He’s only really remembered for The Hustle but Van McCoy enjoyed a long and distinguished music career before that 1975 disco classic, right up to his death just four years later at the age of only 39. (more…)

This song is an important piece of pop history. Emile Ford was the first black Briton to sell a millon copies of a single. Almost as historically, it topped the charts on my second birthday.

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The Average White Band never had a number one hit single but two of them – drummer Robbie McIntosh and guitarist Onnie McIntyre – did… with Chuck Berry. (more…)

Cultural historians may have you believe Kurtis Blow gave birth to the hip hop genre in 1979 with Christmas Rappin’. But I put it to you, ladies and gentlemen of the musical jury, that rapping began five years before that. (more…)

Sometimes a song’s so good that it doesn’t matter who covers it.
I’m not sure which is my favourite take on It Hurts So Good, though the one I first heard was Susan Cadogan’s sweet reggae take, produced by Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry. (more…)

My memory of this song relates almost entirely to the impossibly high vocal in the bridge. So much so that I failed to appreciate there’s much more to it than mere vocal gymnastics. (more…)

This was the 14th single by The Sweet – or ‘Sweet’ as they had just become – and the first to be written by the band themselves. (more…)

I’d forgotten about Kenny. I kinda wish I hadn’t remembered, though the story behind them is worth telling – especially the fact that Cheggers was nearly their singer. And that Kellogg’s took offence (and legal action) at their signature style of wearing tops with a big ‘K’ for Kenny on the front. (more…)

I’d liked Cockney Rebel from the start but with this song Steve Harley achieved pop perfection. He really could have called it a day after this. (more…)

Ahh, the days when you could go on Top of the Pops wearing a sweater knitted by your nan with the name of your band on your tummy… (more…)