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Typically Tropical | |
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| Origin | London |
| Genres | Pop, disco |
| Years active | 1974–1981 |
| Labels | Gull Records |
| Past members |
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Typically Tropical were a British band comprising two Trojan Records audio engineers, Jeff Calvert and Max West. [1] They are best known for their 1975 number one hit record "Barbados" [2] and for writing the 1978 disco hit "I Lost My Heart to a Starship Trooper" by Sarah Brightman and Hot Gossip. [3]
After hearing the demo version of "Barbados", recorded in the spring of 1974, David Howell of Gull Records wanted to hear more, but instead Jeff and Max asked for £1500 to finish both "Barbados" and another track they had written, "The Ghost Song", and to record the "Barbados"' B-side, "Sandy". Having agreed, Gull then signed them up for three singles. "Barbados" was finished at the end of 1974, but Gull decided to wait until May 1975 to release it. In August that year it reached number one, and the duo, having performed it on Top of the Pops , decided to write another nine songs for the album Barbados Sky, which was released at the same time as the follow-up single "Rocket Now" (backed with "Hole in the Sky"), and sold around 8000 copies.[ citation needed ]
Opening with "Barbados", the version on the album was slightly different. It began with an additional pre-take-off conversation between Captain Tobias Willcock and Air Traffic Control, whereas the single version begins with the Captain's welcome to his passengers. At the beginning of the single, but not on the album, is the unusual sound of grasshoppers chirruping (which also features at the end of "Rocket Now"), and a dog barking. The album version of the track curtails the single's original ending, fading out earlier.[ citation needed ]
"The Ghost Song" was released as a single in November under the names "Calvert & West" with "Eternity Isle" as the B-side, but as with all their subsequent singles, it did not chart. In May 1976, the third single from the album, "Everybody Plays the Fool", was released. Further singles were released under a variety of names, but also did not chart. The duo's final original single was "Lady D", released in June 1981 on their own label, Whisper, which they had originally set up to release songs by Sarah Brightman (having written the hit "I Lost My Heart to a Starship Trooper" in 1978).
"Barbados" was later successfully covered by the Vengaboys in 1999 as "We're Going to Ibiza". [2]
Typically Tropical sold 381,456 copies of "Barbados" (as of November 2019) compared to the cover, "We're Going to Ibiza" by the Vengaboys which has sold 1,862,451 (as of November 2019).[ citation needed ]
Hot Gossip (1974–1986) was a British television dance troupe and recording group.
Sarah Brightman is an English classical crossover soprano singer and actress.
Vengaboys is a Dutch Eurodance music group based in Rotterdam consisting of lead and female vocalist Kim Sasabone, female vocalist Denise van Rijswijk and male vocalists Robin Pors and Donny Latupeirissa. Created by Dutch producers Wessel van Diepen and Dennis van den Driesschen, the group enjoyed commercial success in the late 1990s. They are best known for their hit singles "We Like to Party", "Boom, Boom, Boom, Boom!!", and "We're Going to Ibiza", the latter two of which topped the UK Singles Chart and have sold an estimated 25 million records worldwide.
The UK singles chart was first compiled in 1969. However, the records and statistics listed here date back to 1952 because the Official Charts Company counts a selected period of the New Musical Express chart and the Record Retailer chart from 1960 to 1969 as predecessors for the period prior to 11 February 1969, where multiples of competing charts coexisted side by side. For example, the BBC compiled its own chart based on an average of the music papers of the time; many songs announced as having reached number one on BBC Radio and Top of the Pops prior to 1969 may not be listed here as chart-toppers since they do not meet the legacy criteria of the Charts Company.
Joanne Ruth Charlotte Accom, mononymously known as Joanne, is an Australian singer and songwriter.
"Sha-La-La-La-La" is a song by Danish glam rock band Walkers. The song was co-written by band members Torben Lendager and Poul Dehnhardt. It entered the Danish charts at number eight in the last week of March 1973, and peaked at number two after three weeks, after which it disappeared from the charts. The song achieved worldwide exposure after being covered by Dutch Eurodance group Vengaboys.
"We're Going to Ibiza!" is a song by Dutch Eurodance group Vengaboys. It was released in March 1999 as the second and final single from their second studio album, The Party Album (1999). Based on Typically Tropical's 1975 number-one hit "Barbados", the song reached number one on the UK Singles Chart in September 1999, becoming the group's second number-one single there. Outside the UK, the song also reached number one in the band's native Netherlands and became a top-five hit in Flanders, Norway, and Sweden.
"Everybody's Somebody's Fool" is a song written by Jack Keller and Howard Greenfield that was a No. 1 hit for Connie Francis in 1960. A polka-style version in German, "Die Liebe ist ein seltsames Spiel", was the first German single recorded and released by Connie Francis, and it reached No. 1 on the single chart in 1960 in West Germany.
"Barbados" is the debut single by British band Typically Tropical, released in May 1975.
"Con te partirò", also known as "Por ti Volare", is an Italian song written by Francesco Sartori (music) and Lucio Quarantotto (lyrics). It was first performed by Andrea Bocelli at the 1995 Sanremo Music Festival and recorded on his album of the same year, Bocelli. The single was first released as an A-side single with "Vivere" in 1995, topping the charts, first in France, where it became one of the best-selling singles of all-time, and then in Belgium, breaking the all-time record sales there.
"Amigos Para Siempre", also called "Amics per sempre" in Catalan, is a song recorded by British soprano Sarah Brightman and Spanish tenor José Carreras, with music composed by Andrew Lloyd Webber and lyrics written by Don Black. It was one of the two official theme songs of the 1992 Summer Olympics held in Barcelona, Spain.
The Platinum Album is the second studio album by Dutch dance group Vengaboys. The album spawned five singles.
"Silver Machine" is a 1972 song by the UK rock group Hawkwind. It was originally released as a single on 9 June 1972, reaching number three on the UK singles chart. The single was re-issued in 1976, again in 1978 reaching number 34 on the UK singles charts, and once again in 1983 reaching number 67 on the UK singles charts. The original mix has been re-released on the remasters version of In Search of Space.
"I Lost My Heart to a Starship Trooper", sometimes cited as "(I Lost My Heart to A) Starship Trooper", is a 1978 single written by Jeff Calvert and Max West of Typically Tropical and performed by Sarah Brightman and the dance troupe Hot Gossip. It was the debut of the 18-year-old Brightman, and reached number six on the UK singles chart.
"Wake Up Everybody" is an R&B song written by John Whitehead, Gene McFadden and Victor Carstarphen.
"Rocket to Uranus" is a 2010 single by the Dutch Eurodance group Vengaboys, although it only charted in their home country. It was released as a single on 4 June 2010 in the Netherlands. In the UK, the track was initially released as a remix on the dance compilation album Clubland 17. It was later released there as a single digitally with no promotion.
Barbados Sky is the first and only LP released by Typically Tropical, released in 1975. It was most famous for its hit single "Barbados". The musicians included top session players Chris Spedding, Roger Coulam, Vic Flick, Joe Moretti, Clem Cattini and Alan Caddy.
"Don't Let the Good Times Fool You" is a song written by Ronald Hellard and Gary S. Paxton. It was recorded and released as a single by American country artist Melba Montgomery in 1975.
"I Love the Way You Love" is a song written by Berry Gordy, Mike Ossman, Al Abrams, and John O'Den and performed by Marv Johnson featuring The Rayber Voices. The single was produced by Berry Gordy.
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