Songoftheday 8/31/17 -We must have been stone crazy, and we thought we were just friends...
from the album In The Blood (1990)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #1 (one week)
Weeks in the Top-40: 14
Today's song of the day comes from the dance-pop act Londonbeat, who came together in London in the late 80s, with British guitarist William Henshall and singer George Chandler (formerly of the The Olympic Runners and dance act Gonzalez of "Haven't Stopped Dancing Yet" fame) joining Trinidadian Jimmy Chambers and American Jimmy Helms, who had a top ten hit in the UK back in 1973 with "Gonna Make You An Offer You Can't Refuse" that slipped on to the R&B chart in the U.S. at #92. Also, Chandler and Chambers sang backup vocals on Paul Young's Secret Of Association album, including the #1 pop hit "Everytime You Go Away" in 1985. They released their debut album Speak in 1988, with three of its tracks reaching the top-40 in the Netherlands and one of those, "9AM (The Comfort Zone)", climbing to #19 in the UK.
It would be their sophomore effort In The Blood that would give the group international success. The first single from the record was the retro-soul style dance number "I've Been Thinking About You". Written by the band and produced by Martyn Phillips, the record meshed the vocal group doo-wop-ish sound from the 60s with the bubbly dance-pop of the late 1980's...
"I've Been Thinking About You" became Londonbeat's biggest hit, climbing all the way to #1 on the American pop top-40 in April of 1991. The single also climbed to #7 on Billboard's Adult Contemporary (or "easy listening") radio chart, and even crossed over to their R&B list at #83. The remixes on the 12" vinyl and CD single helped it top their Dance Club Play chart for a week that same month. Internationally, the song hit #1 in Canada, Australia, Germany, Italy, The Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, Austria, Belgium, Finland, and Switzerland, and reached #2 in Norway and the UK, and #5 in New Zealand.
(Click below to see the rest of the post)
There was an alternate version of the video shown more internationally that featured animation...
Here's the "Def 12" Mix" from the CD single that topped the dance chart a week before it ruled the Hot 100...
In 2004, campy Swedish dance-pop group Alcazar sampled "I've Been Thinking About You" for their single "Physical", which went to #3 in neighboring Finland...
Lastly, here's a live TV performance from 2009 with Helms and Chambers from the original lineup...
Up tomorrow: Metal band are wasting their days.
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