Songoftheday 9/25/16 - Yellow is the color of sunrays...

"Keep On Movin'" - Soul II Soul featuring Caron Wheeler
from the album Club Classics Vol. One (1989)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #11 (one week)
Weeks in the Top-40: 10

Today's song of the day comes from Soul II Soul, an R&B collective put together by producer Jazzie B (aka London's own Trevor Romeo) in the late 80's, with a variety of musicians and singers like Caron Wheeler, who dominated the group's debut album Club Classics, Vol. One in 1989. The first two singles from the set, "Fairplay" and "Feel Free", were released prior to the album and were minor hits in the UK, stopping in the 60s on the chart. But the third single, "Keep On Movin'", introduced dancefloors around the world to a different, mid-tempo beat that was such a refreshing break from the frenetic pace of HI-NRG and the loud thump of house music to bring clubgoers to a different sort of high. Soon, the "Soul II Soul" sound would have just as much of a presence in dance music as those other two subgenres...

"Keep On Movin'" became the group's first American hit, stopping just short of the top ten in September of 1989. The song went all the way to #1 on Billboard's R&B chart for two weeks, while it also crossed over to their Adult Contemporary (or "easy listening") radio list at #37. The 12" remix topped their Dance Club Play chart. Internationally, the record peaked at #5 in their native Britain, reached the top-10 in the Netherlands (#9) and Ireland (#10), and hit the top-20 in Germany (#13), Canada (#15), New Zealand (#14), Austria (#18), Switzerland (#18), and Belgium (#20). It would help them become nominated for best new artist at the Grammys in 1990, infamously won by Milli Vanilli.

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Here's the 12" Club Mix done by Jazzie B and producer Nellee Hooper that topped the dance chart...

...and the Teddy Riley mix, which took the song in a New Jack Swing fusion direction...

...and now an electric performace live in concert in 2014...

Finally, an intimate take from just this past August in the Live Lounge at the BBC...

Up tomorrow: Soap star goes under the blankets.