Kid Creole And The Coconuts

American latin pop band founded by [a55005] aka [a1270593] in 1980 in New York City. Fronted by [a414628] backed by the trio of [a88526] and also featuring [a30097], they enjoyed most of their success in the eighties. Their debut album was critically well-received but not successful commercially. Their second album was a concept album matched with a New York Public Theater stage production; it received positive reviews, with Darnell recognized as a clever lyricist and astute composer, arranger and producer. Their international breakthrough came with their third album, 1982's Tropical Gangsters, which hit #3 in the UK and spun off three Top 10 hits with Stool Pigeon, Annie, I'm Not Your Daddy and I'm A Wonderful Thing, Baby ; Dear Addy also made the Top 40. In the US the album was retitled Wise Guy and reached #145, and I'm a Wonderful Thing, Baby flirted with the R&B charts. Dixit Darnell: "In the Savannah Band I’d modelled my style on 1930s/40s jazz singer and showman Cab Calloway, and I created Kid Creole as an extreme version of that, a sort of lounge lizard/bon vivant or what an ex-girlfriend called a “lovable rogue”."