George Michael

George who? Hehe, just kidding... ;-)

If you did not spent your last 20 years in a bunker without radio and television, I guess I don't need to tell you who George Michael is!

Just a quick note on him today to let you know that on 10th februray 1985, George Michael's hit "Careless Whisper" finally crossed the ocean and hit the number one position in US charts... In UK, this song hit the first place on august'84 already!!! 6 months to cross the ocean... what a record! ;-)

The story of this song is a bit original, because I'm still not sure if it has to be considered as a George Michael's song or a Wham!'s song... In Uk, the song was published as a solo from George and in the US it was credited to Wham! featuring George Michael !!! Actually, it looks like the song was written by George Michael together with Andrew Ridgeley, but this ballad didn't fit well with the image Wham! had with their upbeat songs...

At the end, it appeared well on Wham!'s second album "Make it big", this was their breakthrough album as it also contained the hits "Wake me up before you go-go", "Everything she wants" and "Freedom". You can click here to listen to samples of those.

I'll talk again about Wham! in another post and I'll try then to know what Andrew Ridgeley became, but that's another story...

If you want to read more about this song's story, click here.

Kenny Rogers a country's star?

Today, I want to talk about Kenny Rogers. I think that anybody in the US knows who he is. Kenny Rogers is a monument in US music's history! He's also well known all over the world, but probably far less, because the country music is, for instance, not so popular in Europe (where I'm from)...

I have to say to be honest that I do know his name and I even know his face, but I could hardly sing one of his songs! By the way, it's quite funny to see how much his face is popular... I even found a funny website where you can send pictures of all the men that looks like Kenny! You should have a look here just for fun... ;-)

But is Kenny Rogers "only" a country music's star, certainly not! He also wrote great love songs such as "Through the years", "She believes in me", "You decorated my life", and "Lady" the biggest song of his career. Actually, I didn't know what "Lady" was for a song, then I watched the video ... and now, I'm very ashamed... This song is really a BIG BIG HIT!

The reason why I'm talking about Kenny Rogers today is because it's the day Kenny reached the first place in 1980 in UK charts with the song "Coward of the county". This song was such a success that an TV movie based on it was created... and Kenny himself played in it!

Nevertheless, the 80's are not the best years for Kenny regarding the music charts... he spent times to some new activities such as photography, he even published several well-received photography books...

I can't sum up his 50 years long career here, but make sure Kenny is still "alive and kicking"! He recorded 58 (!) albums which have sold over 100 millions records worlwide... His "42 Ultimate Hits" album has also sold several millions of records...and he's still touring...

I'll let him finish this post:

"I've always been like a boomerang. You can throw me away, but you can rest assured, I'm coming back!"

More info on Kenny Rogers on his official site, click here.

Other Kenny Rogers great site, click here.

The funny site: Men who look like Kenny Rogers

Elaine Paige & Barbara Dickson

On 3rd February 1985, Elaine Paige and Barbara Dickson reached the first place in the UK charts with the song "'I know him so well'"... That's a fact, but to be honest, when I read that I thought "I know them so few" !!! ;-)

But maybe I should be ashamed for not knowing them, because this song is even in the Guinness Book of Records as the biggest-selling record by a female duo! Impressive, isn't it?

I have to say that when I watched the video, I recognized the music. It's the kind of music that has been used so many times for tv shows, movies, ceremonies, ads, etc... quite popular indeed!

So probably this success owes a lot to the musicians that composed it: Björn Ulvaues and Benny Andersson... Who are those guys?!? Well, those guys are the founders (and the 2 B's) from ABBA !! Which I'm sure you know! :-)

Following ABBA's end, Björn and Benny embarked on a theatrical career, writing stage musicals. One of them being the very successfull "Chess" where "I know him so well" is coming from...

So, let's get back to our female duo... what are those women doing nowadays?

Elaine Paige is a very experienced singer and actress, but her 30-years carreer has been dominated by musicals. She played in all the main musicals such as : "Cats", "Jesus-Christ Superstar", "Evita", "Grease", "Hair", "Piaf", "The King and I"... but meanwhile she has recorded 14 solo albums!

Barbara Dickson began playing music as a child. Their biggest hits were produced during the start of the eighties... Barbara also played in several musicals: of course "Chess", "Evita" and "Blood Brothers" which provided Barbara with her first major acting role... During the eighties, her music was going back to her roots: the folk music rahter than pop music. In the mean time, she diversified more and more into acting with parts on radio and television, including a guest role in the popular crime series, "Taggart". Since then, she played in other series ("Band Of Gold"), turned back to theatre with a one-woman show "The 7 Ages Of Woman" and the musical "Spend, Spend, Spend".

Singer, actress, songwriter and even presenter - Barbara Dickson is one of the most versatile and in-demand performers working today! In January 2005, she was starring as Miss Sherman in "Fame"...

More info on Elaine Paige, click here.

More info on Barbara Dickson, click here.