Choose Your Favorite One-Hit Wonder!
Maria Magdalena (I know; you all go "who?" and all I can say is...
Alannah Myles
Chris Isaak - he sang this one without halt,
Visage - Fade To Grey is an unforgettable song - come on! Plus it teaches you French: with that nubile nymphette repeating "devenir gris" intermittently! And then she narrates something Edgar Allan Poe would be proud of! Classic! Narrative mystery within the song - they don't do that anymore!!! Ok, ok - I am not influencing the vote turn-out - am I?
Alannah Myles again (just in case the first embedded video link didn't work!)
Plus: you get a bio this time! Hoe nice of me, eh?
Alannah Myles (b. Alannah Byles, December 25, 1958 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada) is a Canadian musician. She grew up in Toronto and Buckhorn, where her family owns a ranch and where she also learned to ride horses. She wrote her first song at the age of eight, called "Ugly Little Cabbage in the Garden", a song meant for her sister who she was teasing. Later in her life she sold her horse to buy an Ovation guitar to play in various clubs and coffee houses.
When she was eighteen, she began performing in southern Ontario. She eventually met Christopher Ward, with whom she formed a band and performed cover songs from Aretha Franklin, Bob Seger and The Pretenders. She actually managed to get more gigs by tricking club managers into believing some of her own original songs were cover songs from other bands. Later she joined with David Tyson to complete her band.
In 1989, she released the song "Black Velvet" which was a hit in numerous countries, including Canada, where it went ten times platinum. In the US, it reached #1 on the Billboard Hot 100. In total, the single sold five million records worldwide and won three Juno Awards and a Grammy Award. She also had another Top 40 hit in the US with "Love Is" which hit number 36. She toured for eighteen months straight, opening for various performers such as Robert Plant, Tina Turner and Simple Minds.
In February 2005 she took part with K2 and Kee Marcello in the third semi-final of Melodifestivalen; the Swedish national selection for the Eurovision Song Contest. Their song "We Got It All" scored very few points and finished 7th out of eight songs.
Myles had several other hits in Canada, including "Love Is" and "Song Instead of a Kiss".
Oh - yeah... Earlier I did say Chris Isaak didn't, either...
Oh - we have got Visage. So I guess, to be fair, we have to have
Some truth about their LONE HIT though:
"Tainted Love" is a song composed by Ed Cobb.
- wikipedia says so...
The Outfield (yeah - this one comes out of left field for ya all - eh?)
Okay that wasn't their "lone big hit" - this is:
The Outfield are a British pop/rock band based in London. The band began recording during the mid 1980s. They released their first album, Play Deep, during 1985, which went triple platinum. The Outfield continued to record into the early 1990s before a haitus during the mid-1990s. They resumed touring in 2000, and thereafter released two live albums via their website. The band's latest album, Any Time Now, was released in March 2006.
The Outfield formed within London's East End. Playing under the name the Baseball Boys, the trio of bassist/singer Tony Lewis, guitarist/keyboardist John Spinks, and drummer Alan Jackman played around London and recorded some early demos, attracting the attention of Columbia/CBS Records.
They were signed shortly thereafter and began working on their debut album, Play Deep, which was released in 1985. The album was a smash success, going triple platinum and reaching number nine on the album charts. It produced a Top Ten hit; "Your Love". To support the album, they launched an international tour opening for Journey and Starship.
They began recording their second album in 1986 and in 1987 issued Bangin'. While not duplicating the huge commercial success of their debut, the album produced two hit singles, "Since You've Been Gone" and "No Surrender."
The band's third album featured a stylistic shift and was more meticulously produced than their previous efforts. Voices of Babylon, released in 1988, produced a single of the same name, but the band's commercial success was slipping. Jackman left the band after it was recorded and they hired Paul Reed to step in as drummer for the Voices of Babylon tour.
Spinks and Lewis, now officially a duo, switched labels and began recording Diamond Days for MCA. A new session drummer, Simon Dawson, joined them and helped add an electronic edge to their sound. Diamond Days produced one of the band's biggest singles, "For You."
They followed up with 1992's Rockeye. Its single "Winning It All" became a feature at sporting events (perhaps most notably, for NBC's NBA Finals coverage) and was on The Mighty Ducks soundtrack. Simon Dawson had become increasingly involved in the shaping of the band's sound and soon became an official member of the group.
The band went on hiatus for much of the mid-'90s as changing musical fashions, especially the popularity of edgier bands such as Nirvana and Pearl Jam made life difficult for older bands with a more melodic touch. The Outfield returned to their East End roots and often played low-key gigs at a local pub, where much of the clientele were unaware that the group had sold millions of records in the US. Unfortunately, this situation was typical of the problems The Outfield faced in their homeland: little recognition and a much smaller following than experienced in the US. Nevertheless, the band returned to record an exclusive release for their fan club, entitled It ain't over, then embarking on a tour. Soon thereafter in 1999, they released Extra Innings; a compilation of several songs they wrote during the 1990's, and also four new songs written during 1998.
The early 2000s saw the band issue two live collections, issued via their official website; Live in Brazil and The Outfield Live. In March 2006 the band released Any Time Now, a new studio album. [Info courtesy: wikipedia.org - again]
One of many hits for Phil Collins - but pretty much the only one for Philip Bailey!
This was a pretty big deal too; the first time any member of Genesis teamed up with a member of Earth, Wind And Fire! And the results are far better than when a Beatle and a Jackson teamed up,
Easy Lover is a song written by Phil Collins, Nathan East and Philip Bailey. The song featured Phil Collins and Philip Bailey on vocals. The song has been used in Bailey's album Chinese Wall. The video for the song was filmed in London, starting off with Bailey riding to the studio in a helicopter, before Collins and Bailey sung the song in various places, including a studio and a local restaurant.
Collins has also used the song in his Live shows and it appears in his 1990 live album Serious Hits... Live! as well as in his 1998 compilation album, Hits.
[Info courtesy: wikipedia.org - yet again!!!]
Shalamar (no, not Shazam)
Musical Youth (Pass The Dutchie - and pass on the protection too for all of Africa and Dutchies too, so that no more "musical youth" such as this gets to be BORN!)
New Edition (as annoying as Musical Youth - twice as persistent!)
Just to prove that white boys can be annoying too...
Rick Astley's "lone big hit" that matters though - his 1991 comeback - not coincidentally when he sports long hair! It does help...
Maria Magdalena again - only fair, you got a double dose of Isaak! And three "Easy Lovers"!!!
Arcadia (who? what? Whatever! Read on... It's the tale of a band with multiple personalities... and egos!)
Arcadia was the pop group formed in 1985 by Simon Le Bon, Nick Rhodes and Roger Taylor of Duran Duran, during a break in that band's schedule. However, Roger Taylor appeared in only a few band photographs and in none of the music videos, and stated he was only to be involved in the recording side of the project. The name of the band was reportedly inspired by the Nicolas Poussin painting "Et in Arcadia ego" (also known as "The Arcadian Shepherds").
Arcadia recorded just one album, the platinum-selling So Red the Rose. It peaked at number 23 on the US album chart, and featured the Top 40 singles "Election Day," "The Flame," "The Promise," and "Goodbye is Forever." One famous review described So Red the Rose "the most pretentious album ever made", while All Music Guide called it "the best album Duran Duran never made". Musicians who contributed to the album include guitarists David Gilmour (Pink Floyd) and Carlos Alomar, pianist Herbie Hancock, Sting (who provided backing vocals on "The Promise"), Grace Jones (who provided backing vocals on "The Flame") and bass player Mark Egan (Pat Metheny Group) who added his distinctive sound to the "B" side of LP (and in particular to "El Diablo" and "Lady Ice").
The band also recorded the single "Say the Word" for the Playing For Keeps movie soundtrack.
Arcadia continued the Duran Duran tradition of a slick image, tasteful fashions and hair-dos; for the Arcadia incarnation of their ever-changing band aesthetic, Rhodes, Le Bon and Roger Taylor donned an upmarket 'gothic' look of black tuxedos, vintage formal wear and bow ties. The three also dyed their hair black, as seen when they performed (as Duran Duran, with Andy and John Taylor) at the 1985 Live Aid concert in Philadelphia.
Arcadia did a variety of promotional appearances on television, but never toured. Arcadia was dissolved by late 1986 when Duran Duran re-formed with LeBon, Rhodes, and bassist John Taylor to record Notorious. Drummer Roger Taylor retired from the music business for almost 20 years shortly after the release of the Arcadia album, but later returned to rejoin the original Duran Duran line-up in 2001.
[Info courtesy: wikipedia.org - once more!]
Night Ranger
Night Ranger, a rock band formed in San Francisco, California in 1981. The quintet are most known for the power-ballad "Sister Christian," which peaked at #5 in early 1984. The group's nucleus formed in Rubicon, a pop group led by Jerry Martini of Sly and the Family Stone fame. After Rubicon's demise in 1979, bassist Jack Blades (b. 1954) formed a hard rock trio with drummer Kelly Keagy (b. 1952) and guitarist Brad Gillis (b. 1957). Performing under the name Stereo, the threesome later added keyboardist Alan "Fitz" Fitzgerald (b. 1949), a former member of Montrose and the Sammy Hagar group. Fitz soon recommended enlisting a second virtuoso guitarist, Jeff Watson (b. 1956), who led his own band in Northern California. The seeds were sown for a new melodic hard rock band, initially called simply Ranger.
In 1982, the band subsequently changed its name to Night Ranger after a country band, The Rangers, claimed a trademark infringement. By this point, they had recorded "Dawn Patrol" for Boardwalk Records, opening for ZZ Top and Ozzy Osbourne; the latter performer employed Brad Gillis as an alternate guitarist for the recently deceased Randy Rhoads. When Boardwalk folded under, producer Bruce Bird secured Night Ranger a deal with MCA Camel in 1983.
The band's modest hit single, "Don't Tell Me You Love Me," received a boost through its MTV video airplay and managed to peak at #40 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. Jack Blades' puppy-dog appeal seemed to win over female fans, while Gillis and Watson's duelling guitars pleased the same male audience that guitar-driven bands such as Van Halen had already begun to cultivate. Their first albums struck a balance between hard rockers ladened with sexual innuendo, and accessible pop ballads to guarantee airplay.
Night Ranger's hold solidified with their second album, "Midnight Madness," which featured the ballads "When You Close Your Eyes," and the aforementioned "Sister Christian," written and sung by Kelly Keagy for his own sister. It became a cautionary anthem for teenage girls across a conservative America, warning them not to "give it up before their time is due." The album's success pushed the band from opening act to headliner status by the summer of 1984.
With "(You Can Still) Rock In America," Night Ranger also appealed to the patriotic themes pushed forward by both Ted Nugent and Sammy Hagar. It also paid off for the band, who netted two Top Twenty singles and a Top Five hit with "Sister Christian," the song which would later prove the band's millstone.
In 1985, Night Ranger continued headlining their own tours in support of "Seven Wishes," which followed a very loose concept of the band flying across the ocean in a B-25 Mitchell bomber. The "Four in the Morning" video even placed them in an Amelia Earhart scenario, reporting the entire band lost at sea. Night Ranger was blessed with hit singles once again: "Sentimental Street" (#8; sung by Kelly Keagy), the mid-tempo "Four In The Morning (I Can't Take Anymore)" (#19), and the acoustic-flavored "Goodbye" (#17), as the band went in a more obviously commercial direction. In 1986, they also branched out into soundtracks, recording or contributing songs to several teenage films, such as the Anthony Michael Hall vehicles "Out of Bounds" and "Sixteen Candles."
In 1987, they co-wrote the title theme to the Michael J. Fox film, The Secret of My Success, which served as the lead single from "Big Life." Unfortunately, Night Ranger faced stiff competition from glam bands such as Bon Jovi and Poison, while overall tastes had begun to shift toward "bad boy" groups, such as Guns N' Roses. Despite a collection of fairly mature songs, including the nuanced "Rain Comes Crashing Down," none of the chosen singles from "Big Life" charted. Night Ranger openly quarrelled with their label over choosing "Hearts Away," in lieu of one of the heavier songs. The label expected another Top 10 ballad, but the song stiffed during Night Ranger's 1987 tour -- a vigorous series of dates across North America and the Caribbean.
In 1988, Man in Motion promised a return to earlier form, with more hard rock to anchor the group's sagging fortunes. However, Alan Fitzgerald left during the recording, requiring a touring keyboardist to be hired. Furthermore, none of the singles were distinguished enough to gain radio airplay, and MCA once more chose ballads over rockers. As a result, "Man in Motion" became the first Night Ranger album not to achieve gold or platinum status. After a mediocre tour, Jack Blades left Night Ranger to form the popular supergroup Damn Yankees with Ted Nugent and Tommy Shaw of Styx. [Info courtesy: wikipedia.org - one last time!]
Wax - and their hit "Right Between The Eyes"
The video is only 33% of the time them - on top of that - with the bulk of it being an odd assemblage of clips prickled from various TV shows that are not particularly violent (only one clip from pro-wrestling - and it's very dated! Some "supermarionation" clips, in abundance for soem reason, from the old Gerry Anderson show, Thunderbirds, which has a potent cult following...)
Betcha you know the song - but never knew the band behind it!
The true nature of a one-hit wonder right there...
Why not throw in, while I'm at it, the likely lone hit of WAX - the Korean namesake band!!!
Labels: Musical Underdogs
posted by Luminous (\ô/) Luciano™ @ 2:49 AM
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