Gary Kemp has just turned 60.
Spandau Ballet chart 20 UK hit singles and Gary wrote everyone of them. They spent a hot of 159 weeks on the UK singles chart and one of their finest songs was the 1984 top three hit Only When You Leave which is about a man who crave a woman he knows is not really right for him, but continues to chase her. Tony Hadley’s superb voice just nails every song. Enjoy.
Sue Wilkinson had one quirky hit in 1980 called You Gotta Be a Hustler If You Wanna Get On and she would have celebrated her 75th birthday this week.
There are a number of rumours and some incorrect information going round about Sue including that she had acting roles in both General Hospital and Coronation Street, these are untrue. About nine years ago, I had a brief interview with Trisha O’Keefe who was Sue’s producer and friend who told me the aforementioned information and the fact she was born in 1944 not 1943 as various sites including Wikipedia claim.
She was signed to Cheapskate Records which was owned by Chas Chandler who was managing Slade at the time and there was also another rumour that Don Powell of the band played drums on the track and made the peculiar twanging noises, but as Trisha confirmed, “Don Powell did not appear on track, he wasn’t on the scene when the track was first recorded – but did make an appearance with Sue on Top of The Pops as a guest celebrity which Chas suggested and he was miming with an ordinary drum kit. I was the one banging and twanging things on the record!” The man on the keyboard is Andy Millar-Reid.
You Gotta Be A Hustler If You Wanna Get On was originally called You Gotta Be A Scrubber If You Wanna Get On but it was Doreen Davies at Radio 1 who used to run the playlist meeting who suggested it be changed if they wanted airplay.
The single was taken from her only album, a 17-tracker called Looking for Cover. Three further singles were released, Time ‘N’ Tide, Women Only and Toy Boys but all failed to capture the public’s imagination.
“Sue eventually moved to Nashville to work with several major songwriters,” Trisha explained, “and had huge success as a jingle writer out there. She was sadly diagnosed with breast cancer and returned to the UK, where she died in 2005.
Let’s remember that great little quirky hit which reached number 25 in the UK.
Scott was born Philip Wallach Blondheim III this week in 1939 and would have been 80, but sadly he died in 2012.
Whilst at school he was briefly a member of The Singing Strings which included folk singer Tim Rose. In 1961, he formed the folk group The Journeymen with one of his mother’s friend’s son, John Phillips – who later went on to be in the Mama and the Papas. Scott was invited to be a member of the group but he declined preferring to continue with a solo career.
He hit number one in the UK at the height of flower power in 1967 with the anthem San Francisco (Be Sure to Wear Flowers in Your Hair) which spent four weeks at number one. He is often classed as a one-hit-wonder because few remember the follow-up, Like an Old Time Movie that stalled at number 50 in the UK.
Let’s remember that song now.
Marvin Lee Aday is 72 this week.
He was born in Dallas, Texas and when he was 22 headed to Los Angeles where he formed his first band Meat Loaf Soul, a name coined by Meat’s football coach because if his size. He released a few singles, but struggled because, as he claimed on an interview with a New Zealand radio interview, no one took him seriously in the music industry.
He went on to appear in the L.A stage production of Hair, he broke off for a U.S tour and then returned to the same show but this time on Broadway in New York. In 1973, he was invited to join the cast in the original production of the Rocky Horror Show where he portrayed Eddie and Dr. Everett Scott, the how was a success and it led to him being cast as Eddie in the film version, The Rocky Horror Picture Show.
In 1975, he and Jim Steinman began work on what was to become one of the biggest selling albums of all time, Bat Out of Hell. Two years in the making, it finally surfaced in 1977. To date, it has sold approx. 44 million copies worldwide.
He continued to appear in many film and TV productions as well as releasing the albums Dead Ringer (1981), Midnight at the Lost and Found (1983), Bad Attitude (1984) and Bat Out of Hell II: Back into Hell (1993) – the latter containing his only UK number one hit I’d Do Anything for Love (But I Won’t Do That).
In 1997, he had a cameo appearance as a bus driver in the film Spiceworld.
Let’s remember and enjoy one of the singles released from Bat Out of Hell which, astonishingly only reached number 32 in the UK singles chart.
Marvin Lee Aday is 72 this week.
He was born in Dallas, Texas and when he was 22 headed to Los Angeles where he formed his first band Meat Loaf Soul, a name coined by Meat’s football coach because if his size. He released a few singles, but struggled because, as he claimed on an interview with a New Zealand radio interview, no one took him seriously in the music industry.
He went on to appear in the L.A stage production of Hair, he broke off for a U.S tour and then returned to the same show but this time on Broadway in New York. In 1973, he was invited to join the cast in the original production of the Rocky Horror Show where he portrayed Eddie and Dr. Everett Scott, the how was a success and it led to him being cast as Eddie in the film version, The Rocky Horror Picture Show.
In 1975, he and Jim Steinman began work on what was to become one of the biggest selling albums of all time, Bat Out of Hell. Two years in the making, it finally surfaced in 1977. To date, it has sold approx. 44 million copies worldwide.
He continued to appear in many film and TV productions as well as releasing the albums Dead Ringer (1981), Midnight at the Lost and Found (1983), Bad Attitude (1984) and Bat Out of Hell II: Back into Hell (1993) – the latter containing his only UK number one hit I’d Do Anything for Love (But I Won’t Do That).
In 1997, he had a cameo appearance as a bus driver in the film Spiceworld.
Let’s remember and enjoy one of the singles released from Bat Out of Hell which, astonishingly only reached number 32 in the UK singles chart.
