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1970 ~ Best Selling Singles (UK)
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The Sounds of 1970
The beginning of a new decade and here are the superstars, the one hit wonders and the fads that made up the music of 1970.
These are the year's best selling singles in the UK.
Happening in 1970
- 1. The Wonder of You
- 2. Yellow River
- The Story of Christie
- 3. In the Summertime
- Mungo Jerry
- Spotlight on 1970
- 4. Band of Gold
- 5. Something
- Dame Shirley Bassey
- Great Deals on the Music of 1970
- 6. Wand'rin' Star
- 7. Spirit In The Sky
- 8. Bridge Over Troubled Water
- The 1970 Music Shop
- 9. Back Home
- 10. All Right Now
- Your Thoughts on the Music of 1970
1. The Wonder of You
Elvis Presley
1970's best-selling single in the UK was this song that Elvis Presley released as a single on April 20, 1970.In the U.S., it charted at No.9 in the spring of 1970, though "The Wonder of You" topped the UK Singles Chart for six weeks in the summer of that year. This was the 59th Top 40 hit of his career.
"The Wonder of You" was one of about thirty five songs he would play live in concert, never recording it in a studio. It was the first of three singles during his lifetime that were recorded live in concert in Las Vegas, Nevada in February 1970.
Courtesy: Wikipedia.
2. Yellow River
Christie
It was offered to The Tremeloes, who recorded it with the intention of releasing it as a single but after the success of their then most recent single, "Call Me Number One", and after considering it too pop-orientated for their future direction, they decided to follow it up with another of their own compositions, "By The Way", which ironically was only a minor Top 40 success.
Producer Mike Smith therefore took their vocals off the recording and added those of Jeff Christie. Released in the spring of 1970, it became a massive international hit, reaching #1 on the UK singles chart for a single week in June 1970. It also reached #23 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart in the US.
The Story of Christie
Once considered to be the U.K.'s answer to the U.S.'s Creedence Clearwater Revival, songwriter Jeff Christie's desire to record his own song Yellow River after it was turned down by The Tremeloes came to fruitation as he would form Christie in early 1970. Consisting of Acid Gallery (formerly The Epics) members Vic Elmes and Mike Blakely (brother to Alan Blakely of The Tremeloes), Christie's Yellow River would chart at #1 (#23 in the U.S.) in the spring of 1970, eventually going gold. Their follow up single, San Bernadino, would peak at #1 in Europe and #7 in the U.K.. With the release of their self titled debut in late 1970, Christie was voted the top British group in the U.K. charts for 1970/71 as well as winning the Ivor Novello award for most performed song. Sudden fame and touring would take it's toll on Blakely who would be replaced by Paul Fenton as Christie would release their second album, 1971's For All Mankind. A much harder album then their debut, For All Mankind consisted of many fine tracks that, with proper promotion, would have made excellent singles.Christie would become a quartet in 1972 with the addition of guitarist Lem Lubin (formerly with Unit Four Plus Two). The release of the single Iron Horse would be hailed by critics as Jeff Christie's finest composition. Material was recorded for a 1973 album which was eventually shelved after the departure of Elmes, Lubin and drummer Paul Fenton (Fenton would join the flemenco-rock group Carmen as well as recording for Marc Bolan and T. Rex). Bassist Roger Flavelle (later with The Byron Band), drummer Terry Fogg (formerly with Sound Incorporated) and Amercian guitarist Danny Krieger would fill the gap until Jeff Christie retired the band in '76. Jeff Christie managed to record enough material for a solo album in 1980 which was eventually aborted, however, a few fine singles were released.
Mungo Jerry
Vocalist/guitarist Ray Dorset had been in the rock 'n roll/blues group Good Earth with keyboardist Colin Earl in 1968. Dorset, along with Earl, guitarist Paul King and bassist Mike Cole formed Mungo Jerry in late '69.Going against the grain of some of the progressive, hard rock or pop sounds of the late 60's/early 70's, Mungo Jerry's classic skiffle sounds garnered a record contract with Pye's new label, Dawn Records, and released their self titled debut which contained In The Summertime. Released in 1970, this song would chart at #1 in the U.K. and virtually stayed on the charts throughout that summer (it would eventually sell over 16 million copies worldwide).
Spotlight on 1970
Billboard Top Rock & Roll Hits: 1970
Amazon Price: $6.25 (as of 05/17/2008)
Great tracks from the start of the new decade, 1970.
"Band of Gold" is a popular song written by Holland/Dozier/Holland, under the pseudonym Edith Wayne and Ron Dunbar, and first recorded by Freda Payne. A smash hit for Payne in 1970, the song has been covered by numerous artists, notably dueling 1986 versions by contrasting pop divas Belinda Carlisle and Bonnie Tyler, and a 2007 version by Kimberley Locke.
The legendary songwriting team of Holland/Dozier/Holland used the names Edith Wayne because of a lawsuit they had with Motown. Ron Dunbar was...
Dame Shirley Bassey
Dame Shirley Veronica Bassey (also known in the business and to millions of fans as DSB) DBE, CBE (born January 8, 1937 in Cardiff, Wales), is a Welsh singer. She performed the theme songs to the James Bond films Goldfinger (1964), Diamonds Are Forever (1971), and Moonraker (1979). She is the only singer to have recorded more than one James Bond theme songAOL Music entry. Bassey is an international artist who has sold 135 million records worldwide (this figure being twice the entire population of the UK), her single Goldfinger selling over a million copies alone. In 1961, John F. Kennedy invited Bassey to sing at his Inaguration Ball at the White House. Bassey has acculumated 20 silver discs for sales in Britain, Holland and France, and some fifty-plus gold discs for international record sales.
Great Deals on the Music of 1970
Find 1970 Music Bargains
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'"Wandrin' Star' was a UK number one single for Lee Marvin for three weeks in March 1970.
It was originally written by Alan J. Lerner (lyrics) and Frederick Loewe (music) for the stage musical Paint Your Wagon in 1951. When the film of the musical was made in 1969 Lee Marvin took the role of prospector Ben Rumson. Not a natural singer Marvin nevertheless sang all of his songs in the film, rejecting the idea of miming to another singers voice. Despite the film being a box office flop, the soundtrack became a success. Orchestrated and arranged by Nelson Riddle, Marvin's version of the song "Wand'rin Star" becoming an unlikely number one single in the UK for him, famously keeping The Beatles at number two with their single Let It Be. Marvin never released a follow up single so is classed as a one hit wonder.
The song was played at Joe Strummer's funeral.
"Spirit in the Sky" is a song written by Norman Greenbaum and released in 1969. The single sold 2 million copies in 1969 and 1970 and got to number 3 in the U.S. Billboard chart, as well as number 1 on the UK charts in 1970. The song was featured on the 1969 album of the same name. Cover versions by Doctor and the Medics and Gareth Gates have also made the number 1 spot in the UK.
"Bridge over Troubled Water" is the title song of Simon and Garfunkel's final album together, Bridge over Troubled Water, released January 1970.
"Bridge Over Troubled Water - Simon & Garfunkel" (notes),
Super Seventies RockSite!/Amazon.com, 2006, webpage:
SPSimGarf.
It reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart on February 28, 1970, and stayed at the top of the chart for six weeks. It was replaced at the number-one spot by The Beatles' "Let It Be".
This song's recording process exposed many of the underlying tensions that eventually led to the breakup of the group after the album's completion. Most notably, Paul Simon has repeatedly expressed regret that he allowed Art Garfunkel to sing this song as a solo, as it focused attention on Garfunkel and relegated Simon to a backing position. Art Garfunkel initially did not want to sing lead vocal, feeling it was not right for him. "He felt I should have done it," Paul Simon revealed to Rolling Stone in 1972. Garfunkel said that the moment when he performed it in Madison Square Garden in 1972 was "almost biblical". In recent performances on the "Old Friends" tour, Simon and Garfunkel have taken turns singing alternate verses of the vocal.
As the song ends, drums and piano build in a crescendo to an extraordinary climax. The last note, on a violin, is a long, drawn out E-flat that lasts ten seconds.
The 1970 Music Shop
A Collection of Music From the 1970
![All Things Must Pass [BOXED EDITION]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41NGHT0452L._SL75_.jpg)
9. Back Home
The 1970 England World Cup Squad
The England team failed to qualify for the next two World Cups and, although they did release records upon qualification in 1982 and 1986, they did not reach No.1 again until 1990 when they topped the charts with the New Order collaboration World In Motion.
"All Right Now" is a rock single by the English band Free. The song, released in the summer of 1970, hit #1 on the UK rock music charts, #2 on the UK singles chart and #4 on the U.S. charts. "All Right Now" originally appeared on the album Fire And Water, which Free recorded on the Island Records label, formed by Chris Blackwell.
"All Right Now" was a #1 hit in over 20 territories and was recognised by ASCAP (American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers) in 1990 for garnering 1,000,000 plus radio plays in the US by late 1989, and in 2000 an Award was given to Paul Rodgers by the British Music Industry when "All Right Now" passed 2,000,000 plus radio plays in the UK.
The song has recently found a home as part of the encore set for Queen + Paul Rodgers. Sandwiched in between "We Will Rock You" and "We Are the Champions", it offers the fans one more chance to sing along. Curiously, one of the engineers during the recordings of "All Right Now" was Roy Thomas Baker, who would later become Queen's producer (he mixed "Killer Queen", "Bohemian Rhapsody" and "Don't Stop Me Now" among others).
According to drummer Simon Kirke, All Right Now was written by bassist Andy Fraser in the Durham Students' Union building, Dunelm House.
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