Bananarama believe they never got the plaudits they feel they deserve – and put it down to being female.

But the duo Sara Dallin and Keren Woodward are hoping a new album collection will show doubters how much they’ve received in the past 40 years.

Karen, 62, said: “At times we have maybe felt that we haven’t received the credit, respect, and recognition we deserve, certainly sometimes purely down to the fact we were born female. “I feel the collection of songs we have amassed over the last four decades hopefully speak for themselves, so I don’t have to. Putting the music together for this project... made me realise how much we have achieved and how determined, tenacious, and hardworking we are.”

Glorious - The Ultimate Collection will be released on March 8, 2024 with a new track Feel the Love released this week.

The group formed as a trio in 1980 with Sara, Keren and Siobhan Fahey. Siobhan left in 1988 and was replaced by Jacquie O’Sullivan until 1991, when the trio became a duo.

Keren Woodward, Siobhan Fahey and Sara Dallin in Bananarama

Glorious takes us from It Ain’t What You Do (It’s the Way That You Do It) with Fun Boy Three to thier UK success with Shy Boy and US No1, Venus and into the noughties with US Dance No2 Look on the Floor (Hypnotic Tango).

It’s helped immortalise the band in the Guinness World of Records for the most internationally charted hits by an all-female group.

The album includes new tracks Feel the Love and Supernova and a new version of Cruel Summer (3am Mix).

Sara added: “We wanted this to be a unique collection, a celebration of all the twists and turns in our career. We compiled endless lists of songs, album tracks and hit singles and whittled it down to forty: our favourite tracks from the past four decades.”