The MO

The Mo, also known simply as Mo, was a Dutch pop band best remembered for the 80's hit "Asia". The band was known to be an experimental pop band during the new wave era.

Biography

The Mo was founded in 1979 by brothers Clement and Huub de Lange.

Their debut album Mo, with Heili Helder as singer and Harm Bieger as drummer, had a separate instrumentation; the guitar was missing, instead testing out other instruments such as the use of the Wurlitzer electric piano, clavinet, and the classical wind instrument, the bassoon.

In February 1981 the album reached the top 10. Successful singles from the album were "Nancy" and "Fred Astaire".^[1]

After the original group broke up in mid 1981, Harm Bieger then made a new start with the band, recruiting five new members, including singer Linda Bloemhard. He tried to sustain the original sound of Mo to follow up on the success. Two albums followed (Ha! Ha! The Sound of Laughing and Stop Staring), but failed to make much of an impact, although the song "Cheese" did become a modest hit in dance hall circuits.

The single "Asia" in 1984 became a major hit, but it failed to save the group.^[2]

The group disbanded right after the release of their 1984 album Stop Staring.

In 2013 Linda Bloemhard re-recorded "Cheese" with American producer Fernando Perdomo in Los Angeles and released it on lindabloemhardandfernandoperdomo.Bandcamp.com

Members

(1979–1981)

• Heili Helder – vocals
• Clemens de Lange – piano, keyboards, bass, synthesizer
• Huub de Lange – organ, keyboards, synthesizer
• Harm Bieger – drums

(1981–1985)

• Linda Bloemhard – vocals
• Ton van der Meer – synthesizer
• Hans Nieuwint – synthesizer
• Harm Bieger – drums
• Eddie Conard – percussion
• Willem Ennes – keyboards, producer

Discography

Albums

• Mo [Backdoor 1980]^[3][4]
• Ha! Ha! The Sound of Laughing [Backdoor 1982]^[5]
• Stop Staring [Backdoor 1984]^[6]
• Remember Mo [Mercury 1993]

References