Smorgasbord Blog Magazine – Music Column – The Breakfast Show with William Price King and Sally Cronin – Chart Hits 1981 Part One- Luther Vandross, Kenny Rogers, Phil Collins, Dolly Parton

Each week William and I select two top hits from the charts in the US and UK starting with 1960 for two weeks followed by 1961 etc..through to 1985. We will also include some of the notable events in those years for the up and coming stars who were centre stage at the time. We are now in the 1980s.

Welcome to our show and we are excited to share decades of music with you in 2021. Here is my first selection of top 1981 hits which I hope you will enjoy.

News Event:  January 16th John Lennon’s single “Woman” is posthumously released in the UK

Luther Vandross  –  A house is not a home 

“A house is not a home” is from Vandross’ Grammy nominated debut album “Never too much.”  The track, an R&B hit single, is seven minutes long, and became one of Vandross’ signature songs.  His performance of the song at the 1988 NAACP Awards telecast brought Dionne Warwick to tears.  In 2009, Essence magazine included Vandross’ version of this song in their list of the “25 Best Slow Jams of All Time”.

News Event: January 30th 8th American Music Awards: Barbra Streisand & Kenny Rogers win

Kenny Rogers – Lady

“Lady,” an international success, was written by Lionel Richie and released on the album “Kenny Rogers’ Greatest Hits.” It made history becoming the first record of the 1980s to chart on all four of Billboard magazine’s singles charts – Country, Hot 100, Adult Contemporary and Top Soul Singles. It is listed at #60 on Billboard’s All Time Top 100.

News Event:  February 5th Joni Mitchell inducted into the Canadian Hall of Fame

Now time for my first picks from 1981 which would prove to be a spectacular year and I hope you will enjoy my selection.

Phil Collins – In The Air Tonight

“In the Air Tonight” is the debut solo single by the English drummer and singer-songwriter Phil Collins. It was released as the lead single from Collins’s debut solo album, Face Value, in January 1981. The song climbed to No. 2 on the UK Singles chart, but was held off the top spot by the posthumous release of John Lennon’s “Woman”. It reached No. 1 in Austria, Germany, Switzerland and Sweden, and the top 10 in Australia, New Zealand and several other European territories.  Phil Collins

News Event:  April 4th 26th Eurovision Song Contest: Bucks Fizz for United Kingdom wins singing “Making Your Mind Up” in Dublin

Dolly Parton – 9 to 5

“9 to 5” is a song written and originally performed by the American country music entertainer Dolly Parton for the 1980 comedy film of the same name. In addition to appearing on the film soundtrack, the song was the centerpiece of Parton’s album 9 to 5 and Odd Jobs, released in late 1980. The song was released as a single in November 1980. The song garnered Parton an Academy Award nomination and four Grammy Award nominations, winning her the awards for Best Country Song and Best Country Vocal Performance, Female. Dolly Parton

Additional sources: On This Day – Music – Hits of the 70s: Playback FM – Wikipedia

Your Hosts for The Breakfast Show

William Price King is an American jazz singer, crooner, and composer.

His interest in music began at an early age when he studied piano and clarinet in high school. At Morehouse College in Atlanta where he grew up, he sang in the Glee Club and studied classical music. After graduation he went off to the Yale School of Music where he earned a Masters degree. From there he journeyed to New York where he created a jazz trio ‘Au Naturel’ which performed in some of the hottest venues in Manhattan including gigs on Broadway and the famous ‘Rainbow Room.’ These gigs opened doors for performances in Montreal and a European tour.

While touring Europe he met a lovely French lady, Jeanne Maïstre, who, a year later became his wife. King left the group ‘Au Naturel’ and settled in the south of France where he started a new life on the French Riviera, opening his own music school – the “Price King Ecole Internationale de Chant.” He has had the pleasure over the years of seeing many of his students excel as singers on a professional level, and some going on to become national celebrities. He continues to coach young singers today, in his spare time.

Blog– IMPROVISATION – William Price King on Tumblr – Buy William’s music: William Price King iTunes – Facebook – William Price King – Twitter – @wpkofficial
Regular Venue – Cave Wilson

Sally Cronin is an author, blogger and broadcaster who enjoyed four years as part of the team on Onda Cero International’s English speaking morning show in Marbella and then for two years as a presenter on Expressfm the local radio station in Portsmouth. She co-presented two ‘Drive Time’ shows a week with Adrian Knight, hosted the live Thursday Afternoon Show and The Sunday Morning Show guests including musicians and authors. Following this she became Station Director for a local internet television station for two years, producing and presenting the daily news segment, outside broadcasts and co-presenting the Adrian and Sally chat show live on Friday evenings.

She and her husband David have now returned to Ireland where they live on the Wexford Coast where she blogs and continues to write books.

Books :Amazon US – And: Amazon UK – More reviews: Goodreads – blog: Smorgasbord Blog Magazine Twitter: @sgc58 – Facebook: Sally Cronin – LinkedIn: Sally Cronin

Next week 1981 Part Two. We hope you will tune in.. as always we love to hear from you.. thanks William and Sally.