128. RIGHT BACK WHERE WE STARTED FROM- Sinitta (189,000)
RELEASED: 1989
PEAK POSITION: 4
WKS ON CHART: 10
Another cover from 1989! This time Sinitta took on Maxine Nightingale’s 1975’s disco classic and whilst not directly produced by S/A/W it was helmed by their main mixer Pete Hammond. It was the final top 10 hit for the singer who would see her singles making increasingly less impact on the charts as the new decade came around. Still a song I have a soft spot for and her only hit to make it into the top 100 in her native USA.
127. SO EMOTIONAL- Whitney Houston (192,000)
RELEASED: 1987
PEAK POSITION: 5
WKS ON CHART: 11
From the stable as “Eternal Flame”, “Like A Virgin” and “True Colours”, this was Whitney’s third release from the album “Whitney” in late 1987. It was an unprecedented sixth consecutive No 1 stateside, and she even borrowed Madonna’s normal producer Shep Pettibone to twiddle his knobs on it and create an alternative version to the album one and thus make a top 5 hit, an improvement on previous single “Didn’t We Almost Have It All” which failed to crack the top 10 here.
Back in 1983 Yazoo released their fourth and final single (as an active group) before both Vince Clarke and Alison Moyet decided to go their separate ways. There was no guarantee what was going to happen to them next but both proved to have little reason to worry with Clarke going on to form Erasure and Moyet carving out a rather successful solo career in the 80s with this being that first tentative step and a top ten hit to boot.
125. CAUSING A COMMOTION- Madonna (193,000)
RELEASED: 1987
PEAK POSITION: 4
WKS ON CHART: 9
Madonna’s soundtrack to her “Who’s That Girl” film has already delivered up “The Look Of Love (No 194) and here’s the second single to be lifted from it. Lyrically an exploration of the relationship between her and then husband Penn it was released to coincide with Madonna’s world tour which was just about to trundle into the country back in 1987 and was only denied the No 1 spot in the US by Jacko’s “Bad”.
First appearing on his album “Spy Vs Spy” in 1983 this is a Billy Bragg original which was taken just 2 years later and transformed into MacColl’s only solo top 10 hit of her career. In its original form the song is only two verses long, a bit short for a pop single so Bragg kindly wrote another verse for the singer and it turned into the song we all know and love.
123. IKO IKO- Natasha (194,000)
RELEASED: 1982
PEAK POSITION: 10
WKS ON CHART: 11
“Iko Iko” is a much covered song originating in 1953 New Orleans by James Crawford, the biggest version of which is here at No 123. To give her her full name of Natasha England, this version went head to head with a version by The Belle Stars back in 1982 and whilst the latter version slinking to No 35 whilst this continued into the top 10. Whilst her manager and Husband wanted more covers from her Natasha wanted to focus on new material but never really got the chance- this was her sole top 40 hit.
122. MY BABY JUST CARES FOR ME- Nina Simone (197,000)
RELEASED: 1987
PEAK POSITION: 5
WKS ON CHART: 11
It’s back to the power of advertising once again for the explanation as to how this 1958 Simone song hit the charts in 1987. It was virtually unheard of until it was used for a Chanel No 5 advert, the song became her first hit in 18 years taking only three weeks to bound 50 places on the chart. Her biggest hit remains “Ain’t Got No-I Got Life” which may be more familiar for its use in Muller light adverts these days.
121. MY TOOT TOOT- Denise LaSalle (198,000)
RELEASED: 1985
PEAK POSITION: 6
WKS ON CHART: 13
More one hit wonders for you now. US folk and blues star Sydney Simien recorded “My Toot Toot” in 1983 and had a regional No 1 in his Native New Orleans and made a local star of him before charting on the country charts. This cover by LaSalle was her first real hit after plugging away in the music business from the 60s, as for what my “Toot Toot” means, well it’s French Caribbean for “heart” I don’t know what you people thought it was!
I was wondering where Eric Prydz got his idea for the video to “Call On Me”....it could have very well been this track. Ross was producing some of her best output in the early 80s and picked up on the (then) new fad for aerobics and working out that had been popularised by Jane Fonda in the US, Ross donned a leotard, did some stretching, and that ladies and gentlemen pretty much constitutes the video. Nevermind it did the trick and gave Ross her last top 10 single for some 4 years before she returned with gusto.
119. SAY I’M YOUR NUMBER ONE- Princess (205,000)
RELEASED: 1985
PEAK POSITION: 7
WKS ONC HART: 12
An early example of the work of S/A/W , Princess (real name Desree Heslop) provided four top 40 hits for the production trio before they started ploughing their attention into the likes of Bananarama for the rest of the decade. Still “Say I’m Your Number One” was a prime piece of pop a la 85.