And if you liked this story,sign up for the weekly bbc.com features newsletter, called The Essential List. They also had successes a string of British hits such as "Can't Get By Without You" and "Can You Feel the Force?". (People like Rod Stewart were in the audience, recalls Amoo. In 1986, the band enjoyed a chart resurgence with the remixing of several of their hits. There was the Northern Soul scene (We couldnt relate to that, says Eddy), but the Real Thing found themselves stuck on the chicken-in-a-basket cabaret circuit, performing a frustratingly narrow range of songs (Drifters medleys, old Motown classics). In 2019, the band were featured in a documentary called Everything - The Real Thing Story,[19][20][21] which charted the history of the band from Eddie's days in Merseybeat doo-wop act the Chants[22] (said to be the only group ever to be backed by the Beatles),[23][24][25] through Chris' group's SSB (the Sophisticated Soul Brothers) and Vocal Perfection. To my mind, that says it all., Eddy has had to answer the phone a number of times, and hes given me an hour of us his time, despite being a busy man, and he draws the interview to a close by offering me a lift to the station. The legendary soul singer, who played in the Liverpool band alongside his brother Chris and pals Dave Smith and Ray Lake, passed away suddenly in Australia today. Meanwhile, as Chris Amoo explains, The Real Things formative sound stemmed from a different side of the inner-city: Toxteth (aka Liverpool 8), a largely black working-class neighbourhood which has been likened to Harlem. After Chris Amoo's brother Eddie joined the band, The Real Thing finally found chart success with the single \"You to Me Are Everything\", which reached #1 on the UK Singles Chart, #28 on Billboard's \"R\u0026B Singles\" and #64 on Billboard's \"Hot 100\". Back in Britain, the foursome were written up as the black Beatles and became sex symbols to a generation of overwhelmingly white women, including the young Kim Wilde, who visited them backstage. Sheridan's lengthy interview with Amoo was shown in full on BBC Four in August 2020. [17][18] The single, released by AATW in 2005, peaked at No. their version dealt with what was going on in Toxteth, Liverpool. and 'Can't Get By Without You', we'd argue that The Real Thing are a somewhat overlooked and underrated group. It seems unjust that they should languish in the forgotten pages of Liverpool music history. Interview with Ginger and Nuts, January 2021. The first four members of the Real Thing Chris Amoo, Ray Lake, Kenny Davis and Dave Smith all grew up together in Liverpool 8, hung out in some of the street gangs of the time, but bit by bit became more interested in singing than fighting. Kenny Davis left the group relatively early on, and member Ray Lake sadly passed away in 2000. 71, remaining for only two weeks. After Chris Amoo's brother Eddie joined the band, the Real Thing finally found chart success with the pop-soul single "You to Me Are Everything", which reached No. Instead they became the Real Thing. Eddy Amoo from the Real Thing was recently down at the Albert Dock; I was invited to an unveiling of a plaque they had put up for all the number one artists in Liverpool. Ray's daughter, Alexandra Romano, got her start in Hollywood alongside her dad. Why, if the latters versions were so good, didnt we hear them in this film? The opening notes of these tracks are unmistakeably spirit-soaring, but The Real Thing documentary begins with a much harsher tone: an unsettling 70s archive montage including a street march by the racist National Front; eerie anti-immigration campaigners; a bigot on an estate, ranting poisonously as his black female neighbours are forced to walk around him. The Real Thing were arguably the alternative (and overlooked) Fab Four. [6], In 1976, they released their first album, Real Thing, which included both of their hit singles as well as a third UK hit, "You'll Never Know What You're Missing",[5] which peaked at No. David Smith (b. Eddy says he feels for the guys from the Chants; I look back on it as my apprenticeship but for the guys in the Chants they came out with nothing and now its like we never existed., Hes aware that growing up in Liverpool 8 could have cut down his chances in life, but hes made it. We all live in this cauldron of black, white, Chinese, African, Indian., The Beatles had sung about Penny Lane, the Real Thing wrote about Stanhope Street; Stanhope Street was one of the main thoroughfares in Liverpool 8, explains Eddy, When I was a kid wed always seemed to end up walking through the streets and then maybe at ten oclock at night wed all end up on some corner on Stanhope Street getting chips or something like that. These bleak retro images feel disturbingly resonant in the present day. Far-right party The National Front at its most vocal during the 1970s met with resistance from anti-fascist activists (Credit: Alamy). No longer would they be called Vocal Perfection a gift to hostile critics. Everything: The Real Thing Story (BBC Four) travels back in time to the year when the quartet - Chris Amoo, Dave Smith, Kenny Davis and Ray Lake, later joined by Chris's brother Eddie -. Sadly, Eddy passed away at the age of 73 in February 2018. Ray Lake, RIP He was The Real Thing Tragic ending but then so too was the fate of Kenny Davis who, having bowed out just before the band hit the big time, eventually drowned in the Mersey. Why Pet Shop Boys are the cleverest men in pop, their tour dates stretch across the year ahead. But in Children of the Ghetto the Real Thing were bringing the concept much closer to home; In a way the word ghetto had become really hip to people on the streets because of Donny Hathaway and people like that and I thought it suited Liverpool 8, says Eddy, A lot of people were a little bit upset about it but thats what Liverpool 8 was and is; its a ghetto., Historically the word ghetto can carry negative connotations, but in the 70s the word, and the concept, could be used in a positive sense, even in a celebratory way, like Wars song The World is a Ghetto. There's a tragic trajectory throughout in the story of the charismatic but always troubled Ray Lake - known as "One Take Lake . You to Me Are Everything (The Decade Remix 7686), I Can't Help Myself (Sugar Pie Honey Bunch), List of bands and artists from Merseyside, List of artists who reached number one on the UK Singles Chart, "Subversive dreamers: Liverpool songwriting from the Beatles to the Zutons", "Children of the Ghetto; the Story of the Real Thing", "October 20, 1984: Champaign, Angela Bofill, Teena Marie, Force MD's, Laura Pallas", "The Real Thing We Got Love / Street Scene RCA UK RCA 445", "THOMAS BANGALTER/DJ FALCON | full Official Chart History", "REAL THING | full Official Chart History", "FREELOADERS FEAT. They toured internationally with Essex, recording with him a number of popular songs, though none were big charters. 28 on Billboard 's R&B Singles chart and No. You cant just jump from songs like Cant Get By Without You those type of songs to songs like Children of the Ghetto. red house restaurant allegany state park menu; keystone bar and grill nutrition facts; jeff passolt daughters; what did smurf do to julia; 26 Feb. call back after mammogram for asymmetry. [7], In 1981, his single "This Must Be Love", (a Phil Collins composition) b/w "You'll Never Know What You're Missing" was released on the Precision label. RM 2JFBN91 - Guitarist with The Real Thing band performing at the Soultasia music festival in Promenade Park, Maldon, Essex, UK RF 2K2J1D2 - Explaining his ideas. Incorrigibly romantic middle-aged blokes singing how they would stop the rain from falling at their lovers request to an audience of still-besotted fans. Download this stock image: Ray Lake of The Real Thing, London 1977 - 2E3RP97 from Alamy's library of millions of high resolution stock photos, illustrations and vectors. But the legacy that remains still sounds pioneering and Amoo is still tickled by the Fab Four comparison; he mentions that Ringo Starr was in the audience when The Real Thing played LAs Roxy venue in 1974. It summed up the whole area for me., Communities are sensitive about how they are portrayed and putting all this down on disc inevitably changed the way the Real Thing were viewed locally, although they had mainly positive reactions from the people Eddy grew up with; I think they were made up. They did appear on New Faces (the TV talent show). For me as a white, pre-teen, West Midlands nobody, the song meant something else too. A lot of my mates ended up doing time and have come out and have got their lives together and maybe it would have been the same for me. 1980's \"She's a Groovy Freak\" capped a successful run, at #52, coming just a few months too late to be included in the band's first compilation, a K-tel collection of their Greatest Hits released in May 1980. Guy was married in 2004, but he and his wife separated in 2007. 5th May 1944, Liverpool, England, U.K. d. 23rd February 2018, Australia.) [16] Also in 2016, he was a judge at E.I.W.C 2016.[17]. You didnt hear The Beatles in our part of Liverpool, says Amoo. The youth then werent as willing as the youth in the early Sixties had been to just accept things and go along with it. One of the group, Joe Ankrah, had met Paul McCartney at a Little Richard concert In Birkenhead and told him about their group. Im not the kind of person to turn away, but Id also think of my mother and father; if it was heavy when we were growing up, they had no chance of saying anything.. \"Can You Feel the Forces ('86 Remix)\" climbed to #24, but the band's final U.K. charter for the year, \"Straight to the Heart\", peaked at #71, remaining for only two weeks. Shot entirely on location in Liverpool, London, Bristol and Brighton, the movie features interviews with all the band members - Eddy Amoo, Chris Amoo and Dave Smith . lewis hamilton astrodatabank; how to get rid of wild rice in lakes; ano ang kontribusyon ni marina santiago; cottonmouth range virginia; ardmore fields kent ohio Stanley House [a once-thriving youth community centre], where wed started making music, was gone, and the police were very heavy-handed. Eddy was still in the Chants, but gave Chris every . Chris added after the statement: The fans' outpouring of support makes us realise how much love there is out there for The Real Thing, and we're doing this for them, and for Eddy, who was the greatest showman. Be serious. We realised that wed made a terrible error., Told that Sun City was in a so-called state free from the apartheid laws of South Africa, musicians including Isaac Hayes, Curtis Mayfield and Tina Turner appeared at the venue, Im struck by Amoos sanguine attitude. Eddie Amoo (born Edward Robert Amoo, 5 May 1944, Liverpool; Ray Lake (born Raymond Lake, 11 February 1946, Liverpool; died 2000), This page was last edited on 7 January 2023, at 18:22. ), but Alexandra is very obviously happy with the life she's chosen. Instead, she's apparently moved on to other pursuits. Thats another thing I think that led directly to the riots., Theres something poignant about having a career including singalong singles that filled dancefloors like You to Me Are Everything, irresistible feel good tunes like Can You Feel the Force, and classic ghetto medleys all that idealism but still being painfully aware of a harsher, depressing reality. [8] \"Can't Get By Without You (the Second Decade Remix)\" rose almost as high to #6, remaining a consecutive 13 weeks. "You to Me Are Everything (The Decade Remix)" by DJ Froggy, Simon Harris and KC charted twice in the UK, peaking at No. Worse yet was Ray Lakes decline into heroin addiction and, eventually, suicide. I think were hearing the legacy of that breakthrough in many acts today., They were the first all-black British band to have a UK number one single, You To Me Are Everything (Credit: Alamy), The Real Thing stood out because they were this amazing R&B band that made pioneering music that was the equal of, if not better then, their American contemporaries, agrees writer/DJ Bill Brewster, co-author of Last Night A DJ Saved My Life. Before that, Romano earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in communication and media studies, worked as a TV Talent Assistant, served as an Executive Assistant to Betsy Beers. We could go into the studio and record an album ourselves but there is absolutely no point if you are not going to get a record company to back you and to market the product. [4] During the time period, they accumulated eight more British hits. Hi there! The only failing of Simon Sheridans fond documentary is in explaining what went wrong when Jeff Wayne asked Chris Amoo to sing Forever Autumn and Thunder Child for his musical version of HG Wellss novel. Were talking about the police, the Council, shops. Eddy now lives barely a mile from the house he grew up in Toxteth; and in our interview we were to return a number of times to his memories of the city and Toxteth (or Liverpool 8 as the district was known back in the 1970s, then, as now, home to many people from the citys black community). The band charted internationally with their song "You to Me Are Everything", which reached No. [13] The song received positive reviews[14] and was included on a greatest hits of 1984 compilation released by Team Records in Indonesia as well as on the album Black Magic.[15]. Back in June 1976 they were number one with You To Me Are Everything (the follow-up, Cant Get By Without You reached number 2); their records have been in the top 20 seven times (including the single Can You Feel the Force from 1979); a cover version of a song they recorded back in 1977 was included by Spike Lee in the soundtrack to his 1995 film Clockers; and Eddy Amoo from the band was praised by the United Nations Special Committee Against Apartheid in October 1983. Watch a recent Real Thing performance below: "We have got a huge library of material but it is not that simple. One of these releases was by N-Trance's Kevin O'Toole and Dale Longworth, who covered "So Much Love to Give" under the name of Freeloaders and released it as a single crediting the Real Thing's vocal contribution unlike the earlier French duo's release. [citation needed], In 2015, he was a judge at the Irish Wolfhound, Levriero irlandese 25th French Breed Show event. Their creative range inevitably made them harder to categorise for pop markets; after their floor-filling romantic tunes, their brilliantly gritty 1977 album 4 From 8 was initially regarded as a misfire. As Eddie Amoo died during the production of the film, the documentary ended up being released two years after his death. Even now, the recording of Lakes plaintive, poetic, falsetto vocals on Children Of The Ghetto can tear your heart out (Toughness is their motto/ And bitter are their blues). We knew that Ray had problems, but we didnt see them quickly enough, admits Amoo. She may not have the same list of travel essentials as celebs like Kendall Jenner (like a private jet), but she's glam enough. 40. "Love's Such a Wonderful Thing" peaked at No. Our dear brother #RayLake passed away exactly 20 years ago today. 4 From 8 is a good album Im not knocking it it didnt have that commercial edge you need. With classic hits like 'You To Me Are Everything', 'Can You Feel the Force?' "We would love to do that, and we most probably will no doubt but it is really difficult. Eddy recalls Liverpool 8 in the early 1970s as a very tight-knit community; It was from the early 70s onwards that people started to realise that if they stuck together politically they could achieve a lot more than they had in the past. 58 on the UK Disco chart published in Record Mirror[9][10] and radio playlisted[11][12] with a single specially written for them by Lynsey De Paul and Terry Britten, called "We Got Love" produced by Nick Martinelli in 1984. The Real Thing are a British soul group formed in the 1970s. 9 in the UK charts, giving The Real Thing their sixth Top Ten hit (including remixes) and last hit single. The racial aspect is a landscape through the whole film; heres the era that we grew up in, says Amoo. Once I persuade Eddy that its definitely their song, he reflects on how valuable the song is to the Real Things career; Its brought us a lot of success. The Real Things Children Of The Ghetto has been covered by musicians like Mary J Blige and Courtney Pine (Credit: Alamy). The Real Thing are a British Soul group from Liverpool, formed in 1970. But it also sparked at least one of his kid's careers. When we first started this band, we just wanted to sing on stage; we had no thoughts of records, explains the genial Amoo, shortly after the London show. Years active. 24, but the band's final UK charter for the year, "Straight to the Heart", peaked at No. The documentary featured interviews with David Essex, Billy Ocean, Five Star's Denise Pearson, Kim Wilde and Leee John from Imagination; as well as all surviving members of the Chants and the Real Thing. In 2015, Eddy spoke about the band's hopes for a new album, telling UK Music Reviews:"We have got a huge library of material but it is not that simple. Inspired by his elder sibling, Chris formed his own vocal group, extravagantly-called The Sophisticated Soul Brothers. The Chants had run its course by the beginning of the 1970s. THE Real Thing star Eddy Amoo has died aged 74. In the studio, the Real Thing recorded some songs written and produced by David Essex, among them Watch Out Carolina which is slightly too obviously indebted to Rock On. The Real Thing's Children Of The Ghetto has been covered by musicians like Mary J Blige and Courtney Pine (Credit: Alamy) . Why were Justin Haywards vocals rather than Amoos used on the hit album? 1 on the UK Singles Chart. climbed to No. The Real Thing might have broken America but for the fact that during their US tour with David Essex, three dismal cover versions of You to Me are Everything sullied the Billboard Top 100. The family is still close, of course, even though all of the children are now grown. *Real Thing CDs currently available include a budget Very Best of (all the hits and more) and a good value and virtually definitive thirty six track anthology Children of the Ghetto released in 1999 by Sequel Records, complete with sleeve notes. During the Summer even the New Musical Express had barely registered punks existence. The Real Thing have recorded two different versions of Children of the Ghetto; Courtney Pines jazz version is based on the track on the 4 From 8 LP, but Eddy and Chris Amoo also re-wrote it in a different form which they distributed it as a demo version, and Philip Bailey picked up on it; it was his version that is featured on the soundtrack to the film Clockers. Nevertheless, the Real Thing had made their mark. On the the bands debut LP, Real Thing, released in October 1976 there is clear tension between their instincts and commercial pressures, with a diversity of styles reflecting the variety of soul music at the time; there were three tracks recorded before the groups first hit, the two successful Gold/Denne singles, and five new songs written by the Amoo brothers. We pay for videos too. Instead they became the Real Thing. Whats strangely less documented is that one of Britains most successful black groups also hailed from Liverpool: The Real Thing, a quartet whose sleek pop-soul smashes included You To Me Are Everything (1976), Cant Get By Without You (1976) and Can You Feel The Force? The four promising black soul singers he was managing would have to change their name. Back in 1972 Eddy watched as his brothers band won themselves a slot on the TV show Opportunity Knocks. Theyre amazingly under-rated; they also released lots of really good records later on, including street soul on small labels.. Our dear brother #RayLake passed away exactly 20 years ago today. Eddy will long be remembered as a tour de force in British music and he will be sorely missed.. We never got back to that pinnacle we reached creatively with Can You Feel the Force.. If we stepped into the city centre, we werent necessarily welcomed, especially if we were with our friends. Is it definitely our Children of the Ghetto? This was the era that we grew up in; it was almost acceptable, as a joke, you were so used to it, he replies, earnestly. Cart. Both of these pivotal changes happened while the young group were competing on prime-time TV talent show Opportunity Knocks (The X Factor of its era) in 1972, and provoked the ire of irascible host Hughie Green (We were beaten the next week by a yodeller, so that shows yer, deadpans Amoo). They returned to mainstream success in 1986 with the Decade Remix of "You to Me Are Everything". We do them everywhere else in the country. What must it be like for them if its like that for us? As kids, Amoo, his siblings and friends would develop a love for funky, politically sharp trailblazers, such as Curtis Mayfield (in particular, his 1967 black pride anthem Were A Winner), Marvin Gaye, The Last Poets and Gil Scott-Heron. He was the original voice of #ChildrenOfTheGhetto.