in 1986, the new line-up entered the studios and self-produced the next single, “Part Time Love Affair” – released in September the same year, this recording proved to be the group’s most successful single to date, reaching # 1 on the Melbourne radio charts. Following the tremendous success of “Part Time Love Affair”, the group rushed back into studio with American producer Kevin Beamish to record the follow-up, “A Girl Like You”.
At this stage of their careers, the group was at the peak of their powers, with the record company financing the bands first billboard promoting the new release. GEISHA returned to the studios in early 1987 to record their second full length album “Midnight To Dawn” with English producer David Courtney – Courtney found fame with his production work with Leo Sayer. Three more singles followed; “Calling Your Name”, “Normal People” and the beautiful, “Never Tell You Why”.
1998 saw the group’s second major line-up change, with only vocalist / guitarist Chris Doheny remaining. The new line-up was soon announced; Chris Doheny (vocals / guitar), Rob Dean (formally from UK group Japan and who also played guitar and co-wrote a track on the classic Sinead O’Connor album, “The Lion and The Cobra”) (guitar), Tom Hosie (drums), Steve Carter (bass) and Lawrence Maddick (keyboards).
This particular line-up of the group proved to be an absolute powerhouse on the live circuit, taking the bands performance to a new high! Work soon began on the group’s third album, to be titled “No Second Prize”. Unfortunately, mid-way through pre-production, guitarist Rob Dean encountered visa difficulties and was forced to return to the UK. Dean was not replaced and the group finally disbanded late in 1988.
Chris Doheny continued to tour and record with popular groups ‘All The Young Dudes’ and ‘Dragonfly’, the latter giving Chris another top 10 hit with the EP ‘River Of Love’. Chris also recorded his first solo single, “Can You Hear The Rain” & performed the vocal on the popular National Nine TV Network’s ‘The Footy Show’ theme, “More Than A Game”…..still the theme 13 years on!
In 1998, ten years after the demise of the last GEISHA line-up, EMI Records released a ‘Best Of’ Geisha album to commemorate the tenth anniversary of the break-up. This lead to the original group reforming for the first time in almost twelve years! The original members re-grouped in Melbourne to rehearse for what was to be the last ever live performance by the original line-up. The final show was staged at the prestigious Mercury Lounge in Melbourne - and what a night it was! It was almost as if the group had never been away. They played an awesome set to a totally raucous sold-out crowd.
A completely new Chris Doheny acoustic album of Geisha hits, titled “Acoustic Memoirs Of GEISHA saw release in 2006. Around the same time, Chris also dusted off the 1988/89 pre-production tapes of what was to be the third GEISHA album, “No Second Prize”. The album was finally released, though 20 years late, in 2007. The title track “No Second Prize”, an energetic rocker, was released to radio and received excellent airplay from the East coast right across to the West coast of Australia!
After returning from a successful USA summer festival tour through August 2007, Chris teamed up with renowned Melbourne guitarist Joe Matera to play some “Geisha Unplugged” shows throughout Australia. Joe brings his own unique sense of style and rock to the classic Geisha songs and together they rekindle the embers for another generation of Geisha fans.
In late 2008, Chris and Joe began work on a brand new Geisha studio album. First single "Birthday" - produced by legendary U.S producer Tom Werman (Motley Crue, Cheap Trick, Twisted Sister) - off the then, upcoming new album was released to Australian radio in early 2009. In January, 2010, the brand new studio album titled "Yesterday, Today & Tomorrow" was released via Diamond Dog Records. To co-incide with the new album release, a brand new single, "Mystery Writer", again produced by Tom Werman went to Australian radio in January, 2010.