Tony Sherman's version of 'Dancing in the dark' was released in 1983, shortly after Kim Wilde's version. The song was unsuccessful in both versions, but Tony Sherman's version was only released in the Netherlands.
In February 1983, Doe Maar released the single 'Pa' from their new album '4us', the first album in Dutch language that was recorded entirely digitally.
'Hold on my heart' is one of the few ballads released as a single by Genesis. Taken from their 1991 album 'We can't dance', it was released as the third single in April 1992.
Rudi Carrell was born on December 19, 1934 in Alkmaar, the Netherlands as Rudolf Wijbrand Kesselaar. In 1960, he represented his country in the Eurovision Song Contest with the song 'Wat een geluk' ('Such luck'), becoming the first male singer to represent the Netherlands.
Saskia & Serge are a Dutch vocal duo consisting of singer Trudy van den Berg (born April 23, 1947, Grootebroek) and singer-guitarist Ruud Schaap (born March 22, 1946, Den Helder). They first attracted attention when they won a talent contest in 1967, performing as Trudy & Ruud. They married in 1969 and changed their professional name to Saskia & Serge, as their gentle, folksy style began to attract favourable attention.
'Someday' was one of the five songs on the demo tape, handed by Brenda K. Starr to record executive Tommy Mottola, that led to Carey being given a recording contract. Sony made alterations to the version on the demo tape because they thought it was too rough—the horn melodies were taken out and replaced with electric guitar melodies, and the ending was shortened by about eight seconds. Reportedly, Carey was unhappy with the final version of 'Someday', because she thought it had been too 'polished'.
Although Oleta Adams' debut album 'Circle of one' was a big seller in 1991, the singles seemed to be less popular. Although the title track was released as a single earlier on, the record company tried re-releasing the track in remixed form in a bid to get it higher up in the charts. The remix was made by one Yvonne Turner and sounded very different from the original version.
Five Star's biggest single hit was the mid-tempo ballad 'Rain or shine', released in the autumn of 1986.
By the end of the Seventies, the Dutch band Kayak were wellknown for their brand of symphonic rock, but that didn't mean they were consistently successful. Having had their first top 10 hit in February 1979 with 'Ruthless queen', two subsequent singles failed to chart.
'Feels like the first time' was, appropriately enough, Foreigner's debut single, released in 1977. The song was written by Mick Jones. The single reached number 4 in the US Billboard Hot 100 chart and number 39 in the UK singles chart.
Released as the second single from the Mission's 1990 album 'Carved in sand', 'Deliverance' is a perfect piece of trademark Mission rock: an intense track with deep, dark vocals and a storming guitar and drum backing.
The idea of a song to promote the movie 'Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves' came late in the making of the film. Michael Kamen, had originally wanted the song to be as if it were Maid Marian singing it to Robin Hood. He offered it to Kate Bush, Annie Lennox and Lisa Stansfield but they all turned it down. David Kerschenbaum of Morgan Creek Records invited Bryan Adams – whom he had worked with in the early Eighties at A&M Records – to write the song based on the score from Kamen. Initially, Adams was to write the lyrics for another artist to perform, but it was decided that he should perform the song after writing it with his producer Mutt Lange. The pair recorded the song in Mayfair Studios in London.
Without Lindsey Buckingham, Fleetwood Mac soldiered on. Billy Burnette and Rick Vito replaced him and in the new line-up they recorded the 1990 album 'Behind the mask'.
'Too much heaven' was the Bee Gees' contribution to the 'Music for UNICEF' fund. They performed it at the 'Music for UNICEF' concert on January 9, 1979. The song later found its way to the group's thirteenth original album, 'Spirits having flown'. Released as a single, it was a number 1 hit in Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Italy, New Zealand, Norway, South Africa, Spain, Sweden and the USA.
Following the success of the rock-orientated track 'Talking in your sleep', Bucks Fizz were keen to replicate it with the release of this similar-themed song. 'Magical' was written by Meat Loaf and John Parr and originally recorded by Parr in 1985. While the track was not a hit for him in the UK, it did reach number 73 in the US Billboard Hot 100 chart.
The Bangles basically split up in 1989. When the record company CBS released 'Greatest hits' in 1990, they did so to fulfil the band's contractual requirements.
In 1986, Golden Earring released the dark and overproduced album 'The hole'. The first single from that album was 'Quiet eyes', the only single from the album to reach the top 10 in the Netherlands, peaking at number 9.
Bassist Krist Novoselic from Nirvana recalled that 'In bloom' 'originally sounded like a Bad Brains song. Then Kurt turned it into a pop song'. The band recorded a demo of 'In bloom' with producer Butch Vig at Smart Studios in Madison, Wisconsin in April 1990. The song originally had a bridge section that Vig removed. Novoselic said that after the band recorded the song, Vig cut out the bridge from the 16-track master tape with a razor blade and threw it in the garbage.
Following David Bowie's split from record label Deram, his manager Kenneth Pitt managed to negotiate a one-album deal with Mercury Records in 1969. Next he tried to find a producer. Tony Visconti liked the album demo-tracks, but considered the planned lead-off single, 'Space oddity', a gimmick track and delegated its production to Gus Dudgeon.
When John Lion sings 'Alleen in Dallas' ('Only in Dallas'), he isn't referring to the city in Texas, but rather the television series that was immensely popular in the Eighties. His encounter with a woman in a bar who turns out to have a big and rather aggressive boyfriend is apparently something that could only happen in a fictional television series.