Robbed hit of the week 12/4/17 - Daryl Braithwaite's "Higher Than Hope"...
from the album Rise (1990)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #47
This week's "robbed hit" comes from Australian singer Daryl Braithwaite, who after toiling around in a few bands, struck gold when he became the lead singer of the pop/rock band The Sherbets, who were massive in that country throughout the 1970's. Two of their singles reached the top of the Australian singles chart, with one of them, "Howzat" in 1976, becoming an international success, reaching #4 in the UK and even hitting the American pop chart at #61. At that time, while still singing for the band, Daryl embarked on a solo career, releasing a cover of the song made famous by British singer Cilla Black, "You're My World", which topped the Australian chart for three weeks in 1975. He would issue singles through the next few years, earning two more top ten hits with "Old Sid" (#9) and a cover of Linda Ronstadt's "Love Has No Pride" (#5).
As the 80's loomed, and the bubblegum pop of the 70s had far fallen out of the favor, the Sherbets reimagined themselves as the Sherbs, delving into new wave rock music. In 1980, they released "I Have The Skill", which tanked complete in their home country, but was their biggest American success, reaching #14 on Billboard's Mainstream Rock radio chart and #61 on their pop Hot 100. Two years later, another single, "We Ride Tonight" hit the American rock chart at #26, but aside from a few minor Australian hits, their reincarnation wasn't gaining much steam (although their 80s albums are top-notch power-pop), and in 1984 the band split up.
Returning to his solo career, Braithwaite released his second studio effort Edge, which would top the Australian albums chart and placed him back into the top ten in his homeland with "One Summer", which also reached the top 5 in Norway and Sweden. Running on the momentum of the record, which spawned four top-40 hits Down Under, Daryl released Rise in the fall of 1990. The title track and first single "Rise" climbed to #23 on the Australian chart, but the follow-up, "The Horses", was huge, becoming his second solo #1 hit there and one of the best-selling singles to this day in the country. The third release from the album, "Higher Than Hope", was written by Daryl with producer Simon Mussey and inspired by South African peace activist Nelson Mandela, and would go on to be his breakthrough hit in America...
Daryl Braithwaite - Higher Than Hope from ohnoitisnathan on Vimeo.
"Higher Than Hope" became Daryl's sole American pop charting hit, peaking right under the top 40 in July of 1991. Back in Australia, the song peaked at #28. It was followed by a cover of Hall & Oates' song "Don't Hold Back Your Love", which made it to #55 Down Under. A fifth single, "Nothing To Lose", popped on to the Aussie chart at #100.
In 1993, Braithwaite returned to the Australian top-40 at #35 with "The World As It Is", but a lawsuit from his former managers ended up draining almost all his profits from his comeback work and sidelined his career for years. His last charting new single was a cover of the Rascals' 60s hit "How Can I Be Sure" (#55 in 1994). He has since reunited periodically with Sherbet for oldies gigs. Also starting in 2005 he's released three new solo albums; his most recent - Forever The Tourist in 2013 - went to #47 in his homeland.
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Here's Daryl appearing on Australian television to promote the single...
..and again on another spot, which was defintely cut live as opposed to the previous...
In 2008, Daryl revisited the song for his acoustic album The Lemon Tree...
Lastly, here's Daryl doing a club gig in 2011...
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