Queen of Chinatown

Last updated
"Queen of Chinatown"
Amanda Lear - Queen of Chinatown (single).jpg
Single by Amanda Lear
from the album I Am a Photograph
B-side "My Alphabet", "The Lady in Black"
Released1977
Genre Euro disco
Length4:15
Label Ariola Records
Songwriter(s) Amanda Lear
Producer(s) Anthony Monn
Amanda Lear singles chronology
"Alphabet"
(1977)		"Queen of Chinatown"
(1977)		"Follow Me"
(1978)
Audio sample
22-second sample from Amanda Lear's Queen of Chinatown

"Queen of Chinatown" (also typed "Queen of China-Town") is a song by French singer Amanda Lear, released in 1977 by Ariola Records. It met with a big chart success and remains one of Lear's biggest hits to date. The song's lyrics were written by Lear herself and the music was composed by Anthony Monn, her musical partner at that time. It's an uptempo disco composition with characteristic oriental elements. The song was released in late 1977 as the sixth and final single from Lear's debut album, I Am a Photograph (1977), however, was included only on the album's re-issue, replacing "La Bagarre". The B-side of the single was "Alphabet", which had earlier received a separate A-side single release in the Netherlands. In Japan, "The Lady in Black" was released on the side B.

Contents

Release

"Queen of Chinatown" was heavily promoted by numerous TV performances in 1977 and 1978. [1] [2] The song became Lear's biggest hit up to that point and now remains one of her most memorable songs. It reached number two in West Germany, which is her highest chart achievement in that country to date, and number two in Italy, where it was kept off the top spot for four consecutive weeks in February 1978 by Matia Bazar's singles "Solo tu" and "...E dirsi ciao". [3]

The song was recorded again in 1998 for the Back in Your Arms album. Minor label Mag Music released that re-recording as a promotional only 12" vinyl single with four mixes in the summer of 1999. Hungarian DJ Sterbinszky released a remix of "Queen of Chinatown" in 2005, using a sample from the original recording. [4] The track reached number five on the Hungarian singles chart. [5] In the same year, German producer DJenetix remixed the track for the various artists compilation Disco Celebration which consisted of contemporary remixes of the hits from the 70s and 80s. [6] The new version was released as a single in 2006. In 2008, Amanda recorded another version of the song for her Amour toujours album, in fact a re-release of the 2006 album With Love .

Music videos

A music video was filmed for the song, for German TV show Musikladen . It presents the singer wearing an oriental dress and holding a hand fan, performing the song with two backup dancers. This music video was released on a 3-DVD box set Das beste aus dem Musikladen Vol. 1 in 2012, together with ten other videos that Lear had made for the show. Another video was filmed for Italian prime time TV show Premiatissima, hosted by Lear in 1982. This video was later used in her television special Ma chi è Amanda?, aired in Italy in February 1983.

Track listings

Charts

Related Research Articles

"Blue Tango" is an instrumental composition by Leroy Anderson, written for orchestra in 1951 and published in 1952. It was later turned into a popular song with lyrics by Mitchell Parish. Numerous artists have since covered "Blue Tango".

Amanda Lear discography consists of eighteen full-length studio albums, thirty-eight compilation albums, two extended plays and seventy-three singles. She has also released one video album and numerous music videos.

<i>Back in Your Arms</i> 1998 studio album by Amanda Lear

Back in Your Arms is an album by French singer Amanda Lear, released in 1998 by Dig It Int'l, consisting mostly of re-recordings of her greatest hits from the 1970s. Originally released on the Italian market, the album was subsequently re-launched in Germany by BMG-Ariola as Amanda '98 – Follow Me Back in My Arms with a revised track listing.

<i>Forever Glam!</i> 2005 greatest hits album by Amanda Lear

Forever Glam! is a greatest hits album by French singer Amanda Lear released in 2005 by Edina Music.

<i>Ieri, oggi</i> 1982 greatest hits album by Amanda Lear

Ieri, oggi is a greatest hits album by French singer Amanda Lear, released in 1982 by Ariola Records.

<i>Super 20</i> 1989 greatest hits album by Amanda Lear

Super 20 is a greatest hits album by French singer Amanda Lear, released in 1989 by Ariola Records.

"Égal" is a song by French singer Amanda Lear released in 1981 by Ariola Records as the single from her album Incognito.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Follow Me (Amanda Lear song)</span> 1978 single by Amanda Lear

"Follow Me" is a song by French singer Amanda Lear released in 1978 by Ariola Records as the lead single from her second album, Sweet Revenge. The song went on to become a multi-million-selling chart success in Continental Europe and remains one of Amanda Lear's trademark hits.

"Diamonds" is a song by the French singer Amanda Lear, released in 1979 by Ariola Records as the second single from her album Diamonds for Breakfast.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Blood and Honey</span> 1976 single by Amanda Lear

"Blood and Honey" is a song performed by French singer Amanda Lear, released as a single in 1976 by Ariola Records and later included on her debut album I Am a Photograph. The song was a chart success in Europe and now remains one of Lear's trademark hits.

"Incredibilmente donna" is a song by French singer Amanda Lear released in 1982 by Ariola Records.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ritmo Salsa</span> 1984 single by Amanda Lear

"Ritmo Salsa" is a song by French singer Amanda Lear released in 1984 by Five Record.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">No Credit Card</span> 1985 single by Amanda Lear

"No Credit Card" is a song by French singer Amanda Lear released in 1985 by Merak Music.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Amanda Lear filmography</span>

Amanda Lear is a French/Vietnamese singer, lyricist, painter, television presenter, actress and former model. She began her professional career as a fashion model in the mid-1960s. Around that time she met the Spanish surrealist painter Salvador Dalí and would remain his closest friend and muse for the next 15 years. From the mid-1970s to the early 1980s, she was a million-album-selling disco queen, mainly in Continental Europe and Scandinavia, signed to Ariola Records. Her best-selling album is Sweet Revenge and her biggest hits include "Blood and Honey", "Tomorrow", "Queen of Chinatown", "Follow Me", "Enigma ", "The Sphinx" and "Fashion Pack".

"Tomorrow" is a song by French singer Amanda Lear from her 1977 album I Am a Photograph, released as a single the same year. The song was a commercial success and remains one of Lear's biggest hits.

"Alphabet" is a song by French singer Amanda Lear, released as a single from her debut album I Am a Photograph in 1977 by Ariola Records.

"Run Baby Run" is a song performed by French singer Amanda Lear from her second album Sweet Revenge, released as a single in 1978 by Ariola Records.

"The Sphinx" is a song by French singer Amanda Lear released in 1978 by Ariola Records as the single from her third album Never Trust a Pretty Face.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Enigma (Give a Bit of Mmh to Me)</span> 1978 single by Amanda Lear

"Enigma (Give a Bit of Mmh to Me)" is a song by French singer Amanda Lear from her second album Sweet Revenge, released as a single in 1978. It was a chart success upon its original release and enjoyed a resurgence of popularity in 2004 after exposure in the Kinder Bueno TV advertisement.

"Gold" is a song by French singer Amanda Lear from her second album Sweet Revenge, released as the single in 1978.

References

  1. ↑ "VIDEOGRAPHY 1977 by Salvo Guercio". amandalear_tv.tripod.com. Archived from the original on June 10, 2004. Retrieved 2013-08-24.
  2. ↑ "VIDEOGRAPHY 1978 by Salvo Guercio". amandalear_tv.tripod.com. Archived from the original on June 10, 2004. Retrieved 2013-09-02.
  3. ↑ "Hit Parade Italia - Top Settimanali Single". www.hitparadeitalia.it (in Italian). Retrieved 2011-04-29.
  4. ↑ "Various - Revival (CD) at Discogs". www.discogs.com. Retrieved 2017-12-24.
  5. ↑ "Hits of the World". Billboard . Nielsen Business Media. 2006-01-21. p. 70. ISSN   0006-2510 . Retrieved 2018-07-14.
  6. ↑ "Various - Disco Celebration – 40 Remixed Hits Of The 70s & 80s (CD) at Discogs". www.discogs.com. Retrieved 2017-12-24.
  7. ↑ "QUEEN OF CHINA-TOWN 1977 Germany". amandalear_singoli.tripod.com. Retrieved 29 April 2011.
  8. ↑ "QUEEN OF CHINA-TOWN 1978 Japan". amandalear_singoli.tripod.com. Retrieved 29 April 2011.
  9. ↑ "Amanda Lear - Queen Of Chinatown (Vinyl) at Discogs". www.discogs.com. 1998. Retrieved 2017-12-22.
  10. ↑ "QUEEN OF CHINATOWN 1998 Italy". amandalear.tripod.com. Archived from the original on September 3, 2004. Retrieved 2013-09-02.
  11. ↑ "DJenetix Feat. Amanda Lear - Queen Of Chinatown 2006 (CD) at Discogs". www.discogs.com. Retrieved 2017-12-24.
  12. ↑ "Discographie Amanda Lear" (in German). austriancharts.at. Retrieved 2009-09-23.
  13. ↑ Pennanen, Timo (2021). "Amanda Lear". Sisältää hitin - 2. laitos Levyt ja esittäjät Suomen musiikkilistoilla 1.1.1960–30.6.2021 (PDF) (in Finnish). Helsinki: Kustannusosakeyhtiö Otava. p. 144. Retrieved 2022-06-29.
  14. ↑ Racca, Guido (2019). M&D Borsa Singoli 1960–2019 (in Italian). ISBN   9781093264906.
  15. ↑ "Amanda Lear" (in German). hitparade.ch. Retrieved 2009-09-23.
  16. ↑ "Offizielle Deutsche Charts" (in German). www.offiziellecharts.de. Retrieved 2017-12-24.
  17. ↑ "Top Annuali Single: 1978" (in Italian). www.hitparadeitalia.it. Retrieved 2013-08-31.
  18. ↑ "Top 100 Single-Jahrescharts" (in German). www.offiziellecharts.de. Retrieved 2017-12-24.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.