Career
Led by singer/songwriter Paul Gray and guitarist Steve Williams, bassist Mark Gray and drummer 'The Sween', the band signed with CBS Records in 1985. Wa Wa Nee had four singles in the Australian top 40 from their debut album release of the same name. They included "Stimulation" which reached number 2 nationally in Australia in 1986, "I Could Make You Love Me", reaching the Top 5 in the same year, and both "One And One (Ain't I Good Enough)" and "Sugar Free" making the Top 20. "Sugar Free" also reached the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 Top 40. This, however would be their only success in America; "Stimulation" was released as the follow-up single, but only reached #86, culminating their chart career there.
The band's self-titled debut album went platinum in Australia, despite only reaching #29 on the charts.
Their follow-up LP, Blush was released in late 1989, and spawned two more Top 100 hits in Australia - "Can't Control Myself", and "So Good". The album however, received a lukewarm response, and the band has not charted in Australia since.
Paul Gray of Wa Wa Nee appeared in the Countdown Spectacular 2 concert series in Australia between late August and early September 2007 as a performer and musical director. He sang two songs: "Stimulation" and "Sugar Free". He has also appeared with 80s Enuff and Idols of the 80s.
Gray performed Wa Wa Nee hits on 28 March 2010, at a fundraiser for the children of Jenin, a devastated area of the West Bank, Palestine. All funds went directly to the building of a pre-school in the area.
Wa Wa Nee's "Stimulation" featured in the first episode of Channel 9's Underbelly: The Golden Mile (on Monday 12 April 2010). Gray performed at local music venues in Melbourne in 2010, with fellow 1980s hitmakers, Scott Carne (Kids in the Kitchen) and Brian Mannix (Uncanny X-Men). It was also featured in the 1988 film Satisfaction.
"Sugar Free" appeared on the soundtrack to the film Cassandra (1986).
Paul Gray supported Belinda Carlisle on some of her dates in her 2011 Australian Tour.
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