Ed Ball (musician) - Biography - Television Personalities

Television Personalities

In 1977, singer/songwriter Ball and fellow London Oratory school-friend Dan Treacy formed the Television Personalities. Ball also formed 'O' Level with John Bennett, Gerard Bennett, and Dick Scully, releasing two singles in 1978. In 1979, he recorded as the Teenage Filmstars, along with fellow members of the Television Personalities, releasing three singles between 1979 and 1980. Ball and Treacy (Foster left the band prior to the recording of any material under the Television Personalities name) released And Don't the Kids Just Love It (1980) for Rough Trade Records. Following a brief parting with Rough Trade, they launched their own label Whaam! records with Mummy Your Not Watching Me (1981), They Could Have Been Bigger Than the Beatles (1982) and And Don't the Kids Just Love It. The Whaam! record label was later renamed Dreamworld following a legal dispute with George Michael Ball, meanwhile, had formed a more permanent outlet for his music in 1981 with The Times, releasing the Pop Goes Art! album in 1982, and leaving the TV Personalities the same year, although he later returned in 2004, appearing on the album My Dark Places (Domino Records, 2005) and on parts of the albums And They All Lived Happily Ever After (Damaged Goods, 2004) and Are We Nearly There Yet? (Overground, 2007).