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#4 Adult Contemporary , #6 Pop
When looking over my notes trying to select what soulful British singer I was going to post about, it struck me out of the blue that not only hadn’t I selected any women for this month, but I would be remiss in not mentioning the beautiful lady that was the FIRST soulful singer the Brits had to offer the pop music world– the legendary Dusty Springfield.
This song was one of the many, many Burt Bacharach and Hal David compositions that had been recorded by another great pop singer Dionne Warwick.
This catchy song has been covered my many and even recorded by Motown’s own Martha & The Vandellas, but it was Dusty’s duplicate cover of Dionne’s original that was the biggest hit.
“Wishin’ and Hopin’” appeared on Dusty’s first solo release, “Stay Awhile/ I Only Want to Be With You” on Mercury records.
This is the promotional video for Culture Club’s “Church of the Poison Mind.” This one of their many, many hits, charted #17 Rock and #10 Pop in the USA; #10 in Canada; and #2 in the UK.
The fabulously flamboyant Boy George (George O’Dowd) fronted this eighties band from London, England, and I fell in love with them the very first time I saw one of their videos on MTV. (For those of GenX, Y or Z, MTV used to show music videos 24/7 — hence the name Music Television!! ).
George was entertaining to look at and I loved his singing. He guested on many TV shows of the era and I jumped in front of the TV set to see him perform whenever I could.
This song, that the group composed, sounds like a song from the Golden Era of Motown with background vocalist Helen Terry taking the place of all three andantes . The harmonica is front and center, the tambourine is a shaking through- out and the bass is thumping!
If you are reading this post and aren’t aware of this group I highly recommend you check out their catalog. I have most of it on vinyl and honestly can say that I don’t recall hearing any bad cuts at all.
Culture Club won the 1983 Grammy Award for Best New Artist.
I know that a “Culture Club” Reunion will probably never happen, but I am extremely glad we had this group around on the music scene for a few years. It is so sad when talented groups/bands implode and leave the fans wanting more. Unfortunately this happens far to often in the business called music.
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#9 UK, #10 USA Pop
At age 8 England’s Stephen Lawrence Winwood joined his father and older brother Muff in “The Ron Atkinson Band.”
In the early Sixties Little Stevie’s older brother let him join his group the “Muff Woody Jazz Band.” The group was local success.
Then by 1963 the brothers joined with guitarist Spencer Davis in “The Spencer Davis Group” and “I’m A Man” (Stevie was co-writer) is one of their resulting hits on both sides of the pond. Stevie could play the piano and sing lead at age 15 just like any of the adults in the industry and probably better than most! I didn’t even know he was but a teen, back in those days, just a few years older than I was: I just discovered this as an adult.
This was the last hit single by the “Spencer Davis Group” before brothers Steve and Muff Winwood left.
“I’m A Man” is another one of my many many favorites as a teen. Classic British Blues-Rock from the British Invasion era doesn’t get much better than this now does it?
Check out this awesome vintage live performance from 1967! This is why I heart YouTube!
BTW when Stevie sings the lyric about “got whiskers on my chin” I just gotta chuckle since he probably hadn’t even started to shave yet.
I have always loved this oft-covered tune. I was surprised and pleased to find this original promotional video online since I don’t ever recall seeing it before. That’s the best thing about blogging — finding out something new! “Holding Back the Years” was composed by the red headed lead singer of Britain’s soul group”Simply Red”, [...]
[Audio clip: view full post to listen] Joe Cocker covered a Beatles Pop tune and took it to #1 in the UK as a Blues/Rock soulful lament that is, IMHO, the definitive version of the Lennon-McCartney song! For some reason it only went to #68 Pop in the States. “With A Little Help From My [...]
[Audio clip: view full post to listen] This is my favorite of all of the Van Morrison tunes I have heard to date. “Van The Man” is as soulful as they come. This super-soulful version of “Moondance“ appeared on the second LP of his vocal solo career, also entitled “Moondance.” This album peaked the Billboard [...]
[Audio clip: view full post to listen] #3 Adult Contemporary, #10, Pop, #26 R&B Like Rick Astley decades later, Tom Jones was one of the first popular voices that had we listeners fooled. My parents, step-mother, aunts and even grandmothers loved his singing (especially the country covers such as “Green Green Grass of Home”) but [...]
. The harmonica is front and center, the tambourine is a shaking through- out and the bass is thumping!
Culture Club won the 1983 Grammy Award for Best New Artist.
