Stacy Lattisaw had had first UK hit in 1980 with Jump to The Beat, she was just 13 years old at the time, this week she will be 52.
She was signed with Narada Michael Walden who produced her biggest hit and the follow-up, Dynamite. In 1981 she was invite to open for the The Jacksons on their Triumph Tour in 1981. Five years later she signed to Motown records and had a US R&B number one duet with Johnny Gill called Where Do We Go from Here in 1989.
In 1991 she got married and retired to raise her two children Kevin Jr. and Kayla.
This is one of my favourite songs of 2018. Sounding a little like Elle King, Mattiel Brown is from Atlanta, Georgia and works as an ad designer and illustrator at MailChimp by day and singer by night. Only BBC6Music is really playing this track at the moment, let’s hope other follow.
The Bonzo’s came together in 1967 and were first seen on an ITV show called Do Not Adjust Your Set. The band comprised Neil Innes, Vivian Stanshall, ‘Legs’ Larry Smith, Vernon Dudley-Bowhay-Nowell, Sam Spoons, Rodney Slater and Roger Ruskin-Spear, although they were accomplished musicians they were seen as a novelty band because of the way they combined old music hall tunes with jazz and a touch of psychedelia.
They only ever charted one single, I’m The Urban Spaceman, but they had, and still have, a cult following. Their albums, Gorilla and A Donut in Granny’s Greenhouse are classics and the titles of some of their tracks are unique – My Pink Half of the Drainpipe, 11 Moustachioed Daughters, Can Blue Men Sing the Whites and Death Cab for Cutie from which the rock band took their name.
Founding member Stanshall, who I met in 1980, was a very eccentric man did attempt a solo career and can be heard as the MC on Mike Oldfield’s album Tubular Bells, died in March 1995 at his house caused by a fire while he slept. Last month we learned of the sad death of Sam Spoons (b: Martin Ash) at the age of 76.
This was the flip side of the UK hit and is called The Canyons of your Mind. Enjoy!
Twin Brothers Paul and Barry Ryan celebrate birthdays this week. Paul sadly died of cancer in 1992 aged just 44, but Barry is 70 this week.
They were born in Leeds to Marion Ryan who had who had a top 10 hit in 1958 with Love Me Forever. In 1965 they signed a record deal with Decca records and within two years they had chart eight UK hits. By this time Paul had had enough of show business and couldn’t take the pressure so he left and relocated to the US but returned to the UK in 1985 and ran a chain of hair dressing salons.
After Paul quit, Barry continued as a solo artist and had six further hits with four of them written by Paul including the number two hit Eloise. His father was the music agent Harold Davison who looked after Tony Blackburn’s career in the 60s and early 70s. Barry retired in the mid-70s but dig make a comeback in the early 2000s as part of a Solid Silver Sixties Tour.
Let’s enjoy Paul and Barry’s debut hit, Don’t Bring Me Your Heartaches which was co-written by Les Reed and performed here at the London Palladium.
This week the American country singer Alan Jackson turns 60.
He is one of the most successful country singers in America. After leaving school he worked in a mail room where one of his colleagues knew Glen Gampbell and put them in touch and Glen helped him launch his career.
It was 1989 when he signed to the country music arm of Arista records and that same year he was nominated for six CMAs (Country music Awards). In 2001, following the 9/11 tragedy he wrote and recorded the most touching and heart-rendering song which he called Where Were You When The World Stopped Turning for which, the following year, he set a record for the most CMA nominations in one year – 10 in total.
He has been inducted into numerous Halls of Fame culminating with the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2017. He was also awarded a Hollywood Walk of Fame star in 2010.
With the 17th anniversary of 9/11 last month, watch this video with the words on the screen and remember with sadness that tragic event and the poignancy of his song.
