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1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970
1971 1972
1973 1974
MIKE SMITH’S HOT HUNDRED UK HITS 1974 As Glam Rock was beginning to fade in 1974, we saw the first rumblings of the Disco sound from the USA. Disco would become the dominant form of music in the second half of the 1970s. Meanwhile, most of the established acts continued as before, including Elton John, David Bowie, Slade, Status Quo and the Bay City Rollers, the latter of whom began to create the hysteria amongst fans, not seen since the days of the Beatles. 1973 newcomers David Essex and Leo Sayer consolidated their arrival with more hits in 1974. After a gap of four years, 1974 witnessed the return to the charts of Scottish 1960s songbird, Lulu, with a song written and produced by David Bowie. British newcomers included bands Mud and the Rubettes. From America, the Osmond family continued hitting the charts in various combinations, as did Diana Ross who scored two hits in duet with Marvin Gaye. The smooth Soul group, the Stylistics put three hits in the British charts, whilst the Doobie Brothers and the Three Degrees began their chart careers in 1974. The man who became known as 'the love walrus', Barry White, also started his impressive run of hits in this year. Perhaps the most important of all was the arrival of Swedish group Abba, who won the Eurovision Song Contest in 1974, and with a short gap, went on to dominate the British music scene for the rest of the 1970s. These are my personal favourite recordings from this particular year, listed in the order in which they entered the UK hit singles chart. You may not agree with my choices, but these were UK chart hits* that had plenty of air play on the music radio stations of the day, such as BBC Radio 1, Capital Radio, and Radio Luxembourg. *four songs not a hit in the UK. |
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1 Title: All Of My Life
Diana Ross was born on 26 Mar 1944 in Detroit, Michigan, USA. She first found fame
as the lead singer with the group the Supremes, which was one of the most successful female groups of the second
half of the 1960s (see year 1964, song 75). Ross had decided to leave the group for a solo career early
in 1970.
Her first UK solo release "Reach Out And Touch" (year
1970, song 61) performed disappointingly in the UK, but she was soon
in the UK and USA Top 10, and she enjoyed her first British Number
One in the summer of 1971 with "I'm Still Waiting" (see
year 1971, song 58). She went on to have a highly successful career with numerous hit singles and albums, and was
recording into the 2000s. |
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2 Title: Living For The City
Stevie Wonder was born on 13 May 1950 in Saginaw, Michigan,
USA, but he grew up in Detroit, Michigan, USA. He was blind almost from birth, but began singing in a
church choir as a child. He was signed to Tamla Motown records at the age of eleven, and made several
records. In 1963, when he was 12, he had his first hit, "Fingertips", which went to Number One
on the USA charts. His next few releases, however, did not reach the charts, and there was a danger that
Motown might drop him. However, he was given one last chance to produce a hit, and with his musical mentors,
Sylvia Moy and Henry Cosby, he wrote "Uptight (Everything's Alright)".
The single reached number 3 in the USA, peaking at number 14 in the UK - his debut hit there. His career grew from there
with a series of hit singles and albums over the following years. By the end of the 20th century, he had scored 54 hit singles and
17 Top 30 hit albums in the UK. He has continued to record and perform until the present time, although at
greater intervals than in the earlier decades. His most recent original album release was in 2005. |
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3 Title: Rockin' Roll Baby The Stylistics was a smooth Soul five-piece vocal
group that was formed in Philadelphia, USA in 1970. The group
was characterised by the falsetto voice of Russell Thompkins Jr
(born on 21 Mar 1951 in Philadelphia, USA) and the smooth sound
created by producer Thom Bell. This combination resulted in a
series of six UK hits until the summer of 1974. Thom Bell
stopped working with the group at that time, but production was
taken over by record label owners Hugo & Luigi with arrangements by Van
McCoy. This resulted in another run of ten hits in the UK,
with seven of those reaching the Top 10. However, this second
run of hits over the years 1974 to 1976, did not do well in the USA
where the new Disco sound was becoming dominant. In addition
to the singles success in the UK, the group's "Best Of" album
went to Number One on the British album chart, where it eventually
stayed for 63 weeks. The group continued for the next two
decades, but Thompkins left in 2000. He released a solo album
in 2002, but in 2004 Thompkins formed a new group, Russell Thompkins
Jr & The New Stylistics. They are still performing (as a
trio) at the present time. |
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4 Title: Tiger Feet Mud was a Rock band formed in London during
1966 by Rob Davis (born 1 Oct 1947) and Les Gray (9 Apr 1946 - 21
Feb 2004). They began recording in 1967 but without any
commercial success for several years. But in 1973 they signed
with Mickie Most's RAK label, and with help of songwriters Chinn and
Chapman (who had written several hits for the band Sweet), hits
started coming the way of Mud. They had three hits in 1973,
but 1974 saw them have their first Number One with the catchy
"Tiger Feet". That started a run of Top 10 hits that
extended into 1976. In 1975 the achieved five Top 10 hits, and
in 1974 they made Number One with their Christmas hit "Lonely
This Christmas", which has enjoyed radio airplay every December
until the present time. As their popularity waned in the late
1970s, they decided to split up in 1979. Following the break
up, Gray formed a new band, Les Gray's Mud, and they continued to
perform, with a changing series of musicians, until Gray's death in
2004. Since then various musicians have continued performing
under that band name. |
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5 Title: Teenage Rampage
The Sweet was a British Glam Rock band that
found fame in the early 1970s. The original lineup comprised lead vocalist Brian
Connolly (5 Oct 1945 - 10 Feb 1997), bass player Steve Priest (23 Feb
1948 - 4 Jun 2020), guitarist Andy Scott (born 30 Jun 1949), and drummer Mick
Tucker (17 Jul 1947 - 14 Feb 2002). The band was formed in London in 1968 and achieved their first hit, "Funny Funny", in
early 1971 after teaming up with songwriters Nicky Chinn and Mike Chapman.
They went on to have considerable chart success, achieving ten Top
10 hits by 1978, including a Number One and no less than five number
twos in the UK charts. They also had success in other parts of
Europe, and in the USA where they enjoyed four Top 10 hits. Sweet had their last international success in
1978 with "Love Is Like Oxygen".
Connolly left the group in 1979 to start a solo career and the remaining members continued as a trio until
disbanding in 1981.
From the mid-1980s, Scott, Connolly and Priest each played with their own versions of Sweet at different
times.
Connolly died in 1997, Tucker in 2002 and Priest in 2020.
Andy Scott, with a new line up, still tours the UK and the rest of
Europe. |
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6 Title: The Man Who Sold The World Lulu was born on 3 Nov 1948 near Glasgow, Scotland.
She started singing at a young age and by the time she was 13 she had a manager and was singing with a band around
Glasgow. Her manager took her to London in early 1964 and arranged a recording deal with Decca Records.
Her debut single, "Shout", was an American R&B song written by the Isley Brothers. It was an
instant hit, and Lulu's career took off from there. However, some of her recordings with Decca did not
sell as well as was hoped and she missed the charts completely in 1966. So, in 1967 she moved to EMI's
Columbia label, and producer Mickie Most. This gave her a new start, with hits for the rest of the 1960s.
Lulu was given her own BBC TV series in 1968, which ran annually until 1975. In 1969 she represented the UK
in the Eurovision Song Contest, where she came joint first. She continued to record and tour in the following decades, and in 1993
achieved her first chart-topper when she duetted with boy band Take That on "Relight My Fire".
She was in the Top 10 again in 2002 when she duetted with Ronan Keating with the song "We've Got
Tonight". Recording and touring continued, and she embarked on another concert tour of the UK during
the autumn of 2017.
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7 Title: The Wombling Song The Wombles are fictional furry creatures created by Elisabeth Beresford and originally appearing in a series of children's novels from 1968. The Wombles live in burrows, where they aim to help the environment by collecting and recycling rubbish, on Wimbledon Common in London, England. In the early 1970s the BBC decided to produce a stop-motion animated series of the Wombles and composer Mike Batt (born 6 Feb 1949) was asked to provide songs and music for the programmes. Batt enlisted the help of session musicians to record the music, which became so popular, singles and albums of the songs were issued. To promote the recordings, Batt and other musicians dressed up in Womble costumes and performed the songs on TV. Four singles including the Christmas hit "Wombling Merry Christmas" reached the UK Top 10 during 1974, with three smaller hits in 1975. Three albums of Wombling songs also reached the UK album chart in 1974. Batt has continued to write mainstream hits and produce recordings for various artists, especially for Katie Melua, up to the present time. |
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8 Title: Love's Theme The Love Unlimited Orchestra was a 40-piece string-laden orchestra, formed by American singer-songwriter Barry White, that served as a backing unit for White and female vocal trio Love Unlimited. In the mid-1970s the orchestra also recorded several singles and albums under their own name. This recording is the only one to appear on the UK charts. It reached Number One in the USA where the orchestra additionally had a few further hit singles and albums until 1977. |
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9 Title: Happiness Is You And Me Gilbert
O'Sullivan was born on 1 Dec 1946 in Waterford, Ireland. When
he was just seven years old his family moved to England where he
grew up. He began playing when at art college in the
1960s. He signed a recording contract in 1967, but no hit
recordings came from that. It was not until 1970 when he came
under the management of Gordon Mills that things took off. To
gain publicity, he went for an unusual appearance comprising a pudding basin haircut, cloth cap and short trousers.
This did attract attention, and by late 1970 he was in the UK charts
with his debut hit "Nothing Rhymed". His style and
songs were certainly unique, and he enjoyed enormous success for the
first half of the 1970s. He changed his appearance to a
college boy look after a year or so, and the hits continued.
He had eleven Top 20 hits up to the end of 1974, two of which were
Number Ones, and he achieved four Top 10 albums during that period
as well. He also enjoyed three Top 10 hits in the USA
including a Number One. Later in the 1970s however, he
realised that he had not received a fair proportion of his earnings
from his management company. He sued them, but it was not
until 1982 that the courts found in his favour and awarded him seven
million pounds. His career had been on hold for most of the
second half of the 1970s, but he had another Top 20 hit in
1980. He has continued to record and perform, issuing four new
albums between 2007 and 2018. He has also toured the UK and
Ireland in recent years. |
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10 Title: Remember (Sha-La-La)
The Bay City
Rollers was a Scottish band from Edinburgh, formed originally in the
1960s under different names. Although the personnel changed a
few times, the best-known line up comprised
lead singer Les McKeown (born in Edinburgh on12 Nov 1955), guitarists Eric Faulkner and Stuart Wood,
bassist Alan Longmuir, and drummer Derek Longmuir. They signed a contract with Bell records and had
their first hit in 1971, "Keep On Dancing", which reached
the UK Top 10 (see year 1971, song 71). They did not have another hit until 1974 when
they began a run of Top 10 hits until 1976. Fan adulation for
the group during that time was dubbed 'Rollermania', echoing the 'Beatlemania'
of the 1960s. They also had some success in the USA in the
mid-1970s, with three of their releases reaching the American Top
10. After their popularity began to wane, there were several
personnel changes, but they continued into the 1980s. Various
regroupings and reunions have taken place since then, with tours at
home and abroad in the 2010s. |
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11 Title: The Air That I Breathe
The Hollies was a beat group from Manchester, England.
It was formed by Allan Clarke and Graham Nash in 1962, and by early summer 1963 they had their first hit.
In the autumn of that year they made their debut in the Top 10 with a recording of a former American chart topper,
"Stay". This started a run of fifteen Top 10 hits by the end of the 1960s, and they continued
successfully into the 1970s as well. They finally broke into the USA charts in 1966, and enjoyed six Top 10
hits there. In 1968, founding member Graham Nash left the group, moving to California where he became part
of the super group, Crosby, Stills & Nash. With some changes of personnel, the Hollies continued to
perform through to the 1990s, mostly in the guise of a sixties revival group. Clarke finally retired in 2000,
but the Hollies still perform on the nostalgia circuit.
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12 Title: The Most Beautiful Girl Charlie Rich (14 Dec 1932 - 25 Jul 1995) was born in the state of Arkansas, USA. He was primarily a Country music singer, although early in his career, he preferred Jazz. He was in the US Air Force from 1953 to 1956 where he formed a small group to play Jazz and Blues music. In the late 1950s began working at Sun Studios as a session musician. He left Sun in 1963, and began recording in his own right with RCA, although there was no real commercial success. He signed with Epic records in 1967 and several albums were issued. His breakthrough came in 1972 when he began reaching the Top 10 of the American Country music charts. In 1973/1974 he had the USA Number One "The Most Beautiful Girl", which was followed by five more chart-toppers on the Country chart, three of which reached the Top 30 on the American pop charts. Sadly, he succumbed to alcoholism in the late 1970s, and he gave up performing. He returned to recording in the early 1990s, but died in his sleep in 1995 at the age of 62. |
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13 Title: Jealous Mind Alvin Stardust (27
Sep 1942 - 23 Oct 2014) was born in north London, England. He
first found fame in the early 1960s, when he performed under the
name of Shane Fenton. His real name was Bernard Jewry,
and in the early 1960s he was working as a roadie for a band called Shane Fenton & The
Fentones. Unfortunately, the lead singer (real name Johnny
Theakstone) died just before the band was asked to audition for the BBC. With the blessing of the mother of the
deceased singer, the band members asked Jewry to take on the role of lead singer so they could attend the audition.
So Jewry became Shane Fenton. The audition was a success, and this led to a record deal with EMI. Several
smallish hits followed, plus
the Top 20 entry "Cindy's Birthday" (see year 1962, song
53). There were no more hits after 1962 for the band, and Jewry turned to music management for a decade. However, in
1973 he took on another persona, as Alvin Stardust, after Peter
Shelley had written and recorded the song "My Coo-Ca-Choo".
Shelley had used the pseudonym Alvin Stardust on the recording, but
did not wish to perform it on TV. Bernard Jewry was contacted
and he agreed to become that singer to promote the song on TV.
The song was a big success and Stardust went on to record several
hits from 1973 to 1985. Following that he went into stage musicals and TV presentation work. He died from prostate cancer at age 72. |
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14 Title: Billy Don't Be A hero Paper Lace was a
four-piece band formed during 1969 in Nottingham, England, and they
performed at several clubs in the north of England from that
time. In 1973, they appeared on the TV talent show
"Opportunity Knocks", which they won for five consecutive
weeks. As a result of this publicity, songwriters Murray and
Callander offered to write them a song. That song, "Billy
Don't Be A Hero" went to Number One in the UK. In the USA
the song was covered by a band called Bo Donaldson & the Heywoods,
who took their recording of it to Number One in that country.
Paper Lace went on to have two more Top 20 hits during 1974, however
their popularity waned in the second half of the 1970s, and they
broke up in 1980. At the present time there are two bands
touring the UK with names derived from the original Paper Lace name. |
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15 Title: You're Sixteen
Ringo Starr was born on 7 Jul 1940 in Liverpool, England, and
found fame as a member of the Beatles group. After the breakup
of the band, Starr pursued a solo career, as did the others. His
first solo hit came in April 1971 with "It Don't Come
Easy" (year 1971, song 29), which reached number four in the UK
charts. He had four Top 10
entries on the UK singles charts, one each in the years from 1971 to
1974. Two of those reached Number One in the USA. He
also enjoyed two Top 10 albums in the British album chart. As
well as performing and recording music, Starr also
narrated the first two series of the children's television programme
"Thomas &
Friends" and portrayed "Mr. Conductor" during the first season of the PBS children's
television series "Shining Time Station". Since 1989, he has
frequently toured with his All-Starr Band.
He has continued recording from time to time, and issued his
twentieth album in 2019. As at 2021, Starr mainly resides in
Los Angeles, USA, with his wife, actress Barbara Bach. |
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16 Title: Rebel Rebel
David Bowie (8
Jan 1947 - 10 Jan 2016) was born in south London, England. He developed an interest in music as a child, eventually
studying art, music and design before embarking on a professional career as a musician in 1963.
"Space Oddity" became his first entry on the UK charts after its release in July 1969.
Following a period of experimentation, he re-emerged in 1972 during the
Glam Rock era with his flamboyant alter ego Ziggy Stardust. The character was spearheaded by the success of his single
"Starman" and the album "The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from
Mars", which won him widespread popularity and
recognition. After an uneven period in the late 1970s, Bowie had UK number ones with the 1980 single "Ashes to Ashes",
its parent album
"Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps)", and "Under Pressure", a 1981 collaboration with Queen.
He reached his commercial peak in 1983 with "Let's Dance",
which topped both the UK and USA charts. Throughout the 1990s and 2000s, Bowie continued to experiment with musical
styles. He stopped touring after 2004 and his last live performance was at a charity
event in 2006.
In 2013, Bowie returned from a decade-long recording hiatus with the
album "The Next Day". He remained musically active until he died of liver cancer
in New York City at age 69, two days after the release of his final album,
"Blackstar" (2016). |
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17 Title: Jet
Paul
McCartney was born on 18 Jun 1942 in Liverpool, England, and
found fame as a member of the Beatles group. After the breakup
of the band, McCartney pursued a solo career, as did the others.
His first solo hit was "Another Day" in 1971, which just missed
reaching the top spot of the charts. Despite this success, in
1972 he formed the band Wings, with his wife Linda on keyboards and
former member of the Moody Blues, Denny Laine, on guitar. This
group enjoyed considerable success (sometimes billed as Paul
McCartney & Wings) until the end of the 1970s. In 1981
Denny Laine left the group, which McCartney then decided to dissolve,
and all following hits and albums were credited to McCartney as a
solo artist. He also had much success on the album chart, with
his most successful being "Band On The Run" which peaked
at Number One, and remained on the UK album chart for 124
weeks. He has been very successful too on the USA charts where
he has scored seven Number One albums. He has continued
concert performances throughout the 21st century, and performed at
the opening ceremony of the London Olympic Games in 2012. His
most recent album was released in 2018.
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18 Title: Candle In The Wind Elton John
was born on 25 Mar 1947 in Pinner, Middlesex (north-west
London). He learned to play piano at an early age, and by 1962 had formed
Bluesology, an R&B band with whom he played until 1967. He met his longtime musical partner
Bernie Taupin in 1967, after they both answered an advert for songwriters.
For two years, they wrote songs for artists including Lulu, and John worked as a session musician for artists
including the Hollies and the Scaffold.
Elton John was also one of several singers in the late 1960s and
early 1970s who recorded covers of hit songs for sale as
budget-priced albums in shops like Woolworths. In 1971, his first hit single, "Your Song",
taken from his second album, "Elton John", reached the top ten in the UK and the
USA.
From that point he gradually became a star and by the end of the
20th century he had achieved over seventy hit singles in the UK
charts and some 36 albums in the album chart. In the USA he
has had more than 50 Top 40 hits and seven consecutive number-one albums.
His tribute single "Candle in the Wind 1997", rewritten in dedication to Diana, Princess of Wales, sold over
33 million copies worldwide and is the best-selling single in the history of the UK and USA singles
charts. He has also composed music for the musical film and
stage presentation "The Lion King", as well as for several
other musicals. Elton John owned Watford Football Club from 1976 to 1987 and from 1997 to 2002, and is
an honorary Life President of the club.
In 2019 a biographical film tilted "Rocket Man", about
Elton John's life from childhood to the 1980s, was released.
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19 Title: Jambalaya
The
Carpenters were a brother and sister duo from Connecticut,
USA. The act comprised Richard Carpenter (born 15 Oct 1946)
and Karen Carpenter (2 Mar 1950 - 4 Feb 1983). Karen provided
the vocals and sometimes drums, while Richard provided the
arrangements, instrumentation (mostly piano), and sometimes
backing vocals. During the 1970s they were an extremely
popular easy-listening act with numerous hit singles and albums throughout
the world. Their compilation album "The Singles
1969-1973" reached Number One in the UK and remained on the
album chart for well over two years, with seven other albums
reaching the Top 10. They toured the world extensively for a
decade, but Karen began to suffer from the eating disorder anorexia nervosa,
although she always denied the suggestion. However, in early
February 1983 she collapsed and died from a heart attack brought on
by anorexia nervosa. Richard Carpenter then began producing a
new album of unreleased Carpenters recordings which was issued later
in 1983. Since then he has produced several compilation
albums, and in 2018 an album of the duo's hits with orchestration
from the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra was issued, reaching number
eight in the UK album chart. |
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20 Title: Listen To The Music The Doobie Brothers is a band from San Jose, California, USA, which formed in 1970. At the time of this hit recording the members were Tom Johnston (lead vocalist), Patrick Simmonds and three others. They began touring and recording, although their debut album in 1971 was not a success. The second album, "Toulouse Street", reached number 21 in the USA album chart, and provided their first hit single "Listen To The Music". This was followed by several Top 30 hits, including the 1974 American Number One "Black Water". Success in the UK was rather more muted. By 1975, Johnston was in poor health, and he took a break from the band. He was replaced by Michael McDonald, whose distinctive voice gave the band a new sound, and they enjoyed even greater success. The band broke up in 1982, but reformed in 1987 with Johnston back in the fold. McDonald meanwhile had forged a successful solo career, but he did make a few guest appearances on the band's concert tours during the 1990s and 2000s. McDonald rejoined on a permanent basis in 2019 for a planned 50th anniversary tour in 2020, although that was postponed due to the Covid-19 pandemic. |
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21 Title: I Get A Little Sentimental Over You
The New Seekers was a British five-piece vocal
group, formed by Australian musician Keith Potger, after the break up of his group the
Seekers. The New Seekers comprised female lead singers Eve Graham
(born in Auchterarder, Scotland on 19 Apr 1943) and Lyn Paul (born
in Manchester, England on 16 Feb 1949), plus three males. The
first version of the group, formed in 1969, did not include Lyn
Paul, but after the first album release, several personnel changes
were made, including the addition of Paul. They had a minor
hit in late 1970, but made the big time in the summer of 1971 with
their first Top 10 entry "Never Ending Song Of
Love". This was followed later in the year by "I'd
Like To Teach The World To Sing", which was their first Number
One chart hit. They enjoyed considerable success through to
the mid-1970s, but broke up in the second half of 1974.
However, they reformed in 1976, but without Lyn Paul. They had
three smallish hits until 1978, when Eve Graham left. With new
personnel, the group has continued to tour and perform. |
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22 Title: Long Live Love Olivia
Newton-John was born on 26 Sep 1948 in Cambridge, England. Her
family moved to Australia in 1954, where she grew up. She was
a member of a short-lived group when she was 14, but after appearing
at a few talents contests, she was soon appearing on Australian TV
and radio. She went to the UK after winning the trip as a
prize, and was performing there in the late 1960s. In 1971 she
recorded her first album, and the track "If Not For You"
was issued as a single. It rose to number 7 in the UK and
number 25 in the USA. Further hits followed in the UK, and in
1974 she represented the UK in the Eurovision Song Contest. In
the mid-1970s she moved to the USA to live and work. She had
much success there, culminating in her role in the musical film
"Grease" in 1978. Two of her songs from the movie
become Number One hits in the UK. Hits continued on both sides
of the Atlantic, and she made more films as well during the 1980s
and 1990s. She has
continued to record and perform occasionally up to the present time.
She was honoured with a Damehood at New Year 2020. |
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23 Title: Emma
Hot
Chocolate is a five-piece Soul band from London, England which
became one of the most successful acts during the 1970s and
1980s. It was formed by
Errol Brown (12 Nov 1943 - 6 May
2015, born in Jamaica) and Tony Wilson (born in Trinidad on 8 Oct
1947). They started in 1968 as a Reggae band, but from 1970,
under the guidance of producer Mickie Most, they moved to a Soul/Pop
style. Their first hit was "Love Is Life" in 1970,
and this began a run of 25 UK Top 40 singles (12 Top 10) until
1984. Later in the 1980s, reissues returned them to the
charts. There were some personnel changes from time to time,
with Wilson leaving in 1976 and Errol Brown departing in 1986.
The band broke up after Brown's departure for a solo career, but it
was reformed with a new vocalist in 1992, with another new vocalist
in 2010, and it continues to perform in Britain and Europe until the
present.
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24 Title: Homely Girl The Chi-Lites were formed in Chicago, USA
during 1964 with lead singer and songwriter Eugene Record and
Marshall Thompson. Their first UK hit came in 1971, but in
1972 their recording "Have You Seen Her" reached number
three on both sides of the Atlantic. This was followed by five
Top 10 hits in the UK up to the summer of 1976. In the
mid-1970s, most of the group's personnel changed, even seeing the
departure of Eugene Record, although Marshall Thompson has remained
throughout. The often-revised band has continued until the present
time. A new album was released in 2006. |
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25 Title: You Are Everything For information about Diana Ross, see song 1
above. |
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26 Title: A Walkin' Miracle
The leader of this family trio, Limmie Snell was born in Dalton, Alabama,
but his family moved to Canton, Ohio when he was very young. He recorded with Columbia Records
from age 11 as a solo artist before joining family members Jimmy (female lead singer) and Martha Snell
to form Limmie & Family Cookin'.
They released one single on Scepter Records, then signed with Avco Embassy, where they released three
singles which hit the UK
singles charts in 1973-74. The first was "You Can Do Magic"
(number 3), followed by "Dreamboat" (number 31), and "A Walking Miracle" (number
6). Despite their success in the United Kingdom, they entered the USA charts only once, with "You Can Do Magic"
(reached number 84). Because of their popularity in the UK, they continued performing there regularly into the
1980s. In the mid-1970s they split into two musical groups, the second of which was
named Limmie Funk Limited.
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27 Title: Everyday
Slade was a Glam
Rock band formed in Wolverhampton, England during the late 1960s
(under a different name) by Noddy Holder (born 15 Jun 1946), Jim Lea
(born 14 Jun 1949), with lead guitarist Dave Hill and drummer Don Powell.
As Slade they obtained a deal with Polydor records, and from 1971 to
1977 they had 19 hit singles, with twelve consecutive Top 10 hits
which includes six Number Ones. They were the most successful
group of the 1970s in terms of singles sales. Their most
successful recording is "Merry Xmas Everybody" which
reached Number One in 1973, but has become a seasonal perennial,
being played on radio and in shopping centres every December
since. They lost some momentum in the late 1970s, but bounced
back in 1980, enjoying hits for most of that decade. However,
with falling sales and general disillusionment in the band, it broke
up in 1992. Noddy Holder then moved into acting and radio DJ
work. Lee continued writing songs and making occasional
recordings. Hill and Powell formed Slade II and began touring
and recording into the 2010s. |
MORE TO COME
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Acts with most appearances in this list: Bay
City Rollers:
4 Composers with most appearances in this list:
Nicky Chinn & Mike Chapman: 5 (3 for Mud; 2 for Sweet)
New Names in
1974 Abba
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1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970
1971 1972
1973 1974
Comments and corrections to: mjs@onlineweb.com Compiled January
2021
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