Michael Stock is an English songwriter, record producer, musician, and member of the songwriting and production trio Stock Aitken Waterman. He has been responsible for over a hundred top-40 hits in the UK, including 16 Number One's and is recognised as one of the most successful songwriters of all time by the Guinness World Records. As part of Stock Aitken Waterman in the 1980s and 90s, he holds the UK record of 11 number one records with different acts. In the UK Singles Chart he has written 54 top-ten hits including 7 number ones.
Stock Aitken Waterman are an English songwriting and record production trio consisting of Mike Stock, Matt Aitken, and Pete Waterman. The trio had great success from the mid-1980s through to the early-1990s. SAW is considered one of the most successful songwriting and producing partnerships of all time, scoring more than 100 UK top-40 hits, selling over 500 million records and earning an estimated £60 million in royalties.
Dead or Alive were an English pop band who released seven studio albums from 1984 to 2000. The band formed in 1980 in Liverpool and found success in the mid-1980s, releasing seven singles that made the UK Top 40 and three albums in the UK Top 30. At the peak of their success, the line-up consisted of Pete Burns (vocals), Steve Coy (drums), Mike Percy (bass), and Tim Lever (keyboards), with the core pair of Burns and Coy writing and producing for the remainder of the band's career due to Percy and Lever exiting the group in 1989. Burns died in 2016; with the death of Coy in 2018, the band ended.
Hi-NRG is a genre of uptempo disco or electronic dance music (EDM) that originated during the late 1970s and early 1980s.
"You Spin Me Round (Like a Record)" is a song by the English pop band Dead or Alive, featured on their second studio album, Youthquake (1985). Released as a single in November 1984, it reached No. 1 in the UK in March 1985, taking 17 weeks to get there. It was the first UK number one hit by the Stock Aitken Waterman production trio. On the US Billboard Hot 100, it peaked at No. 11 on 17 August of that year, becoming their highest-charting single there. The song also reached No. 1 in Ireland and in Canada, while in Australia it peaked at No. 3 and it charted highly in numerous European countries.
Hazell Dean is an English dance-pop singer, who achieved her biggest success in the 1980s as a leading hi-NRG artist. She is best known for the top-ten hits in the United Kingdom "Searchin' ", "Whatever I Do " and "Who's Leaving Who". She has also worked as a songwriter and producer.
"Turn It into Love" is a single released by Australian singer Kylie Minogue. It was taken from her debut studio album Kylie (1988). The single was released in December 1988 in Japan only. The B-side was a new song "Made in Heaven", which also served as the B-side to both "Je ne sais pas pourquoi" and "It's No Secret" in other international territories.
"Searchin' (I Gotta Find a Man)" is a song written and produced by Ian Anthony Stephens and recorded by British singer Hazell Dean in 1983. It became a top-ten hit on the UK Singles Chart and US Dance Club Songs chart. It was covered in 2007 by Australian girl group Young Divas.
The Hit Factory: The Best of Stock Aitken Waterman Vol 2 is a compilation album released in November 1988 by Fanfare Records and PWL Records. It is an album featuring hits produced by British production trio Stock Aitken Waterman, who were at their peak at the time of the album's release.
The Hit Factory: The Best of Stock Aitken Waterman is a compilation album released in 1987 by Stylus Records in association with PWL Records. The collection brought together some the biggest hits by British production team Stock Aitken Waterman. It reached #18 in the UK Top 100 Album Chart and achieved a Gold BPI award.
The Hit Factory Volume 3 is a compilation album collecting the biggest hits of the award-winning British music production trio Stock Aitken Waterman during their most successful era. It was released by PWL Records in association with Fanfare Records in June 1989 and reached #3 in the compilation Top 20, achieving a Gold BPI award.
A Ton of Hits : The Very Best of Stock Aitken Waterman is a compilation album released in the UK in November 1990 bringing together the hits of Stock Aitken Waterman (SAW) in a continuously sequenced mix. It was released by Chrysalis Records on their subsidiary label Dover Records and followed the previous "Best of Stock Aitken Waterman" collections; The Hit Factory: The Best of Stock Aitken Waterman, The Hit Factory Volume 2 and The Hit Factory Volume 3. The album reached #7 in the compilation Top 20. Notably absent from this release are Bananarama and Dead or Alive, presumably due to licensing issues, whilst including nine songs by Jason Donovan, and ten by Kylie Minogue.
The Hit Factory: Pete Waterman's Greatest Hits is a compilation album featuring music produced by Pete Waterman. It was released by Universal Music in 2000 and reached #3 in the UK compilation Top 20 chart, achieving a Gold BPI award.
Stock Aitken Waterman Gold is a compilation album released in 2005 by Sony BMG, PWL Records and EBUL.
"Shattered Glass" is a song written by Bob Mitchell and Steve Coe which was originally recorded in 1980 by Scottish singer Ellie Warren. The song was recorded in 1987 by American singer Laura Branigan with the Stock Aitken Waterman production team to serve as the lead single from Branigan's fifth studio album, Touch (1987).
Always is the third album by British singer Hazell Dean, released in October 1988 by EMI Records.
"Whatever I Do (Wherever I Go)" is a Hi-NRG song written and produced by British hit making team Stock Aitken Waterman (SAW), which became a hit for singer Hazell Dean in 1984. Dean, having had a top 10 hit in May 1984 with "Searchin' (I Gotta Find a Man)", was looking for a follow-up single. Through her record company Proto Records she met SAW, who had by then worked with her label mates Divine and Agents Aren't Aeroplanes, but were virtually unknown.
"Who's Leaving Who" is a song written by Jack White and Mark Spiro, first recorded by Canadian country singer Anne Murray in 1986. It achieved bigger popularity in Europe when it was covered by British Hi-NRG singer Hazell Dean in 1988. David Hasselhoff covered the song on his 1991 album David, produced by Jack White.
"They Say It's Gonna Rain" is a song co-written and sung by British female artist Kerry Delius. She released the song as a single in 1984 and while it failed to chart, it became an underground club hit. The song achieved a bigger popularity when it was covered by Hazell Dean the following year. A Zulu chant is featured in the intro which is repeated throughout the song.
Pete Waterman Presents The Hit Factory is a compilation album released in July 2012 collecting 39 hits produced by Pete Waterman. Included are a vast number of tracks that were written and produced by Waterman along with Mike Stock and Matt Aitken during their most successful period working as Stock Aitken Waterman, becoming among the most successful music producers of all-time.
