Saturday Deluxe / 16 October 2021
Cliff Richard, Elton, Beatles, Bowie and Deon Estus
Don’t You Forget About Me: Cliff Richard was there first, say fans regarding Elton chart claim
Elton John is at number one in this week’s UK singles chart with ‘Cold Heart (Pnau Remix)’, a collaboration with Dua Lipa. This achievement caused the BBC to repeat a claim widely publicised by the Official Charts Company in the UK on Wednesday, that Elton was “the first artist to land a Top 10 single in six different decades”.
Nonsense, said many Cliff Richard fans on twitter. Cliff did it first! SDE was intrigued, and sure enough, if you look at the data, Cliff actually had four top ten hits in the 1950s, with The Drifters and The Shadows – including two number ones (‘Living Doll’ and ‘Travellin’ Light’) – followed by numerous in the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s. He still had seven top ten hits in the 1990s, including the number one ‘Millennium Prayer’ in 1999, and an impressive four between 2000 and 2010. After this incredible run, he finally failed to score a top ten single between 2010 and 2020. Still, my ‘math’ makes that six consecutive decades.
Some have suggested that because those early hits ‘with’ The Drifters or The Shadows, perhaps they don’t count, but since Elton’s new song is ‘with’ Dua Lipa, that can hardly be the case. And anyway, Elton is THE KING of ‘with’. A close look at the 1990s, for example, tells us that Mr John had eight top ten hits, but five of those are ‘with’ other people (George Michael, Kiki Dee, RuPaul, Luciano Pavarotti and LeAnn Rimes). And only two of his six top ten hits between 2000 and 2010 were truly solo singles as well, with such luminaries as Ashley Beedle, Ironik & Chipmunk and Blue giving the name-changing rock legend a leg-up into the top ten.
Another theory was that maybe, somehow, the late 1950s don’t ‘count’. But the Official Charts Company makes it clear that their ‘heritage’ began in 1952:
So this Elton-is-the-first narrative appears to be an ‘alternative fact’. It’s been PR’d to death, so the Official Charts Company has opted for the head-in-the-sand approach. Say nothing and hope people don’t notice the claim is less than accurate.
Also, not only was Cliff the first to do this, his achievement is more impressive. As stated, he had multiple top ten hits in each decade and they were, a-hem, ‘proper’ hits. Between 2010 and 2020 Elton John only scored one top ten single thanks to the streaming performance of ‘Step Into Christmas’, which earned it a number eight ranking in 2018. His next best was ‘Sad’ (Elton John v Pnau) which stalled at number 48 in 2012.
Come on, Official Charts Company, Cliff is waiting for your apology!
Peter Jackson hasn’t let us down
I’m sure you’ve all seen it by now, but why not enjoy once more nearly four minutes of bliss with the official trailer for Disney+’s ‘3-Part Event’ – Peter Jackson’s The Beatles: Get Back. I guess we’ll reserve judgement until we’ve seen all six hours, but this does suggest that Jackson has done what Michael Lindsay-Hogg failed to do, which is to give the rambling Let It Be sessions some direction and a sense of jeopardy. Granted, that’s easier to do when you are looking back and not in the middle of it happening but nevertheless, I’m really excited (to state the obvious). And how good does that footage look?
Shopping for Bowie
Two new pop-up shops (one in London and another in New York) will offer a “a retail experience” to celebrate 75 years of David Bowie.
Following on from rock-shops like The Rolling Stones‘ new-ish establishment in central London and Queen‘s new ‘pop-up’ store (both in Carnaby Street) the David Bowie Estate are in on the action with temporary premises in an iconic location in the capital: 14 Heddon Street. This, of course, is where the cover of The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars was shot. In NY, the shop will be at 150 Wooster Street — steps away from Bowie’s longtime downtown New York City neighbourhood.
Fans are promised the following:
- Hours of video content including previously unseen behind-the-scenes material, rare footage from the Heathen and Reality eras, and more.
- Opportunities to purchase limited edition releases of exclusive Bowie apparel and collectibles, as well as limited run LPs and CDs from both the Warner/Parlophone Records and Sony catalogues.
- Exclusive fine art photography, including gallery installations documenting Bowie’s many iconic eras, personae, and Ch-changes.
- Intimate special guest events to be announced.
- Fans can place themselves in iconic costumes and set pieces to create fun and shareable social media moments.
SDE understands that there will be no new limited edition vinyl or CDs created for these shops, but rarities offered will have been available previously (including from the Bowie Is exhibitions).
The doors open on 25 October 2021 and this pop-up experience will run until late January 2022.
RIP Deon Estus
Finally, a word for bass player Deon Estus who died this week. Estus was a stalwart for George Michael in the early years. He played on both Wham! albums as well as Faith and Listen Without Prejudice. In 1989 he had his own top ten hit in the US with ‘Heaven Help Me’. He died this week aged only 65 as a result of a heart condition. RIP.
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The sad thing about the charts nowadays, is that they are totally irrelevant to the older demographic who grew up with Cliff, Elton or whoever. It’s depressing that Abba’s new songs only got to number nine and fourteen in the UK – you’d have thought with the excitement, quality of the songs and hype they’d be a shoe in for number one; but it must reflect that the older generation don’t stream enough to achieve number ones. Thinking of that last point, then it looks like Elton has a smart strategy to zoom up the charts, by linking up with Dua Lipa. He’s also prepared to sell and sign cd singles.
Elton has spent his life being interested in and supporting new artists. He’s known for buying masses of new music and keeping up to date with the latest musicians. I bet Sam Fender, Dua Lipa and Charlie Puth are more than happy to have Elton’s patronage. I admire his enthusiasm to work with others, even if some of those singles with other artists like Blue have been a bit crap. On the flip side to some naffness, his choice of Pnau to remix his songs has been a success, and Elton is happy to give them all the credit. The album Good Morning To The Night, Pnau did, is great. Elton was incredibly kind to give Leon Russell a leg up, record an album and tour with him.
PR can be, and is, a bit silly when looking for angles to promote ‘success’. No one really cares who’s had hits across different decades, so I don’t care if it is accurate or not if Cliff or Elton is first or second to achieve whatever. One thing that can’t be disputed is his generosity with his charitable work. He’s used his position to raise and donate hundreds of millions of $.
Outside of all the collaboration work of Elton’s, he has an incredible number of great songs like Border Song and Tiny Dancer, which is at the heart of his enduring success. My wife tells me that the new song with Stevie Wonder is great, but I’ve yet to hear it; I’ll wait for the cd.
Of course people care, we care, and that’s why we have all posted in this thread. If you are a music and chart fan then chart statistics are important, why do you think Paul McCartney released about 50 different variations of his last album in a last desperate bid to get another no 1 30 years since his last one.
I agree that the charts are irrelevant now and i personally think they should be scrapped and replaced with something new so as the integrity of the old charts and artists remains, but this should have happened years ago.
I am surprised to see the Paul Gambaccini article in the Daily Mail today…
”His collaboration with Dua Lipa, Cold Heart (Pnau Remix), topped the Official Charts Company rankings on Friday, making him the first artist to have a Top Ten hit in six different decades. That outdoes Elvis Presley, Michael Jackson, Cliff Richard and David Bowie, who each had a top ten single in five decades.”
Isn’t Paul famous for his expertise in chart statistics?
I think he was the G in GRRR book publishing / authoring.
Gambiccini, Mike Read, Tim Rice, Jo Rice and as such he oversaw and wrote all of the Guiness Hit Singles / Albums books I bought / got given as Christmas presents as an adolescent. First one I got was from 1977 / 1978 I think.
So if anyone should be getting this right, Paul Gambiccini should. I think what this shows is that you can pick and choose whichever bits of “fact” you want to sell your point. Next time Cliff does something I am sure they will attribute Living Doll to him as a solo artist (which I must admit I always thought was the case – I didn’t see any Drifters with Neil, Ryk, Vivian and Mike) and then when they need to sell another story, they won’t. Credibility and honour would seem to matter less than clicks, attention and cash.
One might think the story, as it is, sounds better than “desperate 74 year old latches on to hip young star for last ditch attempt to be the second person to have Top 10 hit singles across 6 decades”, I couldn’t possibly comment. Discogs has Elvis as a co-holder of that record with Cliff by the way.
I personally have no axe to grind with Elton, but in my head Cliff did it first. And if I was forced to listen to an album by either of them….. I would have to choose….. that I would just let them shoot me in the head first.
Singles, Cliff, no question. Wired for Sound, Carrie, Some People, Devil Woman, We Don’t talk anymore…. plus he can still hold a note at 81 although Elton did admittedly have some bangers too I just find him a bit…is boring the right word? Both have excellent hits compilation albums as a way to while away 78 minutes.
Both Elton and Cliff have impressive careers but I have to say getting a number 1 nowadays is less impressive than it was ‘back in the day’! Also worth noting is Elton’s uber-cynical marketing strategy – staggered releases and a signed single for a quid! Gutted but not surprised I missed out on that one! It was always going to reach the top spot with this sort of approach. Good on his team for the result though!
I think Michael Jackson had solo U.K. top ten hits in every decade from the 70s, including the 2010s. That makes five. But given he hit #2 in 1969 with ‘I Want You Back’ as a member of the Jackson 5, it seems that following Cliff, he beat Elton to that milestone too.
Very sad to hear the news about Deon Estus. I always loved “Heaven help me” and thought this was not only a great song and one of 1980’s hidden gems, but George’s chorus vocal contribution was sublime in its subtlety. Timeless; an all-around great track (still have the CD).
Not to mention very soulful bass parts to Wham’s and George’s best tracks.
RIP, Deon – heaven can’t wait to help you in.
“King of With” :-)
RIP Deon, so sad to hear. Thanks for all the fantastic music you contributed to
The “Get Back” trailer really looks fantastic and seems like it will follow a narrative of The Beatles against the clock.
Bowie 75 looks cool – wonder if they’ll have some of those hard-to-find super expensive box sets.
RIP Deon Estus – was always hoping that he would be part of the process of helping out with whatever was left in the George Michael vault (“Trojan Souls”). I always felt his bass parts were an essential part of GM’s sound – check out “Cowboys And Angels”.
Re: Elton/Cliff, it’s a real shame to see the BBC repeating this error. It was a well-known “pub quiz fact” that Cliff set this record. I don’t like either artist, but a fact is a fact – isn’t it?
I m not huge fan neither of Cliff nor Elton but these are great achievements for both . Think about that the last top 10 of Madonna was 2009 ‘s Celebration, and for Kylie since 2010’s All the lovers. And those two are huge pop
idols. Elton must be some kind of institution for UK since you can find him in every charity event or whatever. I suppose it s a talent to be always in public even for no reason. I enjoy the feud you have with Elton , Paul. ;)
Huh? Feud?. Hardly.
The Get Back trailer looks great and obviously a six hour doc rather than a one-off is preferable, but it’s such a pity that this won’t be viewable in big cinema screens.
Thanks Paul for clarifying the Bowie ltd edition news,my heart couldn’t. take another Brilliant Live Adventures’ situation.
Elton’s team have been savvy enough to release a physical CD single. There were 5,000 of these sold and that would equate to 500,000 streams. The chart, despite the prevalence of streaming, still rewards physical products.
What I still can’t understand is: were all 5000 signed by Elton or Dua? I hardly can figure Elton signing 2500 cards…! But from what I understand all the copies sold by Eltonjohn.com store were signed, the first batch by Elton and the second batch by Dua. It’s a mystery for me.
I don’t know the numbers involved, but the cd singles sold by ‘.com’ were not all signed. The initial cd single on sale made no mention of a signed art card. This is how I have come to eventually have 3 copies of it!
Very disappointed to see the phrase ‘alternative facts’. It was a truly horrible and disgusting moment in American politics
Very disappointed to see you repeat the horrible phrase ‘alternative facts’.
It was worse seeing “math”.
You do realise that words in quotes are meant ironically?
What a bizarre comment. When KellyAnne Conway coined the phrase in defence of Sean Spicer it was to try and present lies as somehow true. Horrible indeed. When used in the article above it’s very clearly the opposite: to highlight a lie (that something presented as the truth by a PR company, is patently not). What are you objecting to? Any reference to the years 2016 – 2020?
I think a lot of us just want to try and forget about the gaslighting that came from the office of the traditionally most powerful person in the world in those years, and that includes any mention of a phrase that originated with his orifice, er, office. I didn’t mind Paul using it since it fits into a general problem (the “post-factic era”) but can understand why it can be traumatic for some.
I’m probably being overly sensitive but the reality is America is the closest it’s been to a civil war since, well, the Civil War. Elected representatives are now speaking openly about it and it’s all based on lies that about 25% of the more intellectually challenged population has bought into. Referring to those lies in this manner, as improbable as it sounds, convinced a disturbingly large part of the population to believe these were somehow some variation of actual facts.
For many like me, this phrase is a touchstone of where things shifted from just another incompetent administration to something more sinister and dangerous that ultimately led to an insurrection where people were killed and others took their own lives in the days that followed. Again, perhaps it’s just me being too sensitive.
For Cliff’s sake, I can’t believe the Chart people are’nt getting the Cliffing information right!!
RIP Deon Estus, I remember him from the Wham videos.
Excuse me for going of topic but I received this email today from the German label “Bear Family Records”:
Attention dear Elvis friends !
A fire has destroyed the warehouse of the popular Elvis Presley collector’s label Follow That Dream. Until further notice it will not be possible to order books, CDs and LPs from the Backcatalog.
We will keep you informed of course.
The three new releases ‘Pot Luck Sessions’, ‘Raised On Rock’ and ‘South Bound’ will (presumably) be released on the planned date in November.
If you add the words “as a solo artist” than Elton John Beats Cliff Richard. Cliff was in the Drifters and Shadows. It’s true that Elton had some hits as duets but he still performed those as a solo artist. Cliff happened to be in the Drifters and Shadows which were proper bands. Elton John didn’t happen to be in Elton John. He IS Elton John. U2 and Johnny Cash play “The Wanderer”. That’s not a Bono song. That’s a U2 song. Dire Straits and Sting play “Money For Nothing”, that’s not a Mark Knopfler song but a Dire Straits song. So Elton John beats Cliff Richards as a solo artist.
Wrong!
So you’re saying that ‘Living Doll’ was not a hit by Cliff Richard but by a group called ‘The Drifters’? Try and tell that to the man in the street.
But by that logic you’d be counting any group with “and the” in their name as a solo artist. Would you really say that every Gladys Knight & The Pips or Huey Lewis & The News song should be counted as solo records for Gladys Knight or Huey Lewis? Surely it’s possible for Cliff to be part of a group called Cliff Richard & The Drifters?
If you think Cliff’s 50’s hits count as a collaboration between of two different artists then you’d also have to count Elton’s current number 1 as well since that’s the same.
This is the lamest schoolyard squabble ever!
“ Elton Did it before cliff”
“No way! Cliff did it before Elton”
And so on etc etc……This could get out of control.
Where will it end….ABBA better than brotherhood of man!
Lawd Elp us! …especially when we all know Alvin stardust is king.
What about Shakin Stevens, he beats Elvis anyday!
Aside from me disagreeing with the premise (here is the single of “Livin’ Doll” – his band is only printed in much smaller typeface), “Elton John didn’t happen to be in Elton John.” is one of the funniest things I’ve read all week :)
Having just watched the trailer for Get Back, I shall look forward to watching that. Not the biggest Beatles fan, but good historical music documentaries are great, and it certainly does look good.
Wonder if they’ll have the Japanese Lady Stardust picture disc? Only one of the 40th series I’m missing but I can’t bring myself to pay the €170 they’re looking for on Discogs.
I’m not a big fan of either, Cliff on the one hand has a massive back catalogue and EJ just seems a horrible queen these days propping up his infamy with shlock value. I’ll go with Cliff, I like some of his tunes as they make me chuckle whereas EJ is probably the most over rated artist ever. He isn’t Bowie, Queen or the Stones and never will be.
‘The Stones’ ? Aren’t they just a lowly ‘blues covers band’ ? Lol
I don’t mind the Stones but their main claim to fame over recent decades seems to be the fact that they’re still going.
C’mon now. Ray Charles and Joe Cocker both knew what a great song “Sorry Seems To Be The Hardest Word” is. Ditto for George Michael and Oleta Adams doing “Don’t Let The Sun Go Down On Me”. I’m also not aware of Cliff writing anything as sophisticated as “Madman Across the Water” or “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road”…
Elton John is the one with the massive back catalogue,admittedly could have done with some quality control through the years. As an artist in my opinion, he might not outrank the Stones(though they haven’t made a decent record for 40 yrs!) or Bowie, but definitely is a more important artist than Queen were/are.
I have nothing against Cliff Richard who had a remarkable career, and is an excellent pop singer, and yes even influential and groundbreaking in the UK, with “Move it” in the 1950s.
Elton does have an annoying habit of ‘latching on’ to whoever is the hot act of the time. It happened with George Michael and so many other acts. I get why it works for him but you do wonder why Dua Lipa wants to do a duet with Elton John? She was born 20 years after his mid-70s peak. Are we meant to believe he was some kind of influence?
Why wouldn’t he influence people younger than him? He didn’t force George Michael to cover “Don’t Let The Sun Go Down on Me”, I think. What do you think about Kate Bush doing Rocket Man? While I agree with your article and think this “duet” is of very dubious nature (if I understood correctly it’s just samples of his old voice, there was no actual duetting going on at all), a quick look at Dua Lipa’s Wikipedia article says she was influenced, among others, by “David Bowie, Bob Dylan, Radiohead, Sting, The Police and Stereophonics“.
Where did I say he wouldn’t influence people younger than him? George Michael was 16 years younger than Elton but grew up listening to his music in the 1970s, Dua Lipa is almost 50 years younger, so it’s hardly the same thing. George working with Elton had some logic to it, Dua Lipa doesn’t.
Elton has wanted to ‘work’ with Dua since she appeared on the music scene. I saw an interview with Elton once I think with Jools Holland where he was championing Dua and saying she had a big future. Bit of a ‘con’ really as the latest ‘effort’ only samples Elton’s voice. Maybe Elton thought it would be better ‘sampling’ his voice than doing a new vocal. It’s more like a mini megamix really with Dua’s vocals thrown in for a sweetener. It’s actually quite pleasant to listen to but only when it’s on the radio. Not even tempted to but the ‘New’ Elton album it’s from. Now where’s my Elton Live in Australia LP? Haven’t heard that for ages!
Paul, I’m afraid I don’t get this line of thinking at all. Why be so focused on ages? I’m 27 and some of my biggest musical influences as a kid were blues musicians who passed before I was born. And if I now had the chance to collaborate with Elton or any pop/rock legend from that generation, I’d have no second thoughts. Look at Lady Gaga & Tony Bennett. And nowadays, a lot of classic pop and rock is still part of the landscape. In the case of Elton, kids may also discover him through “The Lion King” or indeed a cover/remake like Blue’s “Sorry…” (2005, I think). The idea that somebody may only genuinely like an artist if they were around during their “peak” is ludicrous, and besides, Elton had big hits in the 80s and 90s (including one of the biggest singles of all time) that are still regular fixtures on the radio.
And for the claim that he latches onto younger artists… I think he just loves collaborating, period. Whether it’s with people older than him (Ray Charles, B.B. King), musicians from his age group (Leon Russell, Ozzy Osbourne) or younger (Scissor Sisters, Queens of the Stone Age). And some of those guest appearances were not widely publicized, he just did it for the love of playing.
I’m clearly more cynical than you. Oh well. Let’s just move on because I’m not bothered enough to have a days long debate about it.
A final word! I agree with much of what you said Paul in relation to the duets and collaboration with younger artists,my main beef with Elton, and I am a long time big fan is this pop stuff/duets are just not very good diminishing his artistic legacy.
Plus I have read that there is a Christmas tune coming from Ed Sheeran/Elton John, Oh Dear!!
There’s too many collaborations these days, for my liking…..especially when I haven’t heard of any of them.
Ed Sherman and Elton’s “step into my Galway Christmas girl” single is nothing more than a bored afternoon solved for both of them. For us it is sure to be an eye rolling cringe fest.
The best thing Elton has done recently was that snickers advert…and the covid vaccination advert.
Mind you, I’d did see him live at vicarage road a few years ago and he was excellent live. A true master performer.
A possible point in the “influence on Dua Lipa” conversation–yes, she was born decades after his Imperial Phase, but she was born in the perfect window to have grown up being force fed the Lion King every chance someone sat her down and asked her to be quiet. There is an entire generation influenced by THAT Elton, and being attached to one of the biggest films of the Disney Renaissance means that he will continue to influence young people for years to come, probably long after his death.
Good that Cliff gets a rightful mention here. I’m not his biggest fan but credit where credit is due.
That Get Back footage is indeed superb. Lovely to see them larking about, in particular seeing Ringo and John interacting with the little girl (one of the McCartney kids?) made me smile.
No idea how I am going to watch this as I don’t do streaming services (dont watch enough TV to justify any of them). Presumably it will be on some kind of physical media at some point…
In other news : Good old Cliff, never been a fan (although I have always had a soft spot for Wired for Sound and Carrie) but credit where credit is due.
And RIP Deon – great talent, gone too soon.
That’s Linda’s daughter, Heather, I believe.
The Official Charts have been a joke across a number of decades so inaccurate reporting is nothing new.
Every week their mail out proclaims another chart record smashed when in fact it’s just someone in Essex has streamed a song more than once.
A few months ago, I came across one joke that the Official Charts Company is still trying to play on its readers. I was researching the UK chart history of the american soul group “The Drifters” (the group that included Ben E King at one time). According to the OCC, they have an impressive string of soul / pop chart hits throughout the sixties and seventies – further improved however by their hitherto unknown backing of Cliff Richard in the fifties for 6 hits including their only No. 1 – Living Doll!
Feeling that Ben and Co, neither needed nor wanted the extra credit for backing Cliff in the fifties, I took it upon myself to contact and inform the OCC of their apparently inaccurate amalgamation of the two separate “Drifters.” I received no reply from the OCC and occasional check backs to the page since then reveal that nothing has changed – leading me to conclude that they are either not interested in being accurate or their computer says “no” when it comes to separating two acts with the same name.
The problem is more widespread than you think:
There are :
Two skid rows.
two Nirvanas
Three non blondes.
Four tops
Five finger death punch
It is a minefield for the OCC to patrol. No wonder they make so many mistakes.
Amusingly, and I’m sure coincidentally, the Official Charts Co. discussions forum for the Elton ‘record achievement’ has been closed now – as in, all comments / discussion closed. I wondered if it was a time-bound thing, but looking at other stories posted on same day which still have discussions open, I’m gonna say no, and they might have realised ‘oops’.
Fair play for an artist like / of the vintage of Elton in any format getting into the top 10 ‘singles’ these days, let alone number 1. He’s been canny over the years. Cold Heart is basically a Megamix, isn’t it? Methinks it’s Dua Lipa doing the heavy lifting ‘sales (ahem)’-wise. This latest ‘reworking’ album he’s prepped, if it’s like Cold Heart in terms of content, similar wattage guests etc, I imagine will sell very well over Christmas indeed…
Ironically, isn’t his only solo number one Sacrifice is which on this? All the others have been reissues or “collaborative”.
He had a solo number one with Are You Ready for Love
Yes, a reissue. Not a straight forward release.
Sorry to be pedantic but Sacrifice was a reissue too. Both Sacrifice and Healing Hands (AA side) had been issued as singles and had failed to make the top 40. These were then reissued as a AA side for charity
But still a solo number one, so Sacrifice is not his only solo number one
Something About The Way You Look Tonight / Candle In The Wind 1997 may have got to number one as well having sold just under 5 Million copies in the UK alone an 11 Million copies in the USA (and 33 Million Worldwide Sales) Sacrifice (reissue) was his FIRST solo Number One. Maybe that’s what you meant Stephen?
The Lockdown Sessions, Elton’s forthcoming album, is made of 16 songs: only one is a “reworking” and it’s Cold Heart, all the rest are duets and collaborations, but mainly new songs (half of them written by Elton).
Impressive ! I did not know that Cliff Richard was that popular !
He’s the English Elvis Presley, don’t you know!
The man Graeme Duffin wanted to be. There should be a list. Pepsi and Shirlie and Dee C. Lee before were also never full members but oh so important.
Seriously though RIP Deon, you were an icon in the headiest of heady days.
Re: Cliff what is it with alternative facts where institutions who should know better just get it wrong and stick with the wrongness out of pig-headedness. I guess it’s trying to make something that no longer matters…..matter. And facts are not going to get in the way.
Dee C. Lee was on my favourite Style Council track “The Paris Match” also brought out her own version. Many talented people have had little recognition or just did not make it where often the noisy and untalented have. Life is not fair.
Cliff has brought out some dreadful records over the last 30yrs and for the most part his voice was still one of the greatest beautiful pop sounds, shame he didn’t have the songs.
Hype and false facts (Trump) are everywhere, just look at the Premier League. West Ham’s greatest PL scorer is Michail Antonio with 51 it made the papers for several days he thanked family and friends on his achievement. He would not get even near West Ham’s 20 greatest goal scorers, a creative fact. So how about in the pre-streaming era Cliff is the only artist ever or will ever be to have a hit in 6 consecutive decades. Who worked out the streams to buy ratio anyway they should have gone with sales only.
We all watch things we would never buy. eg Elton’s One World version of “I’m Still Standing” which could have made the charts on my views alone. Vic Reeves anyone?
Didn’t you know, football didn’t exist before the Premier League.
Hey everyone, he means the Scottish Premier League. Of course, you all knew that.
Association football too….not rugby football, not American football, not Australian football, not goalball, not kabadi.
I used to watch Kabadi on Channel 4 along with Sumo.
As far as I know Tracey Thorn is singing on The Paris Match on the Café Bleu album.
Dee C. Lee however released solo versions of Style Council songs (Paris Match, Luck).
The version I knew first was the Weller sung (on Introducing…) and I always presumed the backing vocals at the end of the song is Dee C. Lee as she was on the rest of the album. I then got her See The Day single with her own version on.
Tracey Thorn is indeed on Cafe Bleu.