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468. Barbra Streisand – Woman in Love (1980)

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The Intro

As the 80s dawned, The Bee Gees knew their second peak couldn’t last forever. But moving into writing and producing for others proved very fruitful. Superstar actress and singer Barbra Streisand initially asked Barry Gibb to write half the album Guilty. He went on to produce the whole LP and Woman in Love became her biggest UK hit.

Before

Barbara Joan Streisand was born on 24 April 1942 in Brooklyn, New York City. Her father died soon after her first birthday, and the Streisands struggled financially, with her mother working as a bookkeeper. She was also a semi-professional singer, but she was initially reluctant when her daughter showed an interest in performing. At the age of nine, Streisand had already failed an audition for MGM. But her mother came round to the idea and she helped her 13-year-old daughter record a demo.

However, Streisand’s main ambition was to be an actress. At 16 she left school and moved out, taking on a number of menial jobs to make ends meet while striving for acting jobs. She became an usher in 1960 and auditioned for The Sound of Music. Although she failed, the director was impressed and urged her to include singing on her resumé. She entered a talent contest at gay nightclub Lion in Greenwich Village and stunned the audience into silence. Returning after winning for several weeks, she decided to change her first name to ‘Barbra’. Determined to make it her way, she refused to contemplate suggestions she have a nose job to improve her chances of mainstream appeal. Her first professional engagement came in September 1960 as support for the comedian Phyllis Diller.

Streisand spent the next few years honing her act and developing her between-song patter. She made her TV debut on The Tonight Show in 1961 and her Broadway debut the following year in the musical comedy I Can Get It for you Wholesale. At the age of 21 she signed with Columbia Records, gaining full creative control, in exchange for less money. A respectable position to take, and just as well, because they wanted her debut LP to be called Sweet and Saucy Streisand. It was eventually released as The Barbra Streisand Album in 1963.

In 1964 Streisand returned to Broadway for Funny Girl, which became an overnight success. People became her first US charting single, peaking at five, and she even made the cover of Time. Streisand’s UK chart debut came in 1965 with Second Hand Rose, which climbed to 14. In 1968 she won her first Academy Award, for Best Actress, after starring in the cinema version of Funny Girl.

The British Invasion dented Streisand’s mainstream musical appeal, like many stars of her ilk. But during the 70s her fortunes improved, with a return to the singles chart in 1970 with Stoney End – six in the US, 27 in the UK. One of her signature tunes, the haunting The Way We Were from the film of the same name, became her first Billboard number 1 in 1973, yet strangely it only climbed to 31 in the UK. Her role alongside Kris Kristofferson in the 1976 remake of A Star Is Born was huge, and Evergreen (Love Theme from ‘A Star Is Born’) was her second US chart-topper, soaring to three over here. She also won an Oscar for Best Song for Evergreen.

Her version of Neil Diamond’s You Don’t Bring Me Flowers was so popular, an unofficial duet was achieved by splicing Streisand and Diamond’s recordings. When an official duet was released in December 1978, Streisand achieved her third Billboard number 1. A year later, another duet saw her cross over successfully into disco. No More Tears (Enough Is Enough) teamed Streisand with Donna Summer and was co-produced by the genius Giorgio Moroder. Back at the peak of Billboard for the fourth time, it peaked at three in the UK. Streisand was named the most successful US female singer of the 70s.

Between February 1979 and March 1980, Streisand worked on her 22nd album, Guilty. She was so impressed with Gibb’s production and songwriting, he contributed to every song, with Robin co-writing five songs, and Maurice joining them for the title track. Production was credited to Gibb-Galuten-Richardson, which saw Barry team up with producer Albhy Galuten and sound engineer Karl Richardson, who produced Bee Gees number 1s Night Fever and Tragedy. Barry and Robin co-wrote lead single, Woman in Love, and Barry was credited with acoustic guitar and arrangement.

Review

You can always tell when a song has been written by the Gibb brothers, even if they don’t record it. Their marks are all over it – all you have to do is imagine the vocals made a lot higher. This rule works here. Unfortunately, that’s about the most interesting thing I can say about Woman in Love. It’s a very pedestrian love song masked in glossy production. I don’t understand why it was so popular, other than that perhaps it was due to Streisand’s stock being so high on the back of her role in A Star Is Born (the video is simply a compilation of scenes from the film) and her duet with Summer. There’s no amazing vocal prowess on display, the lyrics are unremarkable and the tune is lacklustre. Certainly one of the lesser number 1s of 1980.

After

Nonetheless, Woman in Love was a smash hit around the world, topping the charts in the US, Australia, Spain – pretty much everywhere, in fact. The parent album Guilty was also huge, despite no further real success in the UK singles chart (the title track only made it to 34). It would be four years before her next studio LP, Emotion. In 1985, despite objections from Columbia, Streisand returned to her roots with The Broadway Album. Three years later, Streisand was in the UK top 20 for the first time since Woman in Love, with the title track to Till I Loved You – a duet with Miami Vice star Don Johnson, which peaked at 16.

The 90s started very well for Streisand. She directed, co-produced and starred in the romantic drama The Prince of Tides (1991). Places That Belong to You, from the soundtrack, saw her back in the singles chart at 17. In 1993 she announced her return to live public concerts for the first time in 27 years. At the time, she was the highest-paid concert performer ever and won five Emmy Awards. She left the limelight again for a few years, but made a triumphant return in 1996, producing, directing and starring in another romantic comedy – The Mirror Has Two Faces. From the soundtrack came the number 10 hit duet I Finally Found Someone, with Bryan Adams. Then, a year later, a duet with Celine Dion – Tell Him, soared to number three. It is to date her last top 10 single.

The new millennium began with sad news for Streisand’s fans, as she announced she was to retire from public performances. But she did return to the movie world, starring in 2004 comedy Meet the Fockers. Album releases continued, including Guilty Too, a second collaboration with Gibb, in 2005. A year later, aged 64, she announced she was to tour once more, and became one of the highest-grossing performers in the world yet again. Amazingly it took until 2009 for Streisand to make her performance debut on British TV, when she appeared on Friday Night with Jonathan Ross.

In 2014, Streisand released Partners, an album featuring duets with Lionel Richie, Billy Joel and, from beyond the grave, Elvis Presley. Her last album to date was Walls in 2018, the title of which was a reference to the singer’s condemnation of President Donald Trump’s policies.

The Outro

Streisand has been a hugely successful singer, actress, director, producer over six decades. However, when it comes to pop music, there’s not a lot to recommend, other than No More Tears (Enough Is Enough). And that’s most likely down to Summer and Moroder.

The Info

Written by

Barry Gibb & Robin Gibb

Producers

Barry Gibb, Albhy Galuten & Karl Richardson

Weeks at number 1

3 (25 October-14 November)

Trivia

Births

26 October: Scottish actor Khalid Abdalla
28 October: Footballer Alan Smith
12 November: Rugby union player Charlie Hodgson

Deaths

26 October: Northern Irish playwright Sam Cree
27 October: T Rex singer-songwriter Steve Peregrin Took
29 October: Actress Ouida MacDermott
30 October: Actor Guy Bellis
3 November: Actor Dennis Burgess/Horticulturalist David Lowe
4 November: Radio broadcaster Paul Kaye/Boxer Johnny Owen
6 November: Literary scholar Nevill Coghill
7 November: Theatre director Norman Marshall
8 November: Scottish painter Gordon Robert Archibald/Astrophysicist Valerie Myerscough/Film producer Julian Wintle
9 November: Social researcher Pearl Jephcott
10 November: Journalist Patrick Campbell, 3rd Baron Glenavy/Painter James Priddey
11 November: Suffragette Connie Lewcock
12 November: John Chetwynd-Talbot, 21st Earl of Shrewsbury
14 November: Dance critic Arnold Haskell

Meanwhile…

28 October: Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher declares her government will not back down to seven jailed IRA terrorists on hunger strike in the Maze Prison, who are hoping to gain prisoner of war status.

5 November: The Yorkshire Ripper is suspected responsible when 16-year-old Huddersfield mother Theresa Sykes is wounded in a hammer attack.

10 November: Michael Foot, the left-wing Deputy Leader of the Labour Party, is elected as their new Leader.

13 November: Security guard George Smith is shot dead when the van he guards is intercepted by armed robbers in Willenhall, West Midlands.

431. Village People – Y.M.C.A. (1979)

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The Intro

An unmistakeable blast of brass from an enduring classic heralds the start of one of the best years for number 1s the UK has ever seen.

Before

Village People sprang from an idea formed in the heads of French producers Jacques Morali and Henri Belolo. As Can’t Stop Productions, they had enjoyed a few hits in Europe in the mid-70s. Getting a taste for success they decided to set their sights on the US.

Moving to New York City in 1977, the duo were working on music when Morali was handed a demo tape by an actor and singer called Victor Willis, who had starred in the original Broadway production of The Wiz. Apparently Morali said to Willis ‘I had a dream that you sang lead vocals on my album and it went very, very big’. Willis agreed to be lead on the 1977 album Village People, which featured songs by Phil Hurtt and Peter Whitehead to backing by the studio band Gypsy Lane.

The name ‘Village People’ was used to pay tribute to Greenwich Village, an area of Manhattan famous for its large gay population. Morali was gay and had attended a costume ball there. He greatly admired the outlandish outfits used to portray American male stereotypes. Perhaps he and Morali could do similar with Willis and their new group?

Morali’s first recruit was Felipe Rose. He claimed indigenous American descent so he was chosen to dress as a Native American. Willis picked Alex Briley, who eventually settled on a GI uniform. Others chosen were Mark Mussler (construction worker), Dave Forrest (cowboy) and Lee Mouton (biker). Joined by Whitehead, they were used to promote the first Village People hit San Franciso (You Got Me).

Morali and Belolo decided they needed a more permanent line-up to promote the next album Macho Man, released in 1978. They took out ads in New York theatre trade magazines which read ‘Macho Types Wanted: Must Dance and Have a Moustache’. Randy Jones replaced Forrest, Glenn Hughes was the new leather biker and David Hodo replaced Mussler. The classic line-up was formed, and they enjoyed their first hit with the title track of their second album.

What does YMCA stand for? While working on the third LP Cruisin’, Morali apparently asked Willis. The Young Men’s Christian Association had been founded in 1844 with the aim of putting Christian principles into place by promoting a healthy body, mind and spirit. In the US of the 1970s, typical YMCA residents were often homeless or people with other life issues. In the gay community, the YMCA was a popular cruising spot.

Willis could see Morali thought it would be a great idea for a Village People track. However, Willis has also since claimed he wrote the song and it was totally innocent and not intended as a gay anthem, but rather a promotion of a place black young men could enjoy sport.

Review

It’s interesting to note that Boney M, a manufactured disco group, were toppled in 1979 by another manufactured disco group. However, where Boney M were soulless and tacky, Village People’s number 1 has some fire in its belly. Willis really belts it out, turning the YMCA into a religious experience. The backing music is lively – there’s the brass, of course, but it’s the disco bass I like most.

How do you review a song like Y.M.C.A. though? It’s one of those cheesy anthems that’s played to death, almost too famous to clinically dissect. It’s also now lost of its original meaning, played at every party, wedding, any event where an instant floorfiller is needed. And you just know the floor will be full of people who can’t dance, doing the embarrassing spelling out of the chorus.

Apparently the dance originated on an episode of Dick Clark’s American Bandstand on the day it reached number 1 in the UK. After they performed the song, Clark showed the group the audience spelling the initials out and they decided to use it. Jones commented years later that it may have sprung from a misunderstanding – the Village People used to raise their hands above their heads and clap to the chorus but the crowd may have thought they were spelling ‘Y’.

The memorable video was filmed in July 1978. Featuring the group miming and dancing around New York City, it’s a pretty fascinating look at the city during pretty gritty times.

After

Y.M.C.A. went to the top pretty much everywhere, though stalled at two in the US. They followed it up with In the Navy, which is pretty much the same song but simply swaps one institution for another. It’s good though, and Willis is in fine form again. It reached number 1 across Europe but peaked at two here. Then came Go West, later a number two smash for Pet Shop Boys but only a number 15 hit for the Village People in 1979.

It was the last single to feature Willis, who left during the pre-production of the group’s doomed loose biopic Can’t Stop the Music, co-written and co-produced by Allan Carr, one of the men behind the smash-hit Grease. Willis was replaced by Ray Simpson, brother of Valerie Simpson of Ashford & Simpson fame.

In 1980 the title track of the movie climbed to 15 in the UK, but it was their last hit. Disco was on the wane and the Village People were starting to look like a fad. The movie was a critical and commercial flop. By the end of the year Forrest had left, replaced by Jeff Olson. The following year Morali and Belolo had taken notes that new wave was more popular and they made the Village People ditch their outfits and make them look more like a Spandau Ballet support act. Nobody was interested in a new-look Village People and their album Renaissance.

Willis rejoined briefly to work on the next album Fox on the Box, released in 1982. The outfits returned but Hodo and Simpson left and were replaced by Mark Lee and Miles Jaye. Their last proper album for 33 years was Sex Over the Phone, released in 1985.

There was a resurgence of interest in the Village People as the 90s began, but Morali died of AIDS-related complications in 1991. Three years later they recorded Far Away in America with the German national football team for their World Cup campaign. Hughes left in 1995 and was replaced by Eric Anzalone. The biker from the classic line-up died of lung cancer in 2001.

Willis was arrested in 2007 on drugs and weapons-related charges but his life picked up when he married that same year. He also began to perform live for the first time in 28 years and 2012 he won a landmark case, recapturing writing credits and a 33% share in the Village People’s Y.M.C.A, In the Navy, Go West and Magic Night. Eventually he also managed to get Belolo’s name removed from the credits. Then in 2017 he won the license for the name of the group and the characters, returning as their lead singer and with a brand new line-up behind him. The following year the festive album A Village People Christmas was released. A year later, Belolo died.

The Outro

The Village People remain much-loved, a beacon of light during the Winter of Discontent and a happy reminder of disco and, despite their comical appearance, were actually good for the gay movement. Y.M.C.A. is their biggest legacy and has been used time and again and spoofed just as much, in the media. Weirdly, its history took a dark turn when, for reasons unknown, US president and all-round evil Nazi bastard Donald Trump began using it at rallies when trying to be re-elected in 2020. Initially Willis was fine with this but then relented and demanded he stop. Whether it was his own decision or he felt the understandable pressure from the Black Lives Matter movement, we don’t know, but he was happy enough for Trump to use it at first, unfortunately.

Luckily for the whole world, this story has a happy ending as Y.M.C.A. is now remembered as the soundtrack to Trump finally fucking off as he left the White House in January 2021.

The Info

Written by

Jacques Morali, Henri Belolo & Victor Willis

Producer

Jacques Morali

Weeks at number 1

3 (6-26 January)

The Info

Births

20 January: Singer Will Young
21 January: Journalist Johann Hair

Deaths

16 January: Actor Peter Butterworth
23 January: Liberal MP Frank Owen

Meanwhile…

Prime Minister Jim Callaghan made the Winter of Discontent 10 times worse when he returned from an international summit to the industrial unrest. The Sun newspaper reported him as saying: ‘Crisis? What Crisis?’. He didn’t actually say it but many think this the beginning of the end for Labour.

15 January: Rail workers began a 24-hour strike.

22 January: Tens of thousands of public-workers, including hospital workers, rubbish collectors, school caretakers, gravediggers and airport staff, began the biggest mass strike since 1926.