Rewind The 80s Festival returns to Henley-on-Thames (August 17-19)

Tickets on sale at 9am on Friday 27th January
For ticket info and prices, please visit: www.rewindfestival.com

Rewind – The 80s Festival returns for its fourth year from Friday 17th August – Sunday 19th August at Temple Island Meadows, Henley-on-Thames. As with last year's unforgettable concert performances and audience participation celebrations, this year"s Rewind Festival includes another incredible live outdoor line-up of the crème de la crème of 80s recording artists/performers.

Tickets go on sale to the general public at 9am on Friday 27th January. Full details on ticket outlets and prices are available from the website www.rewindfestival.com.

This year's line-up is headlined by the legendary Kool & The Gang and synthpop pioneers OMD. Other highlights include rare performances from The Bangles, Grandmaster Flash, Soul II Soul plus the reformed original line-up of Five Star.

Also appearing in anticipation of British medal success at the London 2012 Olympics are Heather Small (Proud, Search for the Hero) and Tony Hadley (Gold), plus Starship, Rick Astley, T'Pau, Wang Chung, Marc Almond, Roland Gift, Sinitta, Right Said Fred, Lightning Seeds and many more.

In addition to the unforgettable jam-packed August weekend of 80s music, Rewind Festival will also features loads of additional highlights ranging from Silent Discos to Live Karaoke bars along with Camping and Glamping (Glamorous Camping) options.

New to the festival in 2012 will be Jamie Oliver's "Fabulous Feasts" and "The Grand Palace of Entertainment" (as seen on Channel 5's Fairground Attraction); converted into an acoustic and comedy bar. For those festival goers who want a little extra comfort, we also have new for 2012 the ultimate in festival toilets – When Nature Calls – featuring the state of the art vacuum flush toilets, warm hand wash and uniformed attendants.

Originally launched at Henley-on-Thames in 2009, Rewind The 80s Festival boasts the biggest line-up of 80s artists in the world, and in its first three years has featured such iconic 80s names as: Holly Johnson, Human League, Gloria Gaynor, Kim Wilde, Boy George, Village People, Bananarama, Billy Ocean, Ali Campbell's UB40 and many more.

Rewind Festival in Henley-on-Thames has proven to be so popular, 2011 saw the launch of its sister festival "Rewind Scotland" at Scone Palace in Perth in July and Rewind South Africa will take place in February 2012. As with the previous incarnations of the Rewind Festival, the Henley weekend is due to sell out in advance, attracting in excess of 40,000 people.

For an exclusive video preview of the artists, on Wednesday 25th January at 20:30, tune into "Fast Forward to Rewind Henley" on Vintage TV (Sky 369 and Freesat 515).

The Bangles It was 30 years ago when guitarists Susanna Hoffs and Vicki Peterson and drummer Debbi Peterson formed the Bangles in a Brentwood, California, garage. They did so based on two crucial elements: their common love for rock's golden age and the crystalline sound they quite naturally created when they blended their voices. The band enjoyed international success in the 80s with hits including the Prince penned "Manic Monday", "Walk Like An Egyptian" and much covered "Eternal Flame". Reformed in 1998, the band continues to write, release and perform new material as well as the classics. Kool & The Gang Kool & The Gang have sold over 70 million albums worldwide and influenced the music of three generations. Thanks to songs like "Celebration", "Cherish", "Jungle Boogie", "Summer Madness" and "Open Sesame",they've earned two Grammy Awards, seven American Music Awards, 25 Top Ten R&B hits, nine Top Ten Pop hits, and 31 gold and platinum albums. Kool & The Gang has performed continuously for the past 35 years (including a fabulous headline set at Glastonbury 2011), longer than any R&B group in history. Their bulletproof funk and tough, jazzy arrangements have also made them the most sampled band of all time. Grandmaster Flash "Flash is fast, Flash is cool!" Not only responsible for inventing the Hip Hop genre over 30 years ago, Grandmaster Flash was the first DJ to play the turntables as a musical instrument. He is also responsible for assembling one of the earliest and greatest rap groups of all time – The Furious Five – whose reputation grew around Flash's unrivaled and visually dynamic DJ skills and the group's blending and trading of lyrics. 1981's "The Adventures of Grandmaster Flash on the Wheels of Steel" was the first record to feature complex cuts and scratches, and 1982 saw the release of his much sampled classic record "The Message". Rick Astley Handpicked by legendary producers Stock, Aitken and Waterman, Rick went from obscurity in Warrington to chart stardom when his debut single "Never Gonna Give You Up" went to the top of the charts in the summer of '87 and a string of hits followed. After walking away from the music industry at the height of his fame, he made a comeback in the noughties with new material and a new legion of fans whose "Rickrolling" antics swept the internet. As popular as ever, he's recently toured with Peter Kay and worked as a DJ on Magic FM. Soul II Soul Soul II Soul was created by Jazzie B and friend Daddae – "two souls moving together". Soul II Soul signed to Virgin in 1986 and enjoyed chart success with "Keep On Moving" and "Back To Life". Soul II Soul has sold over 6.8 million albums worldwide and in 1990 they picked up two Grammy Awards. Jazzie B has not only produced a string of successful cuts for Soul II Soul, but he's also managed to produce and re-mix tracks for the likes of The Fine Young Cannibals, James Brown, Public Enemy, Sinead O'Connor and Destiny's Child. Five Star Dubbed "Britain's answer to the Jackson Five" with their dynamic sound and fabulous dance routines, Five Star rocked the British and US pop charts in the 80s. Named and managed by their father Buster Pearson, the band scored a total of 16 top 40 singles, 6 of which went top ten, and achieved a multi-platinum selling UK no.1 album in 1986 with "Silk & Steel". A formidable live act in the 80s, they sold out 6 nights at Wembley Arena to an audience of more than 60,000 in their 1987 UK tour. The five siblings make their Rewind Festival debut in 2012, celebrating their 25th anniversary in the music industry. Starship Mickey Thomas is the owner of the soaring voice that propelled Starship through the decades of the 80s and 90s. With his soulful and compelling vocals, he has established himself as one of Rock Music's most recognizable stars. Starship (originally Jefferson Starship) found a new sound when Mickey joined the band in 1979 and recorded an amazing string of hits including "No Way Out", "We Built This City", "Sara" and an Oscar Nomination for the no. 1 hit "Nothing Gonna Stop Us Now" from the movie "Mannequin". Heather Small After selling several million records, winning two Brit Awards and the Mercury Music Prize, performing across the globe and recording a track that has become an unofficial national anthem - international anthem even, Heather Small is one of the most successful female recording artists of recent years. As Part of M People, hits such as "Moving On Up", "One Night In Heaven" and "Search For The Hero" saw Heather become one of the seminal British voices of the 1990s. Heather has since had great successes with two solo albums – the title track of her "Proud" album has gone on to become the soundtrack to a whole host of very special events including London's successful 2012 Olympic bid. Jimmy Somerville Glaswegian Jimmy Somerville first shot to fame back in 1984 with groundbreaking band Bronski Beat. Their debut single "Smalltown Boy" introduced the world to Jimmy's unusual "falsetto squeal" (his own words), making the top three in Britain as well as being a huge hit all over Europe. Having had several lively pop dance hits in '84 and '85 with the band, Jimmy left for a rest after the pressures of new found fame took its toll. Within months he was back forming the Communards with his old friend Richard Coles and enjoyed a string of hits with their mixture of good old fashioned "gay" disco and more bluesy, acoustic, political and social comment songs, including a hedonistic cover version of the Philly soul classic "Don't Leave Me This Way". Sinitta American born Sinitta is a professional actress / singer who has lived in the United Kingdom for most of her career. Best known for her singing she began recording in 1983 and has had 14 international hit singles including "So Macho", "Toy Boy", "Cross My Broken Heart" and her cover of "Right Back Where We Started From". More recently, Sinitta has appeared as a mentor on the ITV Talent Show "The X Factor", discovering new artists such as Leona Lewis, Olly Murs and JLS and has also made appearances as a contestant on both "Dancing on Ice" and "I'm a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here!" Right Said Fred Brothers Richard and Fred Fairbrass are as recognisable now as they were back in 1992 when Right Said Fred became the first UK band since the Beatles to reach No.1 in the US with a debut single. That single – "I'm Too Sexy" – hit No.1 in thirty two countries and garnered an Ivor Novello Award before further hits like "Deeply Dippy" (another Ivor Novello) and "Stand Up For The Champions" contributed to the band's overall haul of twenty million records worldwide. Dr and The Medics Best known for "Spirit in the Sky" which reached No 1 and sold 2.4 million copies, Doctor and the Medics have always been recognized as a great live act. In 1985 the NME referred to them as "The Live Band of the Year". In 1999 The Doctor put together the present line up which is unique and sensationally flamboyant, enjoy!

OMD UK synth-pop pioneers OMD released a new album in 2010 – "History of Modern" – which in spirit had more in common with the group's early '80s heyday, when "Enola Gay" and "Souvenir", penned by two teenage Krautrock fans from the Wirral, lit up the charts and set the agenda for a bold new movement in British electronic music. In tandem with the Human League and Gary Numan, OMD's tuneful blend of cutting-edge synthwork, cool minimalism and soulful pop – honed to perfection on the albums "Architecture & Morality", "Dazzle Ships" and "Organisation"– defined the decade, sold millions of records, and turned childhood pals Andy McCluskey and Paul Humphreys into stars. Lightning Seeds Lightning Seeds were formed by Ian Broudie in 1989, after having been involved with numerous bands in post-punk Liverpool, including Big in Japan and Holly Johnson, he decided to go it alone. Lightning Seeds have been entertaining audiences for over 20 years, and it's easy to see why when witnessing their unmissable live performance. Ian Broudie conceived the band and penned the majority of the critically acclaimed debut album Cloudcuckooland, featuring the hit single Pure. The band's 1994 album, Jollification, saw the Lightning Seeds garner the attention they rightly deserved, spawning the hit singles Lucky You, Change, Perfect and Marvellous. In 2006 they released of The Very Best of the Lightning Seeds and in 2010 the band returned to the live arena with a full UK tour and studio album. Roland Gift At one time picked by People Magazine as one of their 50 most beautiful people, Roland Gift came to attention with the release of the first Fine Young Cannibals album. His high, soaring voice was immediately recognizable, his style being both on classic soul singers and modern techniques that provided him with an edge. It was with the second FYC album four years later, however, that the band began to break internationally, with "She Drives Me Crazy" being heard everywhere. Tony Hadley Lead singer of the recently reformed Spandau Ballet, Tony is one of the eighties' best known names and voices. Selling over 23 million albums, the band topped the charts around the world with such timeless classics as "True", "Gold" and "Through the Barricades". After the band spilt in 1989, Tony went on to have a successful solo career and continues to perform his favourite Spandau Ballet songs to enthralled audiences worldwide. The Straits Formed by former members of Dire Straits Alan Clark, Phil Palmer and Chris White, due to the substantial demand to hear the band's much loved catalogue of great songs, The Straits includes three original members along with some of the top session players to form a great new combo. Terence Reis was handpicked as the front man for The Straits for his voice with elements of Mark Knopfler, JJ Cale and Steve Earle and his guitar technique that's remarkably similar to Knopfler's own. Listen out for such rock classics as "Sultans of Swing", "Money for Nothing" and "Brothers in Arms". Wang Chung Wang Chung came out of the post-punk, New Wave scene in the UK going on to achieve global success selling millions of records. Throughout their 30 year career they have released 5 albums and 2 Greatest Hits compilations. They have had 6 US Top 40 hits including a number 1 and international Top 40 hit, "Dance Hall Days", achieved cult status with their soundtrack for William Friedkin's movie "To Live and Die in LA". In the process of all of this (and somewhat unintentionally), Wang Chung became part of the contemporary culture of North America. Their huge smash "Everybody Have Fun Tonight", with its now famous line "Everybody Wang Chung Tonight" saw the invention of a new US verb; "to Wang Chung", the band being name-checked by everyone from Homer Simpson to Frasier Crane. Marc Almond With over thirty years in music, the iconic Marc Almond, a huge influence to a generation of musicians who came after him, has sold over 30 million records worldwide and remains one of Britain's most unique and interesting pop stars. He first rose to fame in 1980 after forming Soft Cell, recording four albums and enjoying several Top 10 hits including the international classic and BRIT Award winning "Tainted Love". After Soft Cell went their separate ways in 1984, Marc went on to have a diverse and acclaimed solo career, continuing to tour and record new music to this day. John Parr Few musicians from England have made such a mark on America as John Parr has. He first found fame in America with the song he is probably best known for, "St. Elmo's Fire (Man in Motion)," the popular 80s tune that he wrote and performed for the iconic film of the same name. Around that same time, he had another hit song that climbed the charts, called "Naughty, Naughty." As a Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter, he has enjoyed a long and successful career, selling more than 10 million albums and working with a variety of top names including Tina Turner, Bryan Adams, Meatloaf, Journey and The Beach Boys. Midge Ure One of Britain's most prolific and well-respected songwriters, co-organiser of the Live Aid concerts and former member of such iconic groups as Visage and Thin Lizzy; Midge Ure is a man of many talents. True musical royalty, he received an OBE back in 2005 for services to music and charity. Midge achieved huge success in the 80s with the synthpop band Ultravox, with worldwide hits such as "Dancing With Tears In My Eyes" and "Vienna", going on to have a successful solo career too. Having performed a reunion tour with Ultravox back in 2010, this summer he plays solo bringing his extraordinary back catalogue to Rewind. The Christians Described by The Sun as "arguably the best voice in pop" Garry Christian is both "the face" and "the voice" of THE CHRISTIANS .. another Liverpool success story emerging in the late 80s - renowned for their endless string of soul-inspired hits .. "Forgotten Town", "Born Again", "When the Fingers Point", "Ideal World", "The Bottle", "Father", "Perfect Moment", "What's in a Word", "Harvest for the World", to name but a few .. often forgotten until you hear the songs and remember how much you loved them! THE CHRISTIANS are celebrating 25 years since the release of their iconic eponymous album this year with a re-release along with a brand new album. T'Pau T'Pau burst onto the music scene in 1987 with "Heart and Soul", enjoying success in both the UK and US before releasing the classic "China In Your Hand" which stayed at no. 1 in the UK for five weeks. With her mass of red hair, soulful voice and commanding stage presence Carol Decker continues to "rock out" T'Pau's greatest hits.

Rewind Festival Official Website