Woke up this morning with this tune in my head, which is as good a reason as any to throw the Sunday Cover Story spotlight its way today.

In 1986, the British girl group Bananarama recorded “Venus,” a 1970 #1 hit for the Dutch group Shocking Blue. From their earliest days together, Sara Dallin, Siobhan Fahey, and Keren Woodward had performed the tune in concert, and the British girl group had long wished to record a dance version. After much persistence, the trio finally convinced new producers Stock Aitken Waterman of the idea’s merit, making “Venus” one of the last tunes readied for their album, True Confessions.

Serving as the set’s lead single in the U.S., “Venus” entered the Billboard Hot 100 on June 28, 1986. Steadily climbing the charts that summer (propelled, no doubt, by the video below), Bananarama took the song to #1, proving that she-times-three had indeed got it. Hear here:

All these years later, Bananarama still can’t get enough of “Venus.” Down to a duo since 1993, Dallin and Woodward re-recorded the song for their 2001 album, Exotica, and once again in 2005 (remixed by Soft Cell’s Marc Almond) for Drama.

And a tangential connection worth knowing for when you next play Six Degrees of Musical Separation: Politics may make some strange bedfellows, but it seems Shocking Blue does as well. Nirvana covered the group’s “Love Buzz” for their 1988 debut single (a slightly different mix appeared on 1989’s Bleach album). Not that you can dance to it.

Purchase Bananarama – “Venus” via iTunes, Amazon MP3.