Racey

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Richard Gower's Racey in Denmark in 2006

Racey was a British pop group, formed in 1976 in Weston-super-Mare, by singer Phil Fursdon and Clive Wilson. The group was formerly known as Alive 'n' Kicking.

Career

Over their original tenure as a band Racey scored a series of hit singles in the United Kingdom, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand. The only album they made under the original lineup was their 1979 debut album Smash and Grab, selling about 500,000 copies worldwide.^{[citation needed]}

The band's hits were either written and/or produced by Mike Chapman and Nicky Chinn. They scored with several hits such as "Lay Your Love on Me" and "Some Girls". Another Chinn-Chapman song, "Kitty", was reworked and released by Toni Basil as "Mickey" in 1982; that song reached Number one on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 and Number 2 in the UK Singles Chart in early 1982.

Hits

Racey's first single, "Baby It's You", was penned by Smokie members Chris Norman and Pete Spencer and was released in 1978. Their second single, "Lay Your Love on Me", was the group's first hit single, peaking at No.3 in late 1978 through to early 1979. The third single, "Some Girls", was written for the American band Blondie, for whom Mike Chapman also produced, but was instead given to Racey as a follow-up to "Lay Your Love on Me". The band then parted company with Chinn and Chapman after the album was released and although they continued to play and tour they released only a few more singles that did not match their previous successes.

Break up

The band formally split in 1985, and since then two separate groups named Racey exist, one featuring band member Richard Gower and the other featuring Clive Wilson, Phil Fursdon and Pete Miller, the original bass player. (Miller died of cancer on 6 May 2003.) Several albums and CDs with re-recordings of the original hits as well as new material are available from both of the present day versions of the group.

Richard Gower appeared in the Countdown Spectacular 2 concert series in Australia between late August and early September 2007. He sang 2 songs, "Lay Your Love On Me" and "Some Girls".

The reissue of Smash and Grab

In May 2009 the reissue of Racey's Smash And Grab album was available on a double CD through 7Ts Records, a division of Cherry Red Records in London. It included the original 1979 album along with all other recordings made for RAK Records between 1978 and 1982. Included is a booklet with all the original album artwork, extensive sleeve notes by Steve Thorpe and many pictures of the original single sleeves from UK and foreign releases. It was completely remastered by Tim Turan of Turan Audio in Oxford.

Discography

Albums

Smash and Grab (1979)
Some Girls (1995)
Say Wow! Greatest and Latest (1996)
Lay Your Love on Me (1996)
Best of Racey (2003)
The Best of Racey (2006)
Smash and Grab (2009 double CD reissue)

Singles

"Baby It's You" (1977)
"Lay Your Love on Me" (1978, UK #3) (1979, Australia #1)
"Some Girls" (1979, UK #2) (1979, South Africa #1) (1979, Australia #1)
"Boy Oh Boy" (1979, UK #22) (1979, South Africa #2)
"Such a Night" (1980)
"Rest of My Life" (1980)
"Runaround Sue" (1980, UK #13)
"Shame" (1980)
"Little Darlin'" (1981)
"There's A Party Going On" (1981)
"Not Too Young To Get Married" (1982)
"Cry Cry Time" (1996)^[1]

References

↑ Roberts, David (2006). British Hit Singles & Albums (19th ed.). London: Guinness World Records Limited. p. 447. ISBN 1-904994-10-5.

External links

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