Wednesday 13 December 2023

B52s

B52s

B-52s is an American new wave band formed way back in 1976. Before the 1990s, they were best known for the song, "Rock Lobster." However, they had two big hits in the 1990s with "Love Shack" and "(Meet) The Flintstones". The latter was from the 1994 movie and they even styled themselves as the BC-52s for the single.

90 Hits (Discography):
Date	   UK	Song
Mar 1990    2	Love Shack
May 1990   17	Roam
Jun 1992   21	Good Stuff
Jul 1994    3	(Meet) The Flintstones

What happened next?
B52s last studio album was "Funplex" in 2008, which was the same time when they dropped the apostrophe from their name (B-52's). In 2020, Archie Comics created a book, "Archie meets the B52s"

Chumbawamba

Chumbawamba Chumbawamba were a English pop punk band, probably best known for the single "Tubthumping", which was everywhere in 1997. The track was taken from their eighth studio album, "Tubthumper". Anarchy was word frequently associated with them, from the early day of self-released tracks on labels they ran themselves, sampling other groups, writing funny and political folk songs and generally experimenting musically. Ironically, they signed with EMI, who they criticised in the past as part of the establishment. But the massive worldwide success of "Tubthumper" allowed the band to fund numerous political campaigns around the world.

90 Hits (Discography):
Date	   UK	Song
Aug 1997    2	Tubthumping
Jan 1998   10	Amnesia
Jun 1998   21	Top Of The World (Ole Ole Ole)

What happened next?
Always controversial, often under attack from the left and the right, Chumbawamba have always done things their own way and, in their own words, "Never do what you are told."
In August 2012 the band decided to call it quits after some final gigs in their 30th year of existence mainly because "the rest of our lives got in the way and we couldn’t commit the time and enthusiasm that the band demanded."

Saturday 1 April 2023

Blockster

Blockster was a dance project created by Brandon Block and both members of the production team, M&S, Ricky Morrison and Fran Sidoli. The project is best known for reworking and heavily sampling the Bee Gees' "You should be dancin'"

90 Hits (Discography):
Date	   UK	Song
Jan 1999    3	You should be...
Jun 1999   18	Grooveline

What happened next?
Brandon Block continued to be a successful DJ and remixer in noughties. M+S went on to score a UK Dance #1 hit with "Salsoul Nugget (If u wanna)" (reached UK#6) in 2000.

Bizz Nizz

Bizz Nizz was a Belgian dance act formed in 1989 by Jean-Paul de Coster of Antwerp. The project was best known for the European hit, "Don't miss the Party Line" which made the Top 10 in the UK, Ireland, Germany and Austria. Subsequent singles failed to chart.

90 Hits (Discography):
Date	   UK	Song
Mar 1990    7	Don't Miss The Partyline

What happened next?
Bizz Nizz's last effort was with George Arrendell on "Get up and boogie" in 1998.

Beverley Knight

Beverley Knight is an English born (Mar 22) soul singer from Wolverhampton. Her first single to hit the UK Top 40, "Flavour of the Old School" was a triumph for persistence as it reached only #50 on first release six months earlier. She started to get more recognition towards the end of the 90s, with a remix of "Made it back", which sampled Chic's "Good Times" and "Greatest Day" cracking the UK Top 20.

90 Hits (Discography):
Date	   UK	Song
Oct 1995   33	Flavour Of The Old School
May 1998   21	Made It Back (featuring Redman)
Aug 1998   40	Rewind (Find A Way)
Apr 1999   19	Made It Back 99 (featuring Redman)
Jul 1999   14	Greatest Day
Dec 1999   31	Sista Sista

What happened next?
Beverley Knight went on to have 8 more UK Top 40 hits between 2001 and 2006 with "Shoulda Woulda Coulda" (UK#10, 2002) and "Come as you are" (UK#9, 2004) breaking into the Top 10.
Beverley has taken more to theatre, notably playing the lead, Rachel Marron in the Bodyguard musical and recently/currently in the lead in the Drifters Girl. Beverley has been a judge on the singing show, "Starstruck"

BG Prince of Rap

Bernard Greene is an American rapper, who is best known for the US Dance #1 hit "This beat is hot" in 1991. Having been based in Germany after joining the US Army, he launched his career there with major Eurodance influences. "This beat is hot" reached #1 on the US Dance chart and the follow up "Take control of the party" made #2 in 1991. "The color of my dreams" was his biggest hit in Germany (#13) and also reached #1 on Canada Dance Chart in 1994.

90 Hits (Discography):
Date  Ger  USD	Song
1991   21   1	This Beat Is Hot
1991   36   -	Give Me the Music
1991   49   2	Take Control of the Party
1992   49  32	The Power of Rhythm
1993   34   -	Can We Get Enough?
1994   13   -	The Colour of My Dreams
1994   37   -	Rock a Bit
1995   45   -	Can't Love You
1996   53   -	Stomp!

What happened next?
BG still fairly active with his last release being "Sugar" with Chrizz Morisson and Timi Kullai.

Bassheads

Bassheads was a British house duo from Wirral and consisted of Nick Murphy and Eamonn Anthony Deery (Desa). The group had a big European hit with "Is There Anybody Out There?" Subsequent singles "Back To The Old School" (UK chart position, Number 12) and "Who Can Make You Feel Good" (UK chart position, Number 38) followed in the same style of their pulsating house/sample work. They also remixed tracks for Oceanic, Björk and Visage.

90 Hits (Discography):
Date	   UK	Song
Nov 1991    5	Is There Anybody Out There	
May 1992   12	Back To The Old School	
Nov 1992   38	Who Can Make Me Feel Good	
Jul 1995   24	Is There Anybody Out There (remix)

What happened next?
Nick Murphy contiues to produce and perform music. He has released recordings under the alias of "Angel" and more recently been involved in film score/ambient work.
Desa Bassheads went on to record a duet for EMI records with Garry Christian (The Christians) an up-dated version of the George Harrison classic "My Sweet Lord" in February 2008.

Barbara Tucker

Barbara Tucker is an American soul, dance and house music singer. She is best known for the 90s dance hits, "Beautiful People", "I Get Lifted", "Stay Together" and "Everybody dance". All reached #1 on US Hot Dance Club Songs chart.
Hailing from New York, Tucker found her voice from her love for singing in Church. Along with prolific dance music career, she has backing vocal credits ranging from George Clinton to Deee-Lite. Tucker also acts and choreographes notably with C&C Music Factory, Soul System, Jay Williams and Deee-Lite.

90 Hits (Discography):
Date	   UK	Song
Mar 1994   23	Beautiful People
Nov 1994   33	I Get Lifted
Aug 1998   28	Everybody Dance (The Horn Song)

What happened next?
Barbara Tucker has since added 4 more US dance chart #1s to her collection. At time of writing, she has 8. "Stop playing with my mind" in 2000 (also reached #17 on the UK chart) was her fifth dance chart #1. She teamed up with Blaze on "Most precious love" in 2005. The Freemasons remix reached #17 on the UK chart, a year later. "Love Vibrations" (2007) and a cover of Lyn Collins' "Think (about it)" (2018) complete her collection of US Dance #1s. In December 2016, Billboard magazine ranked her as the 63rd most successful dance artist of all-time (arguably should be higher now). Tucker is the only recording artist to have had a yearly residency in Ibiza.

Bamboo

Bamboo is an English disco house project created by Andrew "Doc" Livingstone (member of Hed Boys) and Erin Lordan. They are best known for the 1998 dance hit, "Bamboogie", which heavily sampled KC and the sunshine band's "Get down tonight".

90 Hits (Discography):
Date	   UK	Song
Jan 1998    2	Bamboogie
Jul 1998   36	The strutt

Saturday 18 February 2023

Amy Grant

Amy Grant is an American born (Nov 25) singer who is best known for the international hit, "Baby Baby". She started in contemporary Christian music before moving into Pop. She often referred to as the "Queen of Christian Pop." She dueted with Peter Cetera on 1986 US charttopper "The next time I fall".
"Heart in motion" spawned five US Top 20 hits, "That's what love is for," "Baby Baby," "Every Heartbeat," "Good for me," and "I will remember you".

90 Hits (Discography):
Date	   UK	Song
May 1991    2	Baby Baby
Aug 1991   25	Every Heartbeat
Jun 1995   20	Big Yellow Taxi

What happened next?
Continues to record, Last single was featured with Dion on "Hello Christmas" and "Christmas Waltz" with Marc Martel in 2020.

Age of Love

Age of Love is an Italian trance duo consisting of Bruno Sanchioni and Giuseppe Chierchia. They created one of the first trance songs, the self-titled Age of Love. The song has been remixed so many times over the years and one remix made #1 on the UK Dance chart in July 1997.

90 Hits (Discography):
Date	   UK	Song
Jul 1997   17	Age of Love (Remixes)
Sep 1998   38	Age of Love

What happened next?
Last known remix was by Sam Sharp in 2006.

Afrika Bambaataa

Lance Taylor (better known as Afrika Bambaataa) is an American born (Apr 17) DJ and pioneering hip hop artist. He is best known for fronting the outfit Afrika Bambaataa and Soulsonic Force. He adopted the stage name Afrika Bambaataa Aasim, after a nineteenth century Zulu chief. He is of West Indian descent and cousin of Edward Rudolph (aka Kool Rock Steady).
In 1991, Bassheads had UK Top 5 hit with a sample of "Just get up and dance".
In the mid 90s, Afrika collaborated with Khayan on the album, "Jazzin" and featured the major eurodance hit, "Feel the vibe". In 1998, Another rework of "Just get up and dance" was made by Carpe Diem but rightly Afrika was credited. "Got to get up" was a UK Dance #1.

90 Hits (Discography):
Date	   UK	Song
Oct 1998   22	Got to get up

A1

A1 were an English pop group comprising of Paul Marazzi (Jan 24), Norway-born Christian Ingebritsen (Jan 25), Mark Daniel Read (Nov 7) and Ben Stephens Adams (Nov 22). 90 Hits (Discography):

Date	   UK	Song
Jul 1999   6	Be The First To Believe
Sep 1999   5	Summertime Of Our Lives
Nov 1999   3	Everytime / Ready Or Not

What happened next?
A1 went on to bigger success in 2000 with two UK charttoppers, a cover of A-Ha's "Take on me" and "Same old brand new you". "Like a rose" and "No more" were two more Top 10 hits. "Make it good" was their last top 40 hit.
In 2002, Paul Marazzi left the band. The other members continued promoting their third album, "Make it good" before going on solo projects. They reunited with a fourth album in 2010. Marazzi finally returned to the group in 2017. Their most recent release as "Spiders" in 2021.

A+

Andre Levins (or just A+) is an American hip-hop artist, best known for the international hit, "Enjoy yourself" and specifically samples Walter Murphy's 1976 rendition of "A fifth of Beethoven" from the album, "Hempstead High".

90 Hits (Discography):
Date	   UK	Song
Feb 1999   5	Enjoy Yourself

What happened next?
Not a lot since the 1999 hit, although he does have a social media presence supporting "his son" Lil Dre

Tuesday 10 January 2023

A - 80s Acts with 90s Hits

Alison Moyet (Geneviève Alison Jane Ballard MBE, June 18) came to prominence as one half of Yazoo as well as a string solo hits. She had 2 UK Top 40 hits in the 90s.

90 Hits (Discography) for Alison Moyet:
Date	   UK	Song
Oct 1991   40	This House
Mar 1993   12	Whispering your name

AC/DC are an Australian rock band, best known for hit singles like "Highway to hell" and "Thunderstruck" and for hit albums "Back in Black" and "For those about to rock we salute you". Recently their most recent album "Power Up" (2020) reached #1 in multiple countries including UK, USA and native Australia. Their current line-up is Angus Young, Steve Young, Brian Johnson, Cliff Williams and Phil Rudd.
Whilst most of their chart success was in the 80s, they did have some success with 6 UK top 40 hits in the 90s.

90 Hits (Discography) for AC/DC:
Date	   UK	Song
Sep 1990   13	Thunderstruck
Nov 1990   36	Moneytalks
Apr 1991   34	Are You Ready
Oct 1992   14	Highway To Hell (live)
Jul 1993   23	Big Gun
Sep 1995   33	Hard As A Rock

Adam Ant (Stuart Leslie Goddard, Nov 3) is best known as the lead singer of Adam and the Ants with such 80s hits as "Stand and Deliver", "Prince Charming", "Ant Rap" and "Goody two shoes". He had some success in the 90s particularly with "Room at the top".

90 Hits (Discography) for Adam Ant:
Date	   UK	Song
Feb 1990   13	Room At The Top
Feb 1995   32	Wonderful

Aerosmith are an American rock band, who are best known for a string of hits in the 80s including "Walk this way", "Dude (looks like a lady)", "Love in an elevator" and "Janie's got a gun". They had further success in the 90s particularly with "I don't want to miss a thing" that was featured in the movie, "Armageddon". Their last line-up consisted of Steven Tyler, Joe Perry, Brad Whitford, Tom Hamilton, Joey Kramer.

90 Hits (Discography) for Aerosmith:
Date	   UK	Song
Feb 1990   20	Dude (Looks Like A Lady)
Apr 1993   19	Livin' On The Edge
Jul 1993   34	Eat The Rich
Oct 1993   17	Cryin'
Jul 1994   24	Shut Up And Dance
Nov 1994   23	Crazy / Blind Man
Mar 1997   22	Falling In Love (Is Hard On The Knees)
Jun 1997   29	Hole In My Soul
Dec 1997   38	Pink
Sep 1998    4	I Don't Want To Miss A Thing
Jun 1999   13	Pink

A-ha are a Norweigan synth-pop outfit, best known for such 80s hits as "Take on me", "The sun always shines on TV", "Hunting high and low" and "Living Daylights". They had three more UK Top 40 hits in the UK. The group consists of: Paul Waaktaar-Savoy, Magne Furuholmen and lead vocalist Morten Harket.

90 Hits (Discography) for A-Ha:
Date	   UK	Song
Oct 1990   13	Crying In The Rain
Jun 1993   19	Dark Is The Night
Mar 1994   27	Shapes That Go Together

Alexander O'Neal (Nov 15) is an American R&B singer, best known for 80s hits like "Criticize", "Fake" and one of the first megamixes that hit the UK charts. He had a further 4 more UK Top 40 hits in the 90s.

90 Hits (Discography) for Alexander O'Neal:
Date	   UK	Song
Dec 1989   19	Hitmix (Official Bootleg Mega-Mix)
Jan 1991   18	All True Man
Jan 1993   28	Love Makes No Sense
Jul 1993   32	In The Middle
Nov 1996   38	Let's Get Together

Alice Cooper (born Vincent Damon Furnier, Feb 4) is an American rock singer, best known for the 80s hit "Poison" and "School's out". He have minor success in the UK with five top 40 hits in the 90s.

90 Hits (Discography) for Alice Cooper:
Date	   UK	Song
Jun 1991   21	Hey Stoopid
Oct 1991   38	Love's A Loaded Gun
Jun 1992   27	Feed My Frankenstein
May 1994   22	Lost In America
Jul 1994   34	It's Me

Aswad is an English reggae group, who are best known for the 80s UK chart topper, "Don't turn around". Originally consisting of Brinsley "Dan" Forde , Angus "Drummie Zeb" Gaye, and Tony "Gad" Robinson, they continue to perform without Brinsley. In the 90s, Aswad enjoyed further success in the 90s with "Shine" reaching #5 in the UK.

90 Hits (Discography) for Aswad:
Date	   UK	Song
Aug 1990   24	Next To You
Jun 1994    5	Shine
Sep 1994   33	Warriors
Feb 1995   35	You're No Good

Aztec Camera is a Scottish new-wave/pop band founded by Roddy Frame, who are best known for 80s hits, "Oblivious" and "Somewhere in my heart". Aztec Camera was had another top 20 hit in the 90s but they disbanded in 1995.

90 Hits (Discography) for Aztec Camera:
Date	   UK	Song
Oct 1990   19	Good Morning Britain (Aztec Camera & Mick Jones)