Total Eclipse Of The Heart, written and produced by Jim Steinman, hit number 1 in the United States this week in 1983, making Bonnie Tyler the first Welsh singer to top the chart there. The song also went to the top of the charts in South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, Norway, Canada and the United Kingdom and was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance.
Category: Flashback
Apparently inspired by The Edwin Hawkins Singers the English-born Les Humphries formed “The Les Humphries Singers” in Hamburg, Germany, in 1969. The group consisted of a large number of singers (at times more than twenty) of diverse ethnic origin. Members included John Lawton who would go on to be the lead singer for Uriah Heep and Liz Mitchell who would later front Boney M. The Les Humphries Singers performed a mix of Rhythm and Blues, Gospel, and Disco. They enjoyed most of their success, including number one hits, in Europe with songs like We Are Going Down Jordan, To My Father’s House and Mama Loo. One of their best known worldwide hits is 1972’s Mexico, which was based on the 1957 Country hit “The Battle of New Orleans.”
Joan Marie Larkin was born on the 22nd of September 1958. We know her better as Joan Jett. Joan joined the music scene at age 16 as the guitarist for the all-girl punk band “The Runaways” before going on to form “Joan Jett & the Blackhearts” in 1979. Their debut album was turned down by the first 23 record labels it was offered to, despite containing the future hit I Love Rock and Roll which went to the top of the charts in numerous countries in 1982.
The Honeycombs were an English pop group formed in 1963. The band featured Honey Lantree on drums. The band’s name was a pun on the drummer’s name and her job as a hairdresser’s assistant. Although in the press the band tried hard to play down the fact that she was female she became the star attraction of the band as she was one of very few female drummers at the time. Have I The Right was The Honeycombs’ first and biggest single. The prominence of the drums in the song was enhanced by having the members of the group stamp their feet on the wooden stairs to the studio. The song reached the top 10 in many countries and went to number one in the UK, New Zealand, Australia, Canada and Sweden.
American television series “Miami Vice” made its debut this week in 1984 with a two-hour episode. The crime drama starred Don Johnson as James “Sonny” Crockett and Philip Michael Thomas as Ricardo “Rico” Tubbs as two detectives working undercover in Miami . The show ran for five seasons and embraced the MTV era by incorporating lots of contemporary music and featuring appearances by many popular musicians.
This week in 1993, sixteen years after releasing his landmark album Bat Out Of Hell, “Meat Loaf” released the sequel, Bat Out Of Hell II: Back Into Hell, again with songs written by Jim Steinman. The first single, I’d Do Anything for Love (But I Won’t Do That), by far the biggest hit of Meat Loaf’s career, reached number one in 28 countries. Jim Steinman called the song a “Beauty And The Beast” kind of story. It earned Meat Loaf a Grammy Award for Best Rock Vocal Performance, Solo.
On 12 September 2003 legendary American singer-songwriter Johnny Cash died of complications from diabetes. He was known as “The Man In Black” not only because of a trademark all-black stage wardrobe but also because of his “outlaw” image. His lengthy career started in 1954 and saw the release of 91 albums and 170 singles. Cash continued to record until shortly before his death. In 2002 he recorded the Nine Inch Nail’s song “Hurt” for covers album American IV: The Man Comes Around. While the original song spoke of depression, Cash’s voice, lyrics, and prior reputation masterfully transformed it into a gloomy yet hopeful statement of faith and mortality. The music video’s footage of an aging music legend and his beloved spouse coping with a desperate place in their waning lives still reduces longtime fans to tears. Both barely resemble the lively entertainers that once graced stage and screen, adding a new level of sorrow to a song Johnny Cash turned into a parting statement.
Venus” is a song by Dutch band Shocking Blue, initially released as a single in the Netherlands in the summer of 1969. The song topped the charts in a number of countries but not in the Netherlands where it stranded at number 2. It did however become the first song by a Dutch band to reach number 1 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100. Shocking Blue’s guitarist Robbie Van Leeuwen wrote the song. The lyrics contained a typo in the line “A goddess on a mountain top”, with “goddess” written as “goddness”, which was how the band’s singer, Mariska Veres, sang it. The result was a chart topper with a misspoken first line thanks to a typo. Most listeners didn’t notice.
This week in 1959 Cliff Richard scored his first number one hit in the UK and several other countries. Living Doll became the best selling single of the year in the UK. A new version of the song was recorded in 1986 in aid of British charity Comic Relief. Cliff Richard, together with “The Young Ones” from the British sitcom(edy) of the same name, topped the charts again with (a slightly different version of) Living Doll.
This week in 1985 The 5th Dire Straits studio album, Brothers in Arms, rose to number one in the U.S. The album was a worldwide smash and is one of the best selling albums in history.