Smorgasbord Blog Magazine – Music Column – The Breakfast Show with William Price King and Sally Cronin – Chart Hits 1983 Part One – Marvin Gaye, Toto, Irene Cara, David Bowie

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 1983 hits which I hope you will enjoy.

News Event: February 11th Single “Total Eclipse of the Heart” sung by Bonnie Tyler and composed by Jim Steinman is released

Marvin Gaye  –  Sexual Healing 

“Sexual Healing,” from the album “Midnight Love,” was Marvin Gaye’s first single after leaving Motown. This was a huge success, hitting #1 on Billboard’s Hot R&B Singles chart and staying there for ten weeks, #1 on Canada’s RPM chart, and peaking at #4 in the UK. An international hit, “Sexual Healing” won two Grammys, one for Best R&B Vocal Performance and the other for Best R&B Instrumental Performance. It received an American Music Award for Favorite Soul and R&B Single. It is listed at #233 on Rolling Stone’s list of 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.

News Events: February 26th Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” album goes #1 and stays #1 for 37 weeks

Toto  –  Africa 

“Africa” was composed by band members David Paich and Jeff Porcaro, and mixed by Grammy-winning engineer Elliot Scheiner. It reached the #1 spot on Billboard’s Hot 100 and was a #1 hit in Canada. It also made it to the top ten in the UK, Ireland, Netherlands, New Zealand, and Switzerland. The video, directed by Steve Barron, features Toto performing in a library.

News Events: April 23rd 28th Eurovision Song Contest: Corinne Hermes for Luxembourg wins singing “Si la vie est cadeau” in Munich

Now time for my first picks from 1983 and I hope you will enjoy my selection.

Irene Cara – Flashdance – What a Feeling

“Flashdance… What a Feeling” is a song from the 1983 film Flashdance with music by Giorgio Moroder and lyrics by Keith Forsey and the song’s performer, Irene Cara.
Their collaboration was the first single to be released from the soundtrack album and received positive reviews.The song spent six weeks at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 and topped the charts around the world. It was awarded Gold certification by the Recording Industry Association of America for sales of one million copies and won the Academy Award and Golden Globe for Best Original Song and earned Cara the Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance. HD Film Tributes

News Event:  June 5th 37th Tony Awards: “Torch Song Trilogy” and “Cats” win

David Bowie – Let’s Dance

“Let’s Dance” is a song recorded by English singer-songwriter David Bowie, released as the title track of his 1983 album Let’s Dance. Written by Bowie and produced by Nile Rodgers of the band Chic, it was released as the lead single from the album in March 1983 and went on to become one of his biggest-selling tracks. The single was one of Bowie’s fastest-selling. It entered the UK Singles Chart at No. 5 on its first week of release, and stayed at the top of the charts for three weeks. Soon afterwards, the single topped the Billboard Hot 100, becoming Bowie’s first (and only) single to top the charts in both the US and the UK. It was also his second and last single to reach No. 1 in the US.  It is one of the 300 best-selling UK singles of all time. David Bowie

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