In 1981, record producer Ken Gold came up with the idea to record a single made up of a medley of 60s songs, following in the footsteps of Starsound and their Stars on 45 singles. He put together a group of session singers and released 'Back to the 60s' under the title Tight Fit. The song reached number 4 in the UK Singles chart. 'Back to the 60s Part 2' was released soon after and also hit the UK top 40.Later in the year record producer Tim Friese-Greene recorded the song 'The lion sleeps tonight' with another group of session singers. The song was released in early 1982, again by Tight Fit. It caught a lot of attention and so a group was formed to front it. Dancer, singer and male model Steve Grant was teamed up with female singers Denise Gyngell and Julie Harris. The song reached number 1 in the UK for three weeks and the line-up were catapulted into sudden and unexpected stardom. Satisfied that this line-up could actually sing in their own right, Friese-Greene produced their next single, 'Fantasy Island', a cover of the song which had been a hit for the Millionaires earlier that year. While not charting in the Netherlands, it did become a hit in the UK and reached number 5.
Hi Marcel,
ReplyDeleteFor quite a while now I am visiting your blog and just to say how wonderful it is I got myself a Google acount. So many memories and "Aha-erlebenissen". I discovered we share the same interest in music and sence of humour in the way you wrtie your little stories by each song.
This song you link to Eurovison, because it was a preselection song in the Netherlands in 1982, performed by the Millionairs