Clout (band)

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Clout was a South African rock group formed in Johannesburg in 1977, best known for their hit single, "Substitute". Originally all-female, the group later included some male musicians, who had played as session musicians on the recording. [1]

Contents

Career

Clout's first and biggest hit, "Substitute", was a new arrangement of a Righteous Brothers song, composed by Willie Wilson. In 1978, their version reached No. 1 in South Africa, New Zealand, Germany, France, The Netherlands, Sweden, Austria, Denmark and Belgium. It also reached No. 2 on the UK Singles Chart and remained in the UK charts for 15 weeks. [2] Due to sanctions against South African artists and performers by UK's Equity at the time, the BBC One television series Top of the Pops used the group's performance of the song on Dutch programme TopPop , from 8 April 1978, to present the hit song for its Top 10 countdown.

A major success in Europe, Clout scored more Top 10 singles, notably "Save Me", "You've Got All of Me" and "Under Fire".

Clout's cover of "Substitute" reached No. 67 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100.

Clout split up in 1981, shortly after the release of their last major single, a re-arrangement of the Hall and Oates song "Portable Radio". The previous single "Oowatanite" was also a cover, the original being a hit by the Canadian group April Wine.

In 1992, their greatest hits package was released on CD, and it was re-mastered as The Best of Clout in 2010.

Musicians

'All Around New Music' and other websites state that 'Circus', an all-male group, actually played the instruments, and that they disbanded the same year (1981), this rumour was disclosed.[ citation needed ]

Discography

Albums

Singles

YearSinglePeak chart positions
AUT
[3]
BE (FLA)
[4]
DEN
[5]
IRE
[6]
GER
[7]
NL
[8]
NZ
[9]
SA
[10]
SWI
[11]
UK
[12]
US
[13]
ZIM
[14]
1977"Substitute"10291121122671
1978"Since You've Been Gone"
"You've Got All of Me"2514171614
1979"Let It Grow"33
"Save Me"145546741
"Under Fire"186152619718
"Oowatanite"833
1980"Portable Radio"754
"The Best of Me"73
1981"Wish I Were Loving You"
"—" denotes releases that did not chart or were not released

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References

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  11. "The Official Swiss Charts and Music Community". swisscharts.com. Retrieved 16 November 2020.
  12. "CLOUT | full Official Chart History | Official Charts Company". www.officialcharts.com. Retrieved 16 November 2020.
  13. "Clout". Billboard. Retrieved 16 November 2020.
  14. "World singles charts and sales TOP 50 in 58 countries: CLOUT". World singles charts and sales TOP 50 in 58 countries. 8 November 2016. Archived from the original on 20 January 2015. Retrieved 16 November 2020.