Total Coelo

One of the silliest one-hit wonders of the new wave era (by design), the all-female vocal quintet originally known in their native U.K. as Toto Coelo took their name from a Latin expression meaning entirely or utterly. Featuring lead vocalist Anita Mahadervan (later Anita Chellamah), as well as the daughter of British game show host Bob Holness, the group dressed in wildly colorful costumes and spiced their music with some of the pseudo-exotic ethnic touches of Bow Wow Wow. It all made for a cheerfully disposable novelty which briefly caught on in the U.K, as the group's 1982 single, "I Eat Cannibals," climbed into the Top Ten. Mutterings from the rock group Toto led to a name alteration on the single's American release, although the newly christened Total Coelo didn't fare nearly as well on the opposite side of the Atlantic, as the single topped out well below the Top 50. Subsequent follow-ups failed to make much of an impact anywhere, and the group disbanded before even recording a full-length album. Mahadervan/Chellamah joined the hard rock band the Cherry Bombz, which also featured members of Lords of the New Church and Hanoi Rocks, and later became a TV host. ~ Steve Huey, All Music Guide