Hot Chocolate – Errol Brown, center
It was really bugging me since I knew the song but could not remember the artist. The British group Hot Chocolate had a hit in the UK in 1975 (#2) and in the US in 1976 (#3). The song was featured in films such as The Full Monty (1997), which I saw.
I have over 2000 CDs, LPs, singles and cassettes, still, and I’m fairly sure I have never owned You Sexy Thing in any format. But I DO have a couple other Hot Chocolate songs.
Give Peace a Chance, on the Come and Get It – The Best of Apple Records compilation, is a reggae version the Plastic Ono Band song. “Front man Errol Brown was told he needed permission [for the band to release its iteration]. He was contacted by Apple, discovered that [John] Lennon liked his version, and the group was subsequently signed to Apple Records. The link was short-lived as the Beatles were starting to break up.”
Brother Louie is a song about an interracial relationship, “which featured a guest spoken vocal from Alexis Korner.” I have the Hot Chocolate version on a compilation album called Goodnight Saigon. American audiences may know the song by the Brooklyn, NY-based band Stories.
You Sexy Thing was written by Errol Brown, who died in 2015, and produced by Mickie Most, who I most associated with Herman’s Hermits.
LISTEN TO:
Give Peace A Chance – Hot Chocolate (1970) here or here
Give Peace a Chance – Plastic Ono Band here (#14 in 1969, US)
Brother Louie – Hot Chocolate here or here (#7 in 1973, UK)
Brother Louie – Stories here (#1 for two weeks in 1973, US)