Following the rightful success of one of the greatest singles of all time – namely Dancing Queen, ABBA were becoming superstars. They followed it up with another of their most famous songs. But Money, Money, Money didn’t become their fifth UK number 1, narrowly missing out by peaking at two. Their fourth album Arrival was chock full of hits though and was mined further.
Before
Knowing Me, Knowing You was recorded on 23 March 1976 at Metronome Studios. It marked a turning point in the band’s career. Gone was the jollity and Europop stylings of Waterloo. This was where things got interesting. Although we’re not at the point in which the two couples were getting divorced, relations in the band had become strained. As Björn Ulvaeus wrote the lyrics, you would imagine he and Agnetha Fältskog were already having problems. Originally the song had the working title Ring It In and then the prophetic Number 1, Number 1. As with most tracks on Arrival, it featured Rutger Gunnarsson on bass (he also looked after the string arrangement) and Ola Brunkert on drums.
Review
I’ve always been more interested in the soap opera-style drama behind ABBA than the majority of the songs I’ve heard by them. It’s fascinating that a superstar group of two couples could end up cataloguing their breakups so poignantly. Give me that over the cheesiness of their early years anytime. So I’m a big fan of Knowing Me, Knowing You.
‘No more carefree laughter’, the opening line, is a very effective signpost that ABBA were in trouble, despite years of success still to come. Anni-Frid Lyngstad takes the lead here and she commits a great performance, documenting her walk through a silent, empty house alone, remembering the good times. Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson’s production fits the glacially cold mood perfectly (as does the opening of the video, the sun beaming down in the winter snow) and then the chorus is ABBA at their best.
Somehow, despite years of association with Steve Coogan’s immortal comic character Alan Partridge, you can still hear it and be impressed, not amused at the fact the chat show host adopted such an inappropriate song as his catchphrase. It stands head and shoulders above any of the other 1977 number 1s so far. It also captures the sadness of the inevitability of the split. They know each other so well, she can see there is no going back this time – ‘this time we’re through’.
Great backing vocals from Ulvaeus too, echoing Frida’s sentiment well. Just to remind us ABBA haven’t totally given up on glam, there’s a very memorable solo after the choruses, with Ulvaeus coming over all Mick Ronson. Fältskog interjects in verse two with some sexy whispering. To be fair Fältskog could make anything sexy, even divorce. I realise that, speaking as someone who likes to point out how he doesn’t generally get all the fuss about ABBA, I’ve had nothing but high praise indeed for the last two singles I’ve covered. Andersson also looked back in 2004 and called them some of ABBA’s greatest work.
One thing that doesn’t get mentioned about ABBA is how iconic their videos are. Knowing Me, Knowing You was, like most, directed by future Academy Award nominee Lasse Hallström. Simple, yet effective, those shots of the members confronting each other face-to-face or back-to-back are as memorable as the song itself.
After
Knowing Me, Knowing You was rightly one of the biggest-selling songs in the UK of 1977 and began a second run of three consecutive chart-toppers in a row for Benny, Björn, Frida and Agnetha. It’s been covered by a diverse range of acts including Cilla Black, A-Teens and Right Said Fred. And as already mentioned, it took on a whole new life as the theme tune to Knowing Me, Knowing You… with Alan Partridge, the radio and TV series that introduced us to one of the greatest comedy characters of all time.
The Info
Written by
Benny Andersson, Stig Anderson & Björn Ulvaeus
Producers
Benny Andersson & Björn Ulvaeus
Weeks at number 1
5 (2 April-6 May)
Meanwhile…
2 April: The legendary horse Red Rum wins the Aintree Grand National for the third time.
11 April: London Transport’s Silver Jubilee AEC Routemaster buses are launched.
18–30 April: The Embassy World Snooker Championship moves to Sheffield’s Crucible Theatre, where it attracts TV coverage for the first time.
23 April: National Front marchers clash with anti-Nazi protesters in London. Also on this day, prostitute Patricia Atkinson is murdered in Bradford. Police believe she is the fourth woman to be killed by the Yorkshire Ripper.
29 April: British Aerospace is formed to run the nationalised aviation industry.
5 May: The Conservatives make gains at local council elections, including winning the Greater London Council from Labour.
Diminutive singer-songwriter Leo Sayer may be short in stature, but he was a big star in the 70s. From 1973 onwards he was a regular in the top 10 but it took four years to finally reach the pinnacle of the charts with the soft rock ballad When I Need You.
Before
Gerard Hugh Sayer was born on 21 May 1948 in Shoreham-by-Sea, Sussex, where he attended St Peter’s Catholic Primary School. Then he moved on to Blessed Robert Southwell in Goring-by-Sea and then West Sussex College of Art and Design, where he studied commercial art and graphic design. When he was 18, Sayer was working as a hall porter at the King’s Hotel in Hove. He became a hero when a serious fire broke out on the first floor and he assisted with saving elderly guests. Sayer ended up in danger himself but was rescued by builders working on nearby flats.
By the late-60s he was frontman in Terraplane Blues Band, before forming the group Patches in 1971 with drummer David Courtney, who had previously played with former number 1 singer Adam Faith. Patches were hoping the connection would pay dividends as Faith was moving into music management. Although Faith wasn’t that impressed with the group, he did think Sayer had potential and agreed to work with him.
Sayer began recording songs he co-wrote with Courtney at the studio of Roger Daltrey. The Who’s lead singer was impressed with what he heard, and was trying to kickstart a solo career. His debut, Giving It All Away, was written by Sayer and Courtney and produced by Faith. Peaking at five in the charts, Daltrey never surpassed this achievement again. Sayer’s debut single followed that same year but Why Is Everybody Going Home failed to chart. It became the closing track on his first LP, Silverbird.
Sayer’s second single, however, made him a star. The Show Must Go On was a music-hall-style song about making the wrong choices in life. He memorably promoted the single appearing on TV dressed and made-up as a pierrot clown. It took him all the way to number two. Second album Just a Boy (1974) spawned One Man Band, which reached six and Long Tall Glasses (I Can Dance), which climbed to four. The latter became his first US hit when it went all the way to four. With a canny knack in catchy pop, a lot of charisma and energy and that unmistakable 70s afro, Sayer became a frequent presence on Top of the Pops.
His third album Another Year continued his winning ways in 1975 with Moonlighting stalling at two. He and Courtney had gone their separate ways and Sayer wrote this LP with Supertramp bassist Frank Farrell. He and Faith also stopped working together after this album and he went to the US to record Endless Flight. With a bigger production budget and Richard Perry at the helm, it was his most commercial work yet and the first single from it, the ultra-catchy disco pop tune You Make Me Feel Like Dancing gave him a number 1 in the US, Canada and New Zealand. Despite being his signature song, it was his third single to not make it past the runner-up spot. Finally, Sayer cracked it with When I Need You.
This love song was penned by Albert Hammond and Carole Bayer Sager. Hammond, father of Albert Hammond Jr from The Strokes, was a singer and has been very successful for decades in writing hits for Glenn Campbell, Aretha Franklin, Celine Dion, Ace of Base and Westlife, to name a few. Singer-songwriter Bayer Sager has an Academy Award, a Grammy and two Golden Globes to her name and later married and worked with Burt Bacharach. Together, these pedigree songsmiths were bound to strike gold. This track actually first appeared as the title track to Hammond’s 1976 LP.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lVmBXm9OfDo
Review
I’m not sure what to make of Sayer to be honest. I used to think he seemed a nice unassuming guy, happy to play the fool (literally in the case of The Show Must Go On). I formed this opinion after seeing him fall off a running machine on the Vic Reeves and Bob Mortimer ill-fated game show Families at War. You can see the clip here. It starts with him sat on someone’s back performing this very number 1. So surely he has a good sense of humour. But then my opinion fell rapidly after seeing him take part in Celebrity Big Brother in 2007. He came across as a childish prima donna, eventually storming out because he couldn’t be provided with clean underwear. And during one of his hissy fits, he accidentally gave a thumbs up to the camera rather than the finger. Look. Silly sod.
But let’s give him the benefit of the doubt as that series did strange things to people and let’s get back to 1977. And I think When I Need You is a decent single if you like 70s torch songs. Perry’s production is slick and top-notch, capturing that soft rock FM sound so well. Sayer portrays the sensitive pop star separated from his loved one well. Though they’re miles apart, it’s OK as he can picture her when he closes his eyes. Sounds cliched now (and the video above in which he wanders forlornly along a beach is definitely cheesy) but it captures the mood better than other songs of this type.
I prefer the falsetto-sung happy-go-lucky You Make Me Feel Like Dancing personally but When I Need You is better than, say If You Leave Me Now or Don’t Give Up on Us. The song works because you could imagine it as a love letter not to just one person, but all Sayer’s fans. And ‘It’s cold out, but hold out, and do like I do’ is a nice little punching-the-air moment.
It’s a class line-up performing the track, featuring award-winning composer James Newton Howard on synth, occasional Rolling Stones saxophonist Bobby Keys, Michael Omartian on electric piano, session guitarist Dean Parks on electric guitar, Jeff Porcaro (soon to join Toto) on drums and legendary session bassist Willie Weeks.
After
When I Need You finally got Sayer the number 1 he craved, and became his second US chart-topper too. It was a worldwide hit and also the first of two Perry-produced number 1s in a row. It’s somewhat of a standard, having been covered by Perry Como, Rod Stewart, Celine Dion, Cliff Richard and, erm, Will Mellor. But Sayer’s is the one everyone remembers.
The Outro
Normally at this point I’d run through the rest of Sayer’s career, but as he unexpectedly featured on a number 29 years later, you’ll have to wait. It’s cold out, but hold out.
The Info
Written by
Albert Hammond & Carole Bayer Sager
Producer
Richard Perry
Weeks at number 1
3 (19 February-11 March)
Trivia
Births
2 March:Coldplay singer Chris Martin 9 March: Actress Rita Simons 10 March: Radio DJ Colin Murray
Deaths
19 February:Anthony Crosland
Meanwhile…
22 February: Labour MP David Owen replaces Anthony Crosland as Foreign Secretary after his death three days earlier.
1 March: Prime Minister James Callaghan threatens to withdraw state assistance to British Leyland, insisting they put an end to strike action.
US actor David Soul had for many years been a frustrated singer, until his role in the 70s cop drama Starsky & Hutch enabled him to achieve his dream. Thanks to his fame, he was able to bag two UK number 1s in 1977.
Before
David Richard Solberg was born in Chicago, Illinois on 28 August 1943. Of Norwegian extraction, his father was a Lutheran minister and his mother a teacher. The Solbergs moved regularly when he was growing up. While studying at the University of the Americas in Mexico City (rather than accept an offer from the Chicago White Sox to play baseball), he was inspired to learn the guitar, and so began his love for music, playing Mexican folk songs.
At some point in the mid-60s Solberg began going by the name David Soul and would perform in New York without making much impact. He hit upon the idea of concealing his identity and became The Covered Man. The gimmick worked and he was hired by The William Morris Agency and he garnered TV appearances, most notably on The Merv Griffin Show in 1966. Unfortunately when he unmasked on the same show the year later, proclaiming ‘My name is David Soul, and I want to be known for my music’, the bookings dried up.
It did however get him noticed and he began to get work as an actor instead, making his TV debut in an episode of Flipper, then an episode of Star Trek. In 1968 he became a regular on comedy series Here Comes the Brides, which ran for another two years. Clint Eastwood cast him for a role in Dirty Harry sequel Magnum Force, released in 1973.
Then came the big one. In 1975 he landed the part of Detective Ken ‘Hutch’ Hutchinson in ABC’s Starsky & Hutch along with Paul Michael Glaser as David Michael Starsky. This action drama series became huge and perhaps made Soul decide the time was right to try his hand at music once more, or someone at the label Private Stock Records could smell opportunity.
Soul was teamed with Tony Macaulay, a proven hitmaker with a considerable track record, having written and produced number 1s for The Foundations, Edison Lighthouse and The New Seekers. He had been tied up for much of the 70s in a legal dispute with his publishers. His win on appeal proved a landmark case for artists to challenge the terms of their contracts.
Review
Soul’s first number 1 is a very typical 70s slushy ballad, and very similar to If You Leave Me Now. Unfortunately the hook isn’t as catchy as Chicago’s, but the song as a whole is perhaps stronger, as it doesn’t tail away into nothingness. It’s lyrically similar too. Soul and his love have had a bust-up. Sounds quite serious too, as in the middle-eight he says ‘I really lost my head last night’. But he’s now full of regret and, not blessed with the strongest of voices, his meekness fits the theme of the song quite well. But if Soul hadn’t been starring in one of the most successful TV imports of the decade at the time, I doubt this would have topped the charts.
The Outro
Don’t Give Up on Us went to number 1 in the US too, and Australia, Canada and New Zealand. Soul would be back at the top before the year was out.
The Info
Written & produced by
Tony Macaulay
Weeks at number 1
4 (15 January-12 February)
Trivia
Births
24 January:Actress Hayley Tamaddon 5 February: Sailor Ben Ainslie 5 February:Footballer Jason Euell
Deaths
24 January:Chief of the Air Staff Sir Andrew Humphrey
Meanwhile…
29 January: Seven Provisional IRA bombs explode in London’s West End but there are no fatalities or serious injuries.
4 February: Police find an IRA bomb factory in Liverpool.
5 February: 28-year-old homeless woman Irene Richardson is murdered in Leeds, at nearly the exact location where prostitute Marcella Claxton was injured in an attack nine months earlier. Police believe that this murder and attempted murder may be connected, along with the murders of Wilma McCann, Emily Jackson and the attempted murders of at least three other women.
10 February: The three IRA terrorists involved in the 1975 Balcombe Street Siege in London are sentenced to life imprisonment on six charges of murder.
After 20 years in the music business, US pop crooner Johnny Mathis finally scored a UK number 1, and the all-important Christmas spot too, with a timely ballad many associate with the festive season. It’s a throwback to the stately Christmas songs of old.
Before
John Royce Mathis was born in Gilmer, Texas on 30 September 1935, of African-American and Native American heritage. The family soon moved to San Franciso, California, which is where he grew up. His father Clem was a singer and pianist, and could see his fourth of seven sons had musical talent. He bought him an old piano for the princely sum of $25. In years to come his parents would run his fan club. Soon, Mathis was singing and dancing for visitors, at school and church. From the ages 13 to 18 he was given singing lessons.
But Mathis had other interests in his youth too. He was a star athlete at George Washington High School, excelling at the high jump, hurdles and basketball. At San Francisco State College in 1954 he set a high jump record that was only 7cm short of the 1952 Olympic record.
Around this time Mathis got to know Helen Noga, co-owner of The Black Hawk Club where he often performed. She became his manager in 1955 and was offered a contract with Columbia Records. He had to decide whether to sign or try out for the Olympics. On his father’s advice he chose the former and released his eponymous jazz-flavoured debut LP in 1956. His first single, Wonderful! Wonderful! followed in 1957 and was a number 14 hit in the US.
It was only the start, as It’s Not for Me to Say peaked at five and then Chances Are topped the US chart. It was followed by The Twelfth of Never, reaching nine. It later became a number 1 for Donny Osmond in 1973. A hugely successful year was rounded off with Wild is the Wind, later covered beautifully by David Bowie on Station to Station. It was the theme to a film of the same name and earned him an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Song in 1958. He repeated this achievement with A Certain Smile the following year, which peaked at four in the UK.
Mathis also released Johnny’s Greatest Hits in 1958, which is considered the first of its kind and it held the record for most consecutive weeks in the Billboard album chart until The Dark Side of the Moon overtook it in 1983. Mathis rounded off the year with his first Christmas single, Winter Wonderland, a number 17 hit on these shores. Someone was a number six UK smash in 1959. When My Love for You climbed to nine a year later, it became his last UK chart entry for 15 years.
Relations between Mathis and Noja soured and in 1964 they fought in court. He bought a mansion in Hollywood Hills that had been built by Howard Hughes, and he still owns it to this day. In 1967 Mathis established Jon Mat Records but the 60s were a lean time for his career thanks to the British Invasion. He was no longer fashionable, though he did try to appear more hip by covering Simon & Garfunkel’s The 59th Street Bridge Song (Feelin’ Groovy) and the theme from Midnight Cowboy, both in 1969.
The 70s looked to be going the same way with covers of The Bee Gees’ How Can You Mend a Broken Heart? in 1971 and The Walker Brothers’ former number 1 Make It Easy on Yourself in 1972 making little impression. But then in 1975 he made a surprise return to the hit parade with a cover of I’m Stone in Love with You by The Stylistics and When a Child is Born (Soleado) topped them all on Christmas Day 1976.
The bracketed part of the title is where the tune originated. Soleado was a mainly instrumental song composed in 1974 by Ciro Dammico, aka Zacar, and Dario Baldan Bembo. Soleado was adapted and transformed into various different songs depending on the country, including in the UK, where Vera Lynn sang a version called There Comes a Day in 1975. Fred Jay, who later co-wrote hits for Boney M, was responsible for the English lyrics that Mathis made famous.
Review
So is When a Child is Born (Soleado) a Christmas song or not? Strictly speaking, no. You can easily take the lyrics and say they’re a retelling of the Nativity, with a child’s birth bringing about a ‘brand new morn’ and talk of ‘walls of doubt, crumble tossed and torn’. It all sounds very much like the miraculous birth of Jesus, particularly the reference to ‘A tiny star lights up way up high.’ As it was on my cash-in The Best Christmas Album in the World… Ever!, I’ve considered it for the season for well over 20 years. But upon re-reading the words, it seems to me it’s telling us we’re still waiting for someone to be born that can make the world a better place. It becomes clearer when Mathis recites the spoken word section:
‘And all of this happens because the world is waiting, Waiting for one child Black, white, yellow, no-one knows But a child that will grow up and turn tears to laughter, Hate to love, war to peace and everyone to everyone’s neighbour And misery and suffering will be words to be forgotten, forever’
Ouch, that ‘yellow’ bit has aged badly hasn’t it? But the intention was well-meant I’m sure. So yes, Mathis is waiting expectantly for someone to come along and save us all. Personally, the child this song reminds me of is my eldest daughter Emmie, who was due to arrive around Christmas 2011. I love a good croon when the moment and song is right, and still sometimes belt out ‘You’re on solid ground’ triumphantly.
When a Child is Born (Soleado) is a step back to the easy listening of the past, and you can bet the older generation were glad to have a Christmas number 1 that wasn’t by those glam rock upstarts for a change. While I prefer the festive classics of Slade and Mud, I’ve room in my heart for this too. Mathis is a class performer. Just ignore, as is so often the case for me, the spoken word section.
After
Although 1977 was another sparse year for hits, Mathis enjoyed another comeback a year later thanks to a duet with Deniece Williams (herself a number 1 artist in 1977 with Free) when Too Much, Too Little, Too Late became a US chart-topper. Mathis was encouraged by this to record many more duets, with, among others, Dionne Warwick and Natalie Cole. 1979 saw Mathis nominated for a third Oscar, this time for The Last Time I Felt Like This, recorded with Jane Olivor.
In 1981 Mathis tried to update his sound and recorded an LP with Chic’s Nile Rodgers and Bernard Edwards, but I Love My Lady remained unreleased until the mammoth 68-disc box set The Voice of Romance: The Columbia Original Album Collection in 2017. His last hit was Friends in Love with Warwick, released in 1982.
Despite the sales dwindling, he did release material sporadically over the next few decades. Mathis has, along with Bob Dylan, Barbra Streisand, Tony Bennett, Billy Joel and Bruce Springsteen, the longest tenure on the Columbia label. He reduced his number of live performances in 2000 but still gets out there, now aged 85. In 2003 he was awarded the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award and has been entered into its Hall of Fame three times.
Proving it’s never too late to change course, Mathis released a country album, Let It Be Me: Mathis in Nashville. A Christmas album, Sending You a Little Christmas followed in 2013, and his last collection so far is Johnny Mathis Sings the Great New American Songbook (2017), where he tried his hand at modern hits by Adele and Pharrel Williams. After years of rumours, Mathis came out the year of its release. A survivor of alcohol and prescription drug problems, he’s done lots of commendable work for charity.
The Outro
Well, 1976 was a slog wasn’t it? Glam rock is no more and disco isn’t hitting the upper reaches as much as I’d like yet. Unfortunately 1977 is similar, but I can see at least one classic to come… perhaps the greatest number 1 of all time…
The Info
Written by
Zacar & Dario Baldan Bembo/Fred Jay (English lyrics)
Producer
Jack Gold
Weeks at number 1
3 (25 December 1976-14 January 1977)
Trivia
Births
1 January 1977: Labour MP Rosena Allin-Khan 10 January: Sinn Féin leader Michelle O’Neill 11 January: Cricketer Billy Taylor – 11 January 13 January: Actor Orlando Bloom
Deaths
14 January 1977: Conservative Prime Minister Anthony Eden – 14 January 1977
Meanwhile…
3 January 1977: Home Secretary Roy Jenkins announces he is leaving the House of Commons to become President of the European Commission.
6 January: EMI terminates its contract with the Sex Pistols after only one single, Anarchy in the U.K. This was in response to the band’s infamous appearance on Bill Grundy’s Today in December and incident two days previous at London Heathrow Airport.
US rock band Chicago are one of the longest-running and most successful acts of all time in America. They’ve dabbled in jazz, classical and pop and sold millions in the process. Yet they haven’t achieved anywhere near the same level of success in the UK, where their only chart-topper is this soft-rock ballad.
Before
They formed in 1967 in, well, Chicago, Illinois. Known then as The Big Thing, they consisted of saxophonist Walter Parazaider, guitarist/singer Terry Kath, drummer Danny Seraphine, trombonist James Pankow, trumpeter Lee Loughnane and keyboardist/singer Robert Lamm. All had previous band experience. Chicago toured local nightclubs and played covers of the hits of the era. With a need for a bassist and a tenor to complement the vocals of Lamm and Kath, they hired Peter Cetera towards the end of the year.
The Big Thing were ambitious and began working on their own material. In 1968 they moved to LA, signed with Columbia Records and changed their name to Chicago Transit Authority. They became regular performers at the legendary Whiskey a Go Go, supporting Janis Joplin and Jimi Hendrix. In 1969 their eponymous debut album was released. Unusually for a first LP, it was a double. The seven-piece were lined up to play at Woodstock, but were replaced by Santana.
Less than a year later they had shortened their name to simply Chicago to avoid legal action, and another double LP, Chicago, followed. It spawned 25 or 6 to 4, which reached four in the US and seven in the UK. In 1971 they released Chicago III and began a trend for naming their albums after the group with a roman numeral to denote the order, bar a few exceptions here and there. These earlier, more experimental collections usually found their way into the top 10 of the UK album charts, where the more mature listeners had no quarrel with lengthy rock symphonies. Chicago V in 1972 was their first single album and contained the US number three hit Saturday in the Park. Chicago VI (1973) saw Cetera become established as their main singer. Chicago were so popular in the States, in 1974 their entire catalogue of seven albums was in the Billboard 200.
Close to collective exhaustion from their heavy workload, Chicago took a two-year break inbetween recording Chicago VIII and Chicago X (Chicago IX was a greatest hits compilation). Some of the band were reportedly unhappy with the number of ballads featured on their latest work.
Among the last to be recorded and nearly left off was Cetera’s If You Leave Me Now, which he’d originally written in 1973. The singer also performed backing vocals, with Lamm on electric piano, longtime collaborator Brazilian percussionist Laudir de Olivera provided congas, shakers, finger cymbals and wind chimes, Parazaider swapped saxophone for woodwinds, producer James William Guercio contributed lead and rhythm acoustic guitar (Kath sat this one out) and veteran arranger Jimmie Haskell looked after the strings and French horn orchestrations, played by Gene Sherry and George Hyde.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T6WsbBu-ARc
Review
The first 40 seconds of If You Leave Me Now are great. Opening with that memorable horn hook, Cetera pleads with his love not to go. OK, this is hardly a new subject matter in pop, but it’s a very slick production and ‘If you leave me now, you’ll take away the biggest part of me/Ooohh no, baby please don’t go’ is a very effective earworm.
Unfortunately it all goes a bit aimless after that. It’s as though Cetera plays his ace too soon, stopping his partner in her tracks but is then unable to really give a good reason to persuade her to change her mind. He has a great voice that lends itself well to a song full of pleading, but there’s not enough meat to keep me interested. Dance act Lemon Jelly had the right idea when they used the intro as the basis for their track Soft, released in 2001. It made for a great grand finale to Jarvis Cocker’s Domestic Discos, which he broadcast on Instagram during the first national COVID-19 lockdown.
If You Leave Me Now spent three weeks on top and went to number 1 in the US and several other countries. It also earned the group the Best Pop Vocal Performance by a Duo, Group or Chorus at the 1977 Grammy Awards. Tragedy hit Chicago when in early 1978, Kath died after shooting himself with a gun he thought was unloaded. Singer-songwriter Donnie Dacus was his replacement.
After
Chicago’s sound kept evolving, with the horns being used less often and power ballads their bread and butter. The line-up changed too, and the core members of Toto helped out on 1982’s Chicago 16, which spawned the US number 1 Hard to Say I’m Sorry. It was their second biggest UK hit, peaking at four. Chicago 17 in 1984 featured their last UK hits, Hard Habit to Break (eight) and You’re the Inspiration (14). Cetera left in 1985 to pursue a solo career, reaching number three with yet another power ballad, Glory of Love, which was used in The Karate Kid Part II.
Chicago continued to score hits in the US despite the loss of Cetera, including Will You Still Love Me? in 1986 and I Don’t Wanna Live Without Your Love in 1988. That same year they topped the US chart for the last time with Look Away. Seraphine was sacked in 1990, and the decade saw their recorded output decrease greatly.
The Outro
They returned to experimenting with jazz and classical covers on 1995’s Night & Day: Big Band. Chicago XXX in 2006 was their first album of new material since Twenty 1 in 1991. Their last album to date, released in 2019, is their third collection of festive songs, Chicago XXXVII: Chicago Christmas. Lamm, Loughnane, and Pankow are the only remaining original band members, with Parazaider playing the occasional special event.
If You Leave Me Now was used to great effect in an advert for mobile phone network 3 in 2006.
The Info
Written by
Peter Cetera
Producer
James William Guercio
Weeks at number 1
3 (13 November-3 December)
Trivia
Deaths
20 November:Catholic intellectual Martin D’Arcy
Meanwhile…
16 November: The seven perpetrators of the £8,000,000 van robbery at the Bank of America in Mayfair were sentenced to a total of 100 years in jail.
1 December: The Sex Pistols achieved notoriety with an expletive-ridden TV debut on Bill Grundy’s regional news show Today for Thames Television. The punk rockers were drafted in at short notice when Queen pulled out, and went on to promote debut single Anarchy in the UK, which had been released on 26 November. Grundy, who was noticeably drunk, was suspended for inciting them.
The narrative of 70s pop is well-known. Punk came along and changed everything, sweeping away a stale music scene. What brought it home to me more than anything was the start of BBC Four’s repeats of Top of the Pops in 2011. As 1976 was the first year in which they could amass a complete year’s run, they started there. Week after week, the young audience look downbeat, bored and even depressed in that dark, grim studio. It’s like they’re stood in the rain waiting for a bus that’s late. Another world, when compared to the glitz and glamour of the 80s editions.
Reviewing the number 1s of 1976 has mostly backed up those forlorn expressions, and none more so than this one. Some chart-toppers get forgotten. This one fully deserves that fate.
Before
Pussycat were a trio of Dutch sisters – Toni (lead singer), Betty and Marianne Kowalczyk. The Kowalczyks came from Brunssum, Limberg in the Netherlands. After school they all worked as telephone operators before they became known as Zingende Zusjes (Singing Sisters), performing German language songs. A big beat movement was sweeping the Netherlands, so Zingende Zusjes soon changed their sound to follow suit and added a female drummer to the mix, changing their name to The BGs from Holland. Fast forward to 1973 and the Kowalczyks were signed to Telstar as Sweet Reaction. They recorded a single, Tell Alain, but made little impression.
By early 1975 they were working with guitarist Lou Willé, who had married Toni, and they then joined forces with bassist Theo Wetzels, drummer Theo Coumans and guitarist John Theunissen. This trio had previously been in a lovely named group called Scum. Now a seven-piece, they became a country and pop outfit called Pussycat.
Pussycat signed with EMI on the strength of demo tape which included Mississippi, and it was released as their debut single that year from first LP, the aptly named First of All. It was a huge hit in Europe, reaching number 1 in their own country among others. It had been penned by Werner Theunissen, who had been in early-60s group The Rocking Apaches. His association with the Kowalczyks went back years. He had taught them to play guitar before they were in their teens and he wrote his first song for them. Theunissen also came up with the idea for Sweet Reaction. He wrote Mississippi back in 1969 as a response to The Bee Gees’ first UK number 1, Massachusetts (The Lights Went Out in).
Review
I’d be hard-pressed to work out how any song could topple ABBA’s Dancing Queen after six weeks, let alone Mississippi. It’s four minutes long but feels a lot longer. It starts off OK, a nicely produced country ballad, which isn’t normally my bag, but there are always exceptions. But not with this one.
For one thing, the lyrics are bemoaning the fact rock’n’roll replaced country, which isn’t true. It trundles along, sounding like something you’d hear some nobodies singing as guest stars on a 70s repeat of The Two Ronnies. Boring, but inoffensive. But then the chorus comes, and I don’t know if it’s just me, but the sisters’ combined vocal quality is like fingernails down a blackboard. Just awful. The way they sing the song’s title makes me feel like I’m being pushed too fast on a roundabout and I’m about to throw up and again when they sing ‘Whenever I shall go away’, it’s as though I’ve been punched in the gut.
Maybe I’m alone in having this reaction, I don’t know, but to me it’s very real. Mississippi on a loop would be torture to me. And yet there it was on those Top of the Pops repeats, week after week, the video above featuring Pussycat on a fairground ride showboat, looking like they’re in an outtake from a 70s porn film. Any good points? Well, Eddy Hilberts production tries to polish a turd, as I mentioned. The little guitar fill that represents country becoming rock’n’roll is a nice little touch, and Wim Jongbloed’s strings work well. But those voices… especially when you consider the song is built around them.
After
Pussycat’s fame continued in Europe and elsewhere, where they scored number 1s in the Netherlands with Georgie and Smile in South Africa, both also in 1976. The latter was their only other UK hit though, and it reached 24 here. By 1978 they were only still doing well in their homeland and Belgium. Coumans left and Hans Lutjens took his place behind the drumkit. They continued to tour into the early-80s, but they were running out of money and so the Kowalczyks ditched the band and would perform to backing tapes. Lovers of a Kind from another aptly named album, After All, was their last single in 1983. Toni, who had already released solo material in 1973 as Sally Lane, went on to be a prolific country singer.
The Outro
So we’re coming to the end of one of the worst years for number 1s I’ve reviewed, perhaps the worst. But on 22 October, while Mississippi was ruling the roost, The Damned released New Rose, considered the first ever punk rock single. It would be a few more years before its influence was felt at number 1 but the times were slowly changing.
The Info
Written by
Werner Theunissen
Producer
Eddy Hilberts
Weeks at number 1
4 (16 October-12 November)
Trivia
Births
23 October: TV presenter Cat Deeley 25 October: Footballer Steve Jones 29 October: Footballer Stephen Craigan 7 November: Cricketer Andrew Davies – 7 November
Meanwhile…
24 October: James Hunt became Formula One world champion.
25 October: The Royal National Theatre opened on the South Bank in London.
27 October: Conservative MP Keith Joseph and close Margaret Thatcher ally delivered the influential policy speech ‘Monetarism is Not Enough’, published by the Centre for Policy Studies.
Simply magnificent. Right that’s Dancing Queen covered.
I’m joking, but really, what can be said about Dancing Queen that hasn’t already been said? How does one analyse the ecstasy contained within those three minutes and 52 seconds? In a moribund year of number 1s, this stands out not only as the best, it’s one of the greatest pop songs of all time, up there with She Loves You.
Before
Dancing Queen had been the first song ABBA recorded in the sessions for the album Arrival, beginning on 4 August 1975. The demo was known as Boogaloo and as sessions progressed, Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus became inspired by another disco classic – George McCrae’s Rock Your Baby and the drum sound from Dr John’s 1972 LP Dr John’s Gumbo. It’s slightly blown my mind to discover that the intro sounds very similar to Delaney & Bonnie’s Sing My Way Home from 1971. It was manager and co-writer Stig Anderson that gave the song its title.
Once the backing track was complete, with session musicians Rutger Gunnarsson on bass and Roger Palm on drums, Andersson took a tape home and played it to Anni-Frid Lyngstad. She was so moved she burst into tears and later recalled ‘I found the song so beautiful. It’s one of those songs that goes straight to your heart.’. Fellow ABBA vocalist Agnetha Fältskog agreed, reminiscing that ‘It’s often difficult to know what will be a hit. The exception was Dancing Queen. We all knew it was going to be massive.’
Andersson, Anderson and Ulvaeus worked on the missing piece of the puzzle, coming up with lyrics that capture how it feels to be young, on a night out, and feeling the music and eyes of adorers upon you.
Review
Dancing Queen is a masterclass in pop on every level. Just like the Beatles with She Loves You, they know they have a killer chorus on their hands and go straight into it after a triumphant piano roll. It’s euphoric and ecstatic, and before turning the spotlight (or should that be Super Troupers?) on the 17-year-old girl in the disco, it’s pointing at the listener. You can dance. You can jive. Having the time of your life. The combination of this message and the beautiful music is so inviting, I don’t see how can anyone can turn it down. And then the verses. It’s Friday night, the lights are low and the Dancing Queen is on the prowl.
The only real complaint I’ve heard about Dancing Queen is that the lyrics are politically incorrect, that the girl is a prick tease. I don’t agree. I think the lyrics are empowering, particularly considering the era they were written in. To read ‘Anybody can be that guy’ as a sign of her not being fussy who she pulls, needs to pay attention to the preceding line: ‘You come to look for a king’. Although this is obviously considered a disco anthem, the lyrics note she’s dancing to rock music. Andersson and Ulvaeus wisely ditched a verse that was here originally and has survived via footage from a recording session:
‘Baby, baby, you’re out of sight Hey, you’re looking all right tonight When you come to the party Listen to the guys They’ve got the look in their eyes’
You could still argue with me, and it’s a strong argument, that the final verse really does prove this girl is bad news:
‘You’re a teaser, you turn ’em on Leave them burning and then you’re gone Looking out for another, anyone will do’
ABBA somehow manage to make all this sound kind of innocent though, and I’d still say it’s refreshing to see the girl in charge. And it’s true. It’s the girls that hold all the power in the nightclub discos. And if you listen to this wonderful music, you can feel that way again. It’s a song that doesn’t age thanks to the heavenly production. Lyngstad and Fältskog sing like angels and Andersson’s piano is the highlight – I love the way his pieces seem to tumble from ear to ear with earphones on. Nice synth too, adding texture here and there. As the song fades away, you can almost cry at the sheer beauty of it all. Ah to be young again. There’s none of the Europop cheese ABBA often indulge in here. If there is a higher power up there, I think ABBA somehow channeled it with this song. It’s perfect.
Recorded in two days flat, ABBA knew they were on to a winner, but Anderson suggested Fernando should be released before it as it was broader. This seems like madness to me, but both were massive hits so there you go. Dancing Queen went global. A very respectful six weeks here, 14 weeks in their native Sweden and topping the charts in more than 10 countries, including their only number 1 in the US. It became the second track on Arrival, which was a smash.
After
In 1980 they recorded a Spanish version for their Latin LP Gracias Por La Música, where it was renamed Reina Danzante. Over the years Dancing Queen has only grown in stature and is often referenced by critics who want to get over the simple beauty of pop at its best. It returned to the UK charts in 1992, reaching 16 off the back of Erasure’s number 1 Abba-esque EP. it’s perhaps here that the ABBA revival really began.
The Outro
So, with three number 1s, all huge sellers and this one ruling the roost, 1976 really was ABBA’s year. They weren’t one-hit wonders anymore. They were one of the UK’s favourite groups. In the video to Dancing Queen above, they are performing in a small, packed venue to bopping fans. The band look to be on top of the world. They were.
The Info
Written by
Benny Andersson, Stig Anderson & Björn Ulvaeus
Producers
Benny Andersson & Björn Ulvaeus
Weeks at number 1
6 (4 September-15 October)
Trivia
Births
6 September:Footballer Ian Ashbee/Actress Naomie Harris 8 September: Model Abi Titmuss 11 September: Swimmer Neil Willey 16 September: S Club 7 singer Tina Barrett 13 October: Field hockey player Jennie Bimson
Deaths
1 October: Royal Air Force officer George Stacey Hodson 14 October:Actress Edith Evans
Meanwhile…
4 September: 25,000 people attend the Peace March in Derry and call for an end to violence in Northern Ireland.
9 September: The Royal Shakespeare Company opens a production of Macbeth at The Other Place, Stratford-upon-Avon. Directed by Trevor Nunn, it stars Ian McKellen and Judi Dench in the lead roles.
12 September: Portsmouth football club are reported to be on the brink of bankruptcy due to huge debts.
23 September: Eight men are killed when a fire breaks out on the destroyer HMS Glasgow while being fitted out at Swan Hunter at Wallsend on Tyne.
29 September: Ford launch the Cortina Mark IV.
4 October: The famous InterCity 125 high-speed train is introduced into passenger service on British Rail, initially between London Paddington, Bristol and South Wales.
15 October: Two members of the Ulster Defence Regiment are ailed for 35 years for murder of the members of the Republic of Ireland cabaret performers Miami Showband.
Sir Elton Hercules John is a pop and rock icon and one of the biggest-selling stars of all time. Over 300 million records sold. More than 50 top 40 singles and seven UK number ones, among them Candle in the Wind 1997, the best-selling of all time in both the UK and US, which sold over 33 million worldwide. And yet he didn’t achieve a solo number 1 until Sacrifice in 1990, by which point he was way past his peak. But this first number 1, a duet with friend Kiki Dee, came 14 years beforehand.
Before
A lot of the following info will be familiar to anyone who’s seen the 2019 biopic Rocketman, but John was born Reginald Kenneth Dwight on 25 March 1947 in Pinner, Middlesex. The unassuming Dwight had a rocky relationship with his parents, particularly his straight-laced father, a Royal Air Force flight lieutenant. But they were both keen on music, and passed that down to Dwight, particularly his mother, who loved the rock’n’roll stars of the 50s. Dwight took particular notice of the pianists Jerry Lee Lewis and Little Richard, and it was his beloved grandmother’s piano that he took to from a young age. His mother would get him to play at family gatherings. At seven he started formal piano lessons, and four years later he won a junior scholarship to the Royal Academy of Music. Dwight had lessons each weekend but left at 16 before his final exams.
His parents, who had never really got on, divorced when their son was 14. He did like his new stepfather though, and John loved being in their new apartment so much, he remained until he had four albums simultaneously in the US top 40.
They encouraged his musical development, and at 15 he was hired as a pianist at a local pub, where, known as simply Reggie, he would perform standards and throw some of his own material in for good measure. He also performed briefly with a group called The Corvettes, and around this time he began wearing glasses on stage. He didn’t need to – it was just his tribute to Buddy Holly.
In 1962 he formed Bluesology with friends and inbetween solo shows, within a few years the group were backing touring US soul and R’n’B musicians including The Isley Brothers and would also work as Long John Baldry’s backing band in a new line-up. Dwight and Baldry would become close friends, and Baldry, who was openly homosexual, helped Dwight come to terms with his own sexuality and the fact he did not love his fiancée.
Dwight answered a New Musical Express ad placed by Ray Williams, A&R manager of Liberty Records. Williams was looking for songwriters, and at their first meeting he handed Dwight an unopened envelope of lyrics written by Bernie Taupin, who had also answered the ad. Dwight wrote a song around the words and sent it to Taupin, beginning one of pop’s most enduring and successful partnerships. Six months later Dwight renamed himself Elton John in honour of Bluesology’s saxophonist Elton Dean and Baldry and by the end of the year he had left that band. He legally became Elton Hercules John in 1972.
John and Taupin joined Dick James’s DJM Records in 1968 as staff writers and over the next two years they penned songs for acts including Lulu. They were a two-man factory, Taupin would write the lyrics in under an hour and John would set them to music in half an hour. On the advice of music publisher Steve Brown, John began composing for himself and released his debut single, the John/Taupin composition I’ve Been Loving You in 1968. His first album, Empty Sky, followed in 1969 but it was Elton John in 1970 that really got the ball rolling. Gus Dudgeon was on board as producer and the beautiful second single Your Song reached seven in the charts here and eight in the US. John was finally a star.
The next few albums, country and western concept LP Tumbleweed Connection, live album 17-11-70 and soundtrack to the film Friends all sold nicely, and John’s US tour also went down very well. 1971 album Madman Across the Water contained the classic Tiny Dancer. Honky Château, recorded in France and released in 1972, saw John take a more rocky approach and Rocket Man became his biggest hit to date, shooting to two.
In 1973 John’s flamboyance made him a natural to join the glam rock movement, and Don’t Shoot Me I’m Only the Piano Player spawned the hits Crocodile Rock (five, and his first US number 1) and Daniel (four). Goodbye Yellow Brick Road was his best album yet, featuring Saturday Night’s Alright for Fighting (seven) and the moving title track (six). He topped the year off with the festive Step Into Christmas (eight).
John formed his own music label in 1974. Calling it The Rocket Record Company, he signed Neil Sedaka and Dee, who he took a close interest in. Dee, born Pauline Matthews on 6 March 1947 in Bradford, West Riding of Yorkshire, had always wanted to be a pop star. She won a talent contest aged 10 and at 16 she was singing with a dance band in Leeds while working in Boots by day. She became a session singer and worked with Dusty Springfield among others, and soon she was signed to Fontana Records.
In 1963 she released her debut single, Early Night, from her first album I’m Kiki Dee (songwriter Mitch Murray came up with her stage name). Despite becoming the first British white artist to be signed by Motown in the States, Dee wasn’t really going anywhere until John took her under her wing after two failed singles on the legendary Detroit label. Her fortunes improved with her cover of Amoureuse, which climbed to 13 in 1973. I’ve Got the Music in Me, credited to The Kiki Dee Band, went to 19 in 1974.
That year was another hugely successful one for John. The original Candle in the Wind, from Goodbye Yellow Brick Road, was a smash, peaking at 11. Then came the album Caribou, allegedly recorded in a fortnight and featuring two of his best-known hits Don’t Let the Sun Go Down on Me (16) and The Bitch Is Back (15). He also collaborated with John Lennon on a cover of Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds and then sang harmonies and played piano on Lennon’s Whatever Gets You Thru the Night.
When it became the former Beatles’ only solo number 1 in the US. When they recorded it, John made a bet with Lennon that the song would top the charts. Lennon was so skeptical he promised John he would perform at one of his shows if it happened. He fulfilled the promise with a rare appearance at a Madison Square Garden gig. They performed their two collaborations and a rendition of The Beatles’ I Saw Her Standing There. It would be Lennon’s final major show.
In 1975 John released the autobiographical account of John and Taupin’s early years together. Captain Fantastic and the Brown Dirt Cowboy contained only one single, Someone Saved My Life Tonight, in which he paid tribute to Baldry helping to stop him wanting to commit suicide. The album was the first to go straight to number 1 in the US, and the last to feature the Elton John Band, who had been an important part of his rise to fame. John dismissed drummer Nigel Olsson and bassist Dee Murray. Guitarist Dave Johnstone was retained. That year John starred in Ken Russell’s adaptation of The Who’s rock opera Tommy as the ‘Local Lad’ and recorded a storming version of Pinball Wizard, which was a number seven smash in 1976. By the time that year rolled around, John was heavily into drugs and dressing ever more flamboyantly for his stage appearances. Critically and commercially adored, nobody could see how unhappy he was behind the facade.
He and Taupin originally wrote Don’t Go Breaking My Heart as a duet for John to record with Dusty Springfield. Using the pseudonyms Ann Orson (John) and Carte Blanche (Taupin), they planned a disco-flecked affectionate tribute to Motown duets of the likes of Marvin Gaye and Tami Terrell. When Springfield turned it down due to illness, John decided to give it to Dee, who in addition to being on his label would perform backing vocals on Goodbye Yellow Brick Road and most recent LP Rock of the Westies. Also on the track were James Newton Howard on acoustic piano and orchestral arrangements, Johnstone and Caleb Quaye on electric guitars, new rhythm section Kenny Passarelli on bass and Roger Pope, plus Cindy Bullens, Ken Gold and Jon Joyce on backing vocals, uncredited.
Review
While I don’t deny John’s talent, and a few of the songs I’ve mentioned above are undeniable classics, I’m not always a fan, particularly of his 80s output onwards. So it’s a shame some of his more deserving tracks didn’t top the charts but the later material did. So it goes.
Don’t Go Breaking My Heart isn’t a classic, but it is pretty good. It’s slick and well-produced and does a good job of copying that Motown duet sound. It’s plain to see, from the pseudonyms used and the fluffy lyrics that John and Taupin aren’t taking themselves seriously, but are such talented songwriters, when they do go for a commercial pop sound, they nail it. Dee duets well with John but I’d have loved to hear Springfield’s take.
Having said that, John and Dee clearly have a genuine friendship, as you can see in the video above. The sleeve of the single is another matter – it looks like John is giving her a dirty look behind her back for some reason.
This is one of the better number 1s of the year – not that that’s saying much, and I think John and Taupin winning the Ivor Novello award for Best Song Musically and Lyrically is a bit much but there you go.
After
1976 was a very memorable summer for Dee. As well as holding the number 1 spot for a very impressive six weeks, she went on to support Queen at Hyde Park, performing for more than 150,000 people. The Kiki Dee EP went to 13 later that year. She had a couple more hits in 1977 – First Thing in the Morning (32) and Chicago (28). Things went quiet for a few years but she made a successful comeback in 1981 with Star, which later became the theme tune to BBC One’s Opportunity Knocks. Also on the album it came from, Perfect Timing, was another duet with John, Loving You Is Sweeter Than Ever. Two years later she was singing backing vocals on John’s album Too Low for Zero.
She released music sporadically in the 80s but duetted with John at Live Aid on their number 1. She moved into theatre, and was acclaimed for her performance in Blood Brothers, even receiving an Olivier Award nomination in 1989. She returned to the singles chart with John when True Love nearly garnered another number 1, but it stalled at two in 1993. Her last album to date is A Place Where I Can Go, released in 2013. Rachel Muldoon played her in Rocketman.
The Outro
As for John, well, we know we’ll hear much more from him, but not for a fair while. But I will point you to the 1994 remake of this number 1 in which drag queen RuPaul took the place of Dee. It was a number seven hit and it’s good fun.
The Info
Written by
Ann Orson & Carte Blanche
Producer
Gus Dudgeon
Weeks at number 1
6 (24 July-3 September)
Trivia
Births
27 July: AI researcher Demis Hassabis 9 August: Radio producer Aled Haydn-Jones/Actress Rhona Mitra/Conservative MP Sam Gyimah 13 August: Idlewild singer Roddy Woomble 1 September: Cricketer Clare Connor
Deaths
19 August: Actor Alastair Sim – 19 August 30 August: Labour MP David Rees-Williams, 1st Baron Ogmore
Meanwhile…
27 July: The UK breaks diplomatic relations with Uganda.
29 July: A fire destroys the head of Southend Pier.
5 August: The Great Clock of Westminster, aka Big Ben, suffers internal damage and stops running for over nine months.
6 August: John Stonehouse, the last person to serve as Postmaster General, is sentenced to seven years in jail for fraud.
14 August: 10,000 Protestant and Catholic women demonstrate for peace in Northern Ireland.
30 August: 100 police officers and 60 carnival-goers are injured during riots at the Notting Hall Carnival.
1 September: The summer heat takes its toll, as drought measures are introduced in Yorkshire.
August 31-3 September: Riots ensue at Hull Prison.
As is well documented, the summer of 1976 in the UK was full of long, lingering days of seemingly endless sunshine. And this was perhaps a factor in pushing Greek singer and unlikely sex symbol Demis Roussos to number 1 for a week that July. And with not one, or two, but four songs! For the first time in my blog, I’m reviewing an EP, rather than a single. A very rare occurrence in the singles chart.
Before
Artemios Ventouris-Roussos came from a Greek family but was actually born in Alexandria, Egypt on 15 June 1946. His father was a classical guitarist and both his parents were amateur actors. Roussos was raised in Alexandria and as a child he studied music and joined the Greek Church Byzantine choir. He was heavily influenced by jazz and traditional Arab and Greek Orthodox music. When his parents lost their possessions in the Suez crisis they moved to Greece, where his mother came from.
Roussos joined a band known as The Idols when he was 17. It was around this time he first got to know Evángelos Papathanassíou and Loukas Sideras, his future bandmates in Aphrodite’s Child. The former was better known as Vangelis. He then joined a covers band called We Five, based in Athens.
In 1967 Roussos, Papathanassíou, Sideras and Silver Koulouris became Aphrodite’s Child, a progressive, psychedelic rock band who released three LPs over five years. Their final release, 666 (1972) was a mammoth, mad double album opus based on the Book of Revelation, featuring the excellent, sprawling The Four Horsemen. Vangelis and Roussos remained friends after the split and would occasionally record together before and after Aphrodite’s Child, including the film score to Sex Power in 1970 and Magic in 1977.
With his impressive, distinctive tenor, Roussos was groomed for solo stardom before the band had split. His debut album On the Greek Side of My Mind (Fire and Ice) spawned the single We Shall Dance in 1971, which became a hit in Belgium and the Netherlands. Over the next few years he grew increasingly popular across Europe (and in size) but not in the UK. It took until 1975 for him to crack the chart here, with Happy to Be on an Island in the Sun, which reached five.
BBC TV producer John King became fascinated by the singer and so he made the documentary The Roussos Phenomenon. In 1976, Roussos’ UK label Philips decided to make the most of this interest and released Excerpts from ‘The Roussos Phenomenon’ EP, rounding up some of his best-known European hits that featured in the documentary. It became the first ever extended play record to reach number 1. Fans of Aphrodite’s Child be warned, you’ll find precious little that sounds like The Four Horsemen…
Reviews
First up is the most well-known Roussos track. Forever and Ever, sharing its title with a number 1 by Slik earlier this year, was originally released in 1973 as the title track to an album. It reached number 1 in Belgium and Mexico. It’s the highlight of the EP and despite being considered somewhat laughable by many, I have a soft spot for it. Yes the production, by Roussos himself, is a bit tacky but the backing vocalists in the opening create an earworm and Roussos’ voice, though not for everyone, is impressive. There are three reasons I like this opener. 1: My dad is known to burst into it with no warning, and only now do I know what the song is. 2: It’s famously used in Mike Leigh’s 1977 TV play Abigail’s Party (replacing José Feliciano’s Light My Fire from the theatre version). 3. One of my favourite singers, King Creosote, performs a hauntingly lovely cover. He has a similar vocal quality and it works great here.
Sing an Ode to Love is a keyboard-led ballad, originally the opener of his 1975 album Souvenirs. The proggy phasing sound in the first half is pretty interesting but once the military drums and choir kick in, it all sounds a bit too Eurovision for my liking.
So Dreamy was his most recent track, originating on 1976 album Happy to Be… It’s very, very similar to Forever and Ever, and inferior. The backing vocals are way too much and already I’m starting to tire of Roussos’ voice.
My Friend the Wind was released as a single in 1973, where it went to number 1 in Belgium and the Netherlands. The second best song here, it’s also the most traditionally Greek sounding of the four. It’s perhaps overlong but a nice tune.
After
In spite of, or maybe thanks in part to, Roussos’ flamboyant/ridiculous image, as seen above, the Greek giant had a few more UK hits, most notably the follow-up to this EP, When Forever Has Gone, which peaked at two. Actually, while on the subject of his image, if you ask me he looks pretty damn cool on the front of the EP at the top of the page. Anyway, Kyrila, released in 1977, was his last chart entry here, at 33. He continued to do well in Europe though, particularly Belgium and the Netherlands.
Roussos struggled with his weight throughout his life, particularly during the early-80s. In 1980 he weighed over 23 stone. He began a diet that enabled him to lose over eight stone in under a year and in 1982 documented his issues by co-authoring the book A Question of Weight.
In 1985 he spent his 39th birthday held hostage as he was among the passengers on TWA Flight 847 from Athens to Rome that was held by alleged Hezbollah terrorists. However Roussos and four other Greeks were released after five days while most of the others remained for 17 days. He was unharmed and even thanked his captors for a birthday cake at a press conference afterwards.
Roussos continued releasing music and touring throughout the rest of the 80s and the 90s, even though his hits tailed off everywhere. He returned to the UK for a tour on the back of Forever and Ever – Definitive Collection in 2002. It was noted that his voice was no longer the powerful force it once was. Roussos’ final album, Demi, was released in 2009. Greece mourned when one of their most famous exports died on 25 January 2015 from stomach, pancreatic and liver cancer, aged 68.
The Info
Written by
Forever and Ever/Sing an Ode to Love/My Friend the Wind:Stélios Vlavianós& Alec R Costandinos/So Dreamy: Robert Rupen &Stélios Vlavianós
Producer
Demis Roussos
Weeks at number 1
1 (17-23 July)
Trivia
Births
19 July: Actor Benedict Cumberbatch
Deaths
21 July (see below): Diplomat Christopher Ewart-Biggs
Meanwhile…
17 July–1 August: Great Britain and Northern Ireland compete at the Olympics in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. They take home three gold, five silver and five bronze medals.
21 July: Christopher Ewart-Biggs, UK ambassador to Ireland and civil servant Judith Cooke are killed by a Provisional IRA landmine at Sandyford, Co. Dublin.
It may have seemed a little bold for ABBA to release a Greatest Hits in March 1976. However, their label Polar decided to due to the many cash-in compilations labels scattered around the globe were releasing in an attempt to cash-in on the fact that they were becoming huge. And with two UK number 1 singles to their name and plenty of hits elsewhere featured, it proved a wise move. It became their first number 1 album on these shores.
Before
As well as a mix of their early hits and lesser-known tracks in the UK, there was a new song, released as a single. Although it wasn’t strictly speaking, ‘new’. Fernando had first featured on band member Anni-Frid Lyngstad’s debut solo LP Frida ensam in 1975. Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus had originally called it Tango but at the last minute they renamed it Fernando after a bartender working at a club in Stockholm, Sweden, allegedly.
This Swedish version had lyrics penned by ABBA’s manager Stig Anderson and Lyngstad is singing to a heartbroken Fernando, attempting to console him after he has lost the love of his life. The chorus translated as:
‘Long live love, our best friend, Fernando. Raise your glass and propose a toast to it; to love, Fernando. Play the melody and sing a song of happiness. Long live love, Fernando’
When it came to ABBA recording the song, Ulvaeus decided to take a different tack. He was lying outside one summer night and gazing at the stars when he hit upon a brainwave. Fernando became about two old freedom fighters who fought in the Texas Revolution of 1836, who reminisced about days of old one night in Mexico.
Review
Fernando is one of ABBA’s best-known and biggest-selling singles, but it’s my least favourite of their number 1s. I find it leaden and overwrought and I’m not really interested in hearing about what two 19th-century soldiers have to say. Give me their relationship drama and we’ve something to work with. It also suffers coming straight after Save Your Kisses For Me, which meant 10 weeks of tedium at number 1 on repeats of Top of the Pops and again, it makes me relieved I wasn’t a pop fan in 1976. Having said all this, I’d be a liar if I didn’t say the chorus was very memorable.
ABBA starred in a memorable, suitably dramatic video for Fernando, sat around a campfire looking very serious and gazing into each other’s eyes, as you can see above. ABBA made lots of videos – I’m not sure if they ever actually promoted on Top of the Pops in person? As well as a month as UK number 1, Fernando topped the charts across the globe. It became the longest-running number 1 in Australian history (14 weeks) for more than 40 years until Ed Sheeran’s Shape of You went one better in 2017.
After
ABBA made a Spanish-language album, Gracias Por La Música, in 1980 and Fernando was a natural choice for an LP aimed at Latin American countries.
The Outro
So, ABBA had scored two number 1s before we even reach the half-way mark of 1976, and the best was yet to come.
9 May: 20-year-old prostitute Marcella Claxton is badly injured in a hammer attack in Leeds.
10 May: Following months of rumours of his involvement in a plot to murder his ex-lover Norman Scott, Jeremy Thorpe resigns as leader of the Liberal Party.
19 May: Liverpool win the UEFA Cup for the second time by completing a 4-3 aggregate win over Belgian side Club Brugge KV at the Olympiastadion in Brugge.
27 May: Harold Wilson’s Resignation Honours List is published. It becomes known satirically as the ‘Lavender List’ due to the number of wealthy businessmen awarded honours.
1 June: UK and Iceland end the third and final Cod War. The UK abandoned the ‘open seas’ international fisheries policy it had previously promoted.
