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 by the Guinness World Records, scoring more than 100 UK Top 40 hits and earning an estimated £60 million in royalties. The trio had thirteen UK No. 1 singles including three consecutive UK No. 1's and three US No. 1 singles. They also had at least one record in the UK Top 100 Singles Chart every week between March 1986 and October 1990.
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.
Lonnie Gordon is an American female dance, pop and R&B singer and songwriter. She scored several chart hits during the 1990s, most notably for her 1990 UK top 10 single "Happenin' All Over Again".
Philip James Harding is an English music producer, audio engineer, remixer, academic and author.
The Greatest Remixes Collection is a compilation of Bananarama remixes released exclusively in Southeast Asia in 1990. At the time of the release, the only mix that had not been issued on CD was the Miami Mix of "I Heard a Rumour", although none of the mixes had ever been compiled on a Bananarama album. Subsequently some of the mixes have been available on easier to find Bananarama albums, such as The Very Best of Bananarama double CD or The Twelve Inches of Bananarama. The album has become very rare and expensive.
"Happenin' All Over Again" is a song written and produced by Stock Aitken & Waterman (SAW) for American singer Lonnie Gordon's first album, If I Have to Stand Alone (1990). The song mixed SAW's Europop sound with the blooming Italo house music which was becoming big in the UK charts at the time. It was released as the album's second single on January 15, 1990, and reached number four on the UK Singles Chart, but this 1990 version was never released in the US. A different version of the song was included on Gordon's 1993 album Bad Mood, and this version was released as a US single in 1993, peaking at number 98 on the Billboard Hot 100 and at number one on the Billboard Dance chart. In 1998, Gordon recorded the song for a second time and released it as a single.
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.
Stock Aitken Waterman Gold is a compilation album released in 2005 by Sony BMG, PWL Records and EBUL.
"Breakaway" is a song from the album Another Place and Time by Donna Summer, recorded in 1989. The song was released in October 1989 as the fourth single from the album by Atlantic Records and Warner Bros. Records (Europe) and was a top 50 hit in UK. The song was written and produced by Stock, Aitken & Waterman.
Get Even is the debut album by British boy band Brother Beyond, released on the EMI/Parlophone label in two different editions, both in 1988, generally referred to as Get Even I and Get Even II. The second edition of the album included two songs by Stock Aitken Waterman, "The Harder I Try" and "He Ain't No Competition", which replaced two songs written by the band.
Hold Me in Your Arms is the second studio album by English singer Rick Astley, released on 26 November 1988 by RCA Records. It is the follow-up to his successful debut album Whenever You Need Somebody, and was his last album produced and written with the Stock Aitken Waterman team. It helped to continue Astley's commercial success, with it achieving Platinum and Gold certifications worldwide and three of the five singles from the album becoming Top 10 hits in the United Kingdom.
Everybody Knows is the debut album by English dance-pop singer Sonia, released in April 1990. The album was predominantly written and produced by Stock Aitken Waterman and includes the UK and Irish number one single "You'll Never Stop Me Loving You" and the UK top 20 hits "Can't Forget You", "Listen to Your Heart", "Counting Every Minute", and "End of the World". At the time of release, Sonia became the first female UK artist to achieve five top 20 hit singles from one album. Everybody Knows was re-issued by Cherry Red Records in October 2010 in remastered and expanded form.
Always is the third album by British singer Hazell Dean, released in October 1988 by EMI Records.
Between the Lines is the second studio album by Australian pop singer Jason Donovan. It was released on 29 May 1990 by PWL and Mushroom.
Mandy is the only studio album by Mandy Smith. Smith, who was already well known in the British tabloids due to her relationship with Rolling Stones member Bill Wyman, which started when she was 13, became the very first artist signed to Pete Waterman's PWL Records in September 1986 when she was 16 years old, and began working with producers Stock, Aitken & Waterman for her first single, which was going to be a cover of the 1964 Twinkle hit "Terry". The recording however remained unreleased as a new song, "I Just Can't Wait" was eventually released as her debut single in January 1987. While the single was not a hit in her native UK, it became a sizeable hit around Europe and Japan. The same was true for her second single, "Positive Reaction", released in October 1987.
Brave is the debut solo studio album by Australian singer-songwriter Kate Ceberano, after her previous collaborative album with Wendy Matthews. It was her first solo foray into pop after two previously more adult-oriented albums. The album was released in early 1989 by Regular Records. ARIA has certified the album for triple platinum sales in Australia.
"Beyond Your Wildest Dreams" is a ballad written by British hitmaking team Stock Aitken & Waterman, which was recorded by three of their artists, Lonnie Gordon, Sybil, and Nancy Davis. The songwriters have cited this song as one of the best they ever wrote, and were dissatisfied with its poor chart performance. Gordon and Sybil's versions were released as singles in 1990 and 1993.
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.
"If I Have to Stand Alone" is a song by American Hi-NRG and house singer Lonnie Gordon, released in November 1990 as the fourth and last single from her debut album by the same name (1990). Like the other tracks, it was written and produced by English songwriting and record producing trio Stock Aitken & Waterman, and a black-and-white music video was produced to promote the single. In spite of good critical reception, "If I Have to Stand Alone" did not manage to become a hit, remaining at the bottom of the charts in the countries where it was released.
"Handful of Promises" is a pop-dance song written by Stock Aitken Waterman for British boy band Big Fun. It was the third single from their 1990 debut studio album A Pocketful of Dreams on which it is the first track. The B-side of the various formats is a new song, "Catch a Broken Heart", which was not included on the parent album. Released on 5 March 1990 with two different covers, it failed to reach the top 20 in United Kingdom where it stalled at number 21. However, it was a top ten hit in Ireland and Spain.
