Smorgasbord Blog Magazine – Music Column – The Breakfast Show with William Price King and Sally Cronin – Chart Hits 1982 Part Two – Aretha Franklin, Joan Jett and the Blackhearts, Joe Cocker and Jennifer Warnes, Dionne Warwick

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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 second selection of top 1982 hits which I hope you will enjoy.

News Event: July 27 Alan Menken and Howard Ashman’s musical “Little Shop of Horrors” opens Off-Broadway at the Orpheum Theatre in NYC

Aretha Franklin  –  Jump to it 

“Jump to it,” produced by Luther Vandross, was Aretha’s tenth #1 R&B album (a record at the time), enjoying seven weeks in Billboard’s top R&B spot and was hailed as a comeback album since it gave her her first gold record and Top 40 Pop single since 1976. The song was nominated for a Grammy Award and the album itself won the American Music Award for Best Soul Album.

News Event: October 1st Marvin Gaye releases his last studio album “Midnight Love” featuring single “Sexual Healing”

Joan Jett and the Blackhearts  –  I love rock ‘n roll

“I love rock ‘n roll,” penned by Alan Merrill and Jake Hooker, was originally recorded by the Arrows in 1975.  Joan Jett and the Blackhearts made the song famous, reaching #1 on Billboard’s Hot 100 and becoming the 3rd biggest selling single in 1982.  It is ranked at #491 in Rolling Stone’s 500 Greatest Song of All Time, and #56 in Billboard’s Greatest Songs of All Time.  It was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2016.

News Event: October 11th 16th Country Music Association Award: Willie Nelson & Ricky Skagg

Now time for my second picks from 1982 and I hope you will enjoy my selection.

Joe Cocker and Jennifer Warnes – Up Where We Belong

“Up Where We Belong” is a song written by Jack Nitzsche, Buffy Sainte-Marie and Will Jennings that was recorded by Joe Cocker and Jennifer Warnes for the 1982 film An Officer and a Gentleman. The song reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 in the US and topped the charts in several other countries. It also sold more than one million copies in the US and was recognized by the Recording Industry Association of America as one of the Songs of the Century. Cocker and Warnes were awarded the Grammy for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals, and Nitzsche, Sainte-Marie, and Jennings won both the Academy Award and Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song. fkwk101

News Events: November 30th “Thriller”, 6th studio album by Michael Jackson is released (Grammy Award Album of the Year 1984, best-selling album of all time, Billboard Album of the Year 1983)

Dionne Warwick – Heartbreaker

“Heartbreaker” is a single by American pop and soul singer Dionne Warwick from her album Heartbreaker (1982). The song was written by Barry, Robin and Maurice Gibb of the Bee Gees, with Barry Gibb’s backing vocal being heard on the chorus. Warwick admitted in The Billboard Book of Number One Adult Contemporary Hits by Wesley Hyatt that she was not fond of “Heartbreaker” (regarding the song’s international popularity, she quipped, “I cried all the way to the bank”), but recorded it because she trusted the Bee Gees’ judgment that it would be a hit. It turned out to be Warwick’s most successful solo hit of the 1980s. Dionne Warwick

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 1983 Part One. We hope you will tune in.. as always we love to hear from you.. thanks William and Sally.

82 thoughts on “Smorgasbord Blog Magazine – Music Column – The Breakfast Show with William Price King and Sally Cronin – Chart Hits 1982 Part Two – Aretha Franklin, Joan Jett and the Blackhearts, Joe Cocker and Jennifer Warnes, Dionne Warwick”

  1. Great choices, William and Sally. I loved (love) Joe Cocker’s voice and have always had a thing for rough voices. But the four have wonderfully personal and unique voices. Thanks for sharing!

    Liked by 1 person

  3. Pingback: Smorgasbord Blog Magazine Weekly Round Up.. 14th – 20th November 2021 – Boosters, Thanksgiving, Hits 1982, Green Kitchen, Ghosts, Book Reviews, Bloggers, Health and Humour | Smorgasbord Blog Magazine

  4. I had forgotten Joe Cocker and Jennifer Warnes did that wonderful song for the movie An Officer and a Gentleman. Thank you!! On a side note, Hubby went through OCS, just like in the movie. He was shocked that every word the Detailer said to the new recruits were exactly what he heard.

    Liked by 1 person

  5. A fabulous collection again, William and Sally. Brings back many memories, Joe Cocker, a giant of a star. Joan Jet, well, that song is a classic now. Aretha, gosh! What a megastar, right from the early days such a special talent. Dionne, yep, another one. We were very lucky to have been treated to a private performance by Dionne in San Francisco back in the mid-1990s at a record company convention dinner, she was there with Burt B and we were feet from her as she sang her hits and Burt played the piano. They later came to our table to chat with their friends from the record company (shared same one), and with everyone. It was magic. They don’t make stars like these anymore. But we were lucky to have enjoyed the best over the decades. Thanks for the memories, both xx

    Liked by 1 person

  8. Thanks for this week’s choices. My favourite song out of the four is ‘I Love Rock ‘N Roll’.
    Listening to ‘Up Where We Belong’ brought back memories of going to see An Officer and a Gentleman at the cinema, and weeping through the last scene! 🙂

    Liked by 1 person

  12. I also love Up Were We Belong and the video. A great song and a super movie. I’ve been to the place part of it was filmed at. And of course I love anything by Dionne. Thanks so much for the great memories once again.

    Liked by 2 people

  15. My Tuesday morning starts with a few more good tunes to listen to.
    Today’s were a little more reflective.
    My computer certainly needs to get itself into action today, but luckily I could listen on my phone while my computer continued to update itself.
    Took ages.!
    Computers!
    Now I have to put it to sleep while I wake myself up at Zumba.
    Thank you for today’s music 🎵

    Liked by 1 person

  16. Hard to imagine I Love Rock and Roll has been around that long. My favorite of these four was the duet by Joe and Jennifer. I find it interesting that I usually like two voices that go together so well, but in this case, who else sounds like Joe Cocker?

    Liked by 2 people

  19. I remember all three songs very well, except for “Jump to It.” I’d never heard it before. It must not have been on the playlist of the radio station I listened to on my endless 1982 commutes.

    Liked by 1 person

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