Smokie

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Smokie
Smokie (2009)
Smokie (2009)
General information
Genre (s) Pop , rock
founding 1972, 1985
resolution 1982
Website www.smokie.co.uk
Founding members
Chris Norman (until 1986)
Bass , vocals
 Terry Uttley
Guitar, vocals
 Alan Silson (until 1996)
Drums , vocals
 Pete Spencer (until 1986)
Current occupation
Bass, vocals
 Terry Uttley
singing
 Mike Craft (since 1995)
guitar
 Mick McConnell (since 1996)
Drums
 Steve Pinnell (since 1986)
Keyboard
 Martin Bullard (since 1986)
former members
Vocals, guitar, piano
 Alan Barton (1986-1995)

Smokie is a British pop rock band that was one of the most popular groups of the 1970s. Her most successful titles are Living Next Door to Alice , Lay Back in the Arms of Someone , Mexican Girl and For a Few Dollars More.

history

Band formation

In the early 1970s, singer Chris Norman (born October 25, 1950, Redcar), guitarist Alan David Silson (born June 21, 1951, Bradford) and bassist Terence "Terry" David Uttley (born June 9, 1951, Bradford), who knew each other from St. Bedes Grammar School in Bradford , a band called The Yen and later The Sphynx. They played in bars in the area without much success. They changed their band name to The Elisabethans and later to Kindness, gained stage experience and built a small fan base.

First successes

In 1974 they met the drummer Peter David "Pete" Spencer (born October 13, 1948, Leeds) through Bill Hurley and made contact with the famous songwriter duo Nicky Chinn and Mike Chapman (Chinnichap Records), who worked with artists such as The Sweet , Suzi Quatro and Mud have already celebrated great successes. With the songwriting team behind them and their manager and producer Mickie Most , the most successful British pop supplier of the 1960s and 1970s, the omens were good. Most got them a record deal - and the band quickly became popular , especially in 1974 and 1975, when they played and produced under the band name Smokey .

Pass It Around was their first album in 1975. The single of the same name flopped, but the band attracted initial attention, and a second LP was released that same year. The first single from Changing All the Time was a surprising success: If You Think You Know How to Love Me made the four Northern English stars overnight on the island. In Germany, too, the title stayed in the charts for six months and reached number 8 there.

Career high point

The American soul singer Smokey Robinson (actually William Robinson) became aware of the band and enforced through a court that the quartet would not be allowed to use his stage name. With the third long player Midnight Café , the now definitive band name Smokie followed with “ie”. In 1977 the band had their breakthrough: The song Living Next Door to Alice was on the greatest hits album (a cover version of a song that Chinn and Chapman had written for the group New World in 1972 ), also produced under the label of Most and Smokies' biggest hit to date. The group has now also become popular in the USA.

In Germany alone, Smokie was number one in the singles charts for 14 weeks in 1977 (nine weeks with Living Next Door to Alice ), for the first time on February 7, 1977, and another five weeks with Lay Back in the Arms of Someone (see list number one hits in Germany (1977) ). The following LPs Bright Lights and Back Alleys (1977) and the Montreux Album (1978) with numerous original compositions by the group contained a number of other hits. With the single releases It's Your Life, Needles and Pins, For a Few Dollars More, Oh Carol and Mexican Girl , they landed numerous high top ten placements across Europe. During this time, the pop press showered her with audience prizes (including the Golden Otto der Bravo ).

Separation and reunion

1979 was the zenith in commercial terms with the album The Other Side of the Road . Although the album was more versatile, innovative and consistently rockier than the previous albums, Smokie was no longer able to build on the great successes. The singles Do to Me, Babe, It's Up to You and San Francisco Bay brought the group to the bottom of the top ten. The successes were over after the Solid Ground album in 1981 and Strangers in Paradise in 1982. The change to Repertoire Records (Midnight Delight) in the same year could not help either . The band split in 1982, but came back together in 1985 at a concert in favor of the victims of the fire disaster in Bradford's football stadium and decided to tour together again.

In 1986 Chris Norman finally separated from the band and in May of the same year had a solo hit with the song Midnight Lady from the Schimanski - Tatort Der Tausch, produced by Dieter Bohlen (six weeks number 1 in Germany). Smokie, meanwhile, dodged far less noticed with their new singer Alan Barton (born September 16, 1953) through the country. Norman and Bohlen ended their collaboration, and Bohlen produced the song Young Hearts for Smokie in 1989 . The single reached number 43 in the German charts.

After a concert in Lennestadt-Meggen on March 19, 1995, on the way to Düsseldorf Airport on the A4 near Bergneustadt , her tour bus fell off the icy road in a hail shower, fell down an embankment and rolled over several times. While the other band members got away with bruises and abrasions, Alan Barton died on March 23, 1995 in the Cologne-Merheim hospital from serious head injuries. He was succeeded by Mike Craft (born April 4, 1958).

After Alan Silson left the band in 1996 for health reasons, bassist Terry Uttley is the last member of the original line-up from 1974.

On the occasion of Chris Norman's victory in the comeback show of ProSieben the original cast was by Smokie in the final on 5 April 2004 once again played together on stage and Lay Back in the Arms of Someone.

Members of today's band Smokie are Uttley and Craft, lead guitarist Mick McConnell (born March 22, 1964), keyboardist Martin Bullard (born July 8, 1956) and drummer Steve Pinnell (born June 3, 1952). They are still often on stage at oldie festivals.

Uttley's biography Smokie - Life beyond Alice was published on October 1, 2013 (Peakpublish).

Discography

Studio albums

year title Top ranking, total weeks / months, awardChart placementsChart placementsTemplate: chart table / maintenance / monthly data
(Year, title, rankings, weeks / months, awards, notes) 		Remarks
DE DE AT AT CH CH UK UK US US
1975 Pass it around - - - - -
First published: February 1975 as Smokey
Changing all the time DE16 (5 months)
DE 		- - UK18th
silver
silver

(5 weeks)UK 		-
First published: September 1975 as Smokey
Sales: + 60,000
1976 Midnight Café DE6 (9½ months)
DE 		- - - US173 (6 weeks)
US
First published: April 1976
1977 Bright Lights & Back Alleys DE6th
gold
gold

(8½ months)DE 		AT6 (4 months)
AT 		- UK-
silver
silver
UK 		-
First published: October 1977
Sales: + 310,000
1978 The Montreux album DE3
gold
gold

(6 months)DE 		AT6 (5 months)
AT 		- UK52
silver
silver

(2 weeks)UK 		-
First published: October 9, 1978
Sales: + 310,000
1979 The Other Side of the Road DE17 (23 weeks)
DE 		AT7 (2 months)
AT 		- - -
First published: November 19, 1979
1981 Solid ground - - - - -
First published: September 1981
1982 Strangers in Paradise - - - - -
First published: March 1982
Midnight Delight - - - - -
First published: October 1982
1987 All fired up - - - - -
First published: 1987
1989 Boulevard of Broken Dreams - - - - -
First published: 1989
1990 Whose Are These Boots? - - - - -
First published: 1990
1992 Chasing Shadows DE51 (10 weeks)
DE 		- - - -
First published: September 14, 1992
1993 Burnin 'ambition - - - - -
First published: 1993
1994 Celebration DE85 (8 weeks)
DE 		- - - -
First published: November 14, 1994
1995 From Smokie with Love DE49 (6 weeks)
DE 		- - - -
First published: September 14, 1995
1995 The World and Elsewhere DE77 (5 weeks)
DE 		- CH41 (3 weeks)
CH 		- -
First published: December 14, 1995
1996 Light a Candle - The Christmas Album - - - - -
First published: 1996
Sales: + 15,000
2004 On the wire - - - - -
First published: 2004
2006 From the heart - - - - -
First published: 2006
2008 Eclipse - - - - -
First published: 2008
2009 It's country time - - - - -
First published: June 12, 2009
2010 Take a minute - - - - -
First published: 2010

gray hatching : no chart data available for this year

Awards

  • Bravo Otto
    • 1977: "Gold" in the "Band" category
    • 1978: "Gold" in the "Band" category
    • 1979: "Bronze" in the "Band" category

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Died - Mickie Most . In: Der Spiegel . No. 24 , 2003 ( online ).
  2. ↑ Search results in the music database for "Smokey". hitparade.ch, accessed on January 2, 2015 .
  3. ↑ Chart sources: