The Peels – Juanita Banana b/w Fun – Karate GER 7″

The song, “Juanita Banana” was inspired by Gary Knight & Herb Bernstein in 1963.
Tash Howard created the story, hired a group of studio singers and musicians, hired
Charles Fox to create a music arrangement and followed up the recording by attending
the annual “Midem” Festival in France. Mr. Howard sold the sub-publishing rights to
a large number of publishers throughout the world. Murray Kenton re-wrote the music which was adapted from the main aria of the opera, “Rigoletto” which was written by Guiseppe Verdi in the mid 1600’s. Juanita Banana is a phenomenon which took much of the Spanish speaking world by storm! Consumers who loved opera enjoyed the story of Juanita who came from a “banana farm” to become a successful opera singer. When her father realized that his daughter had become a star in the city, “He burned down his (banana) trees, went to the city and bought himself a guitar” and sang along side his daughter. A story which charmed those listeners throughout the world! Hail to Juanita! Incidentally, the Chiquita Banana Company was offered an opportunity to participate as the original name was Chiquita, but the banana company turned down this opportunity to treat the world to a new logo song! Sorry Chiquita! It is Juanita who is now the most famous musical banana character in the world. Chiquita is a distant SECOND!