When a vocalist leaves a group, there’s always the hope of big success forthcoming, at least from the vocalist. (But perhaps not always from the group the vocalist left behind.) Well, when Jay Ferguson left a group to go solo, he had some modest success with one song, but his second and final top 40 hit has fallen by the wayside. You likely remember “Thunder Island”…do you remember “Shakedown Cruise”?
Sausalito Summernight by Diesel
Diesel is one of those one-hit wonder groups that, when their hit is heard, have many people saying, “Yeah, I remember them!” For a lot of these groups, Diesel included, this holds true even when their one hit hasn’t been heard for a long time. Diesel’s big hit on the American charts, “Sausalito Summernight”, is one that hasn’t been played in ages, but still holds a place deep in some music aficionados’ memories.
Very deep, possibly.
Don’t Want to Live Without It by Pablo Cruise
Talk about the group Pablo Cruise, and one of two things will typically happen: either someone who listened to top 40 radio in the late 70s will remember about two songs; or someone will ask who you’re talking about. If you’re reading this blog, you’ll probably remember the two biggest hits from Pablo Cruise. However, that group had a few more hits besides that. One of them was not a big hit, but “Don’t Want to Live Without It” did crack the top 30.
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Get It Right Next Time by Gerry Rafferty
If you’re of a certain age, you probably remember hearing Gerry Rafferty on the radio a lot. And I mean a whole lot. His biggest hit was all over the radio during the summer of 1978, and the follow-up got lots of airplay that fall. But Mr. Rafferty had more hits than just those two. Do you remember 1979’s “Get It Right Next Time”?
No Tengo Dinero by Los Umbrellos
Sometimes memory plays tricks on you. For instance, one might hear a song played on the radio enough times that, 25 years later, one would think it had to have been a big hit back then…only to find out that it wasn’t. And that is exactly the case with my faulty memory of the Los Umbrellos song “No Tengo Dinero”.
Livin’ in Desperate Times by Olivia Newton-John
In addition to massive success on the pop charts in the late 70s/early 80s, Olivia Newton-John had some amount of success in acting as well. Some of her greatest hits, of course, came from soundtracks. (Grease, anyone?) It was from her last big-budget movie that some of Ms. Newton-John’s final charting hits came, including her 1984 hit “Livin’ in Desperate Times.”
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You Keep Me Dancing by Samantha Sang
If you listened to top 40 or MOR radio in 1977 and 1978, it wouldn’t be long before you found an artist who had some amount of success thanks to the Bee Gees. One of the most fortunate recipients of the Gibb brothers’ largesse was Australian singer Samantha Sang, who had a platinum hit single thanks to them. Her follow-up to that song, though, didn’t have the same traction on the charts. I guess that’s why I’m writing today about “You Keep Me Dancing” on this page.
Chains by Tina Arena
Occasionally, a recording artist from overseas will finally break into the US market with one huge hit, and then they will become a fixture on the US charts for years to come. (ABBA comes to mind almost immediately.) However, there are other artists who have that one breakthrough hit on the US charts…which turns out to be their only one. Such was the case for Tina Arena and her power ballad, “Chains”.
Until the End of Time by Foreigner
Ask most music fans to associate Foreigner with a particular era, and you’ll likely hear them direct you to the late 70s/early 80s. To be sure, that era was Foreigner’s heyday, but the band did place one hit onto the Hot 100 well into the 90s. That one hit was a power ballad called “Until the End of Time”.
Don’t Want To Wait Anymore by The Tubes
The Tubes are yet another group that most people would consider to be a one-hit wonder. “She’s a Beauty” was their only hit, right? Well, actually it wasn’t; the Tubes had several singles which charted, including a second top 40 hit. It’s that other hit we’ll look at today, a single entitled “Don’t Want To Wait Anymore”.
