The Headless Chickens

The Headless Chickens were a New Zealand band. The band first became known in New Zealand when they won the 1987 Rheineck Beer Rock award. The prizemoney from the award went into the funding for their innovative (for its use of sampling) 1988 debut album Stunt Clown.

A second album, Body Blow, appeared in 1991 which featured singer Fiona McDonald. It was during this time with McDonald that the Headless Chickens would attract their widest audience. Two versions of Body Blow were released, with the revised and expanded 1993 version going double platinum in New Zealand. This album spawned the single "Cruise Control" which became a hit in New Zealand and (in a remixed form) Australia. "Cruise Control" was notable for its sampling, particularly for elements of Shona Laing's 1973 single "1905" and The Crocodiles's 1980 single "Tears".

The followup 1997 Greedy album took several years to complete, and during that time several band members left, including singer McDonald. Greedy contained the track "George" which became a No. 1 hit single in NZ. "George" was the first (and so far, only) track from the Flying Nun Records label to achieve No. 1 status.

In July 2008 it was announced that the band would reform to play the Homebake Festival in Sydney, Australia on December 6. The line-up would feature both Chris Matthews and Fiona McDonald. They played further concerts in Australia and New Zealand and were scheduled to play at the Auckland Big Day Out in January 2009.

- Wikipedia