Smorgasbord Blog Magazine – Music Column – The Breakfast Show with William Price King and Sally Cronin – Chart Hits 1984 Part One – Prince and The Revolution, Bruce Springsteen, Phil Collins, Van Halen

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 1984 hits which I hope you will enjoy.

News Event: January 16th 11th American Music Awards: Pat Benatar and Michael Jackson win

Prince & The Revolution  –  When doves cry

“When doves cry” was the lead single from the album “Purple Rain” and Prince’s first #1 song on the Billboard Hot 100, where it remained for five weeks and was classified as the top-selling single of 1984. It ranked #1 on the Billboard Year-End Hot 100 singles, #52 on Rolling Stone’s list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time and is included in The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll. According to the website “Acclaimed Music,” it is the 31st most celebrated song in popular music.

News Event: February 14th Britain’s Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean famously dominate the ice dancing at the Sarajevo Winter Olympics; perform to Maurice Ravel’s “Bolero” in free dance routine; record 9-of-9 perfect scores for artistic impression

Bruce Springsteen – Dancing in the dark

“Dancing in the dark” was the first single from the album “Born in the U.S.A.” and spent four weeks at #2 on the Billboard Hot 100. A worldwide success, it became Australia’s best selling single of 1984 and peaked at #1 in both Belgium and the Netherlands while becoming a top ten hit in seven other countries. It is listed among the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll and was voted “Song of the Year” in the 1984 Rolling Stone readers poll. Springsteen won his first Grammy Award for this song for Best Rock Vocal Performance in 1985

News Event: March 21st Part of Central Park in New York City is named Strawberry Fields honoring John Lennon

Now time for my first picks from 1984 and I hope you will enjoy my selection.

Phil Collins – Against All Odds (Take a Look At Me Now)

“Against All Odds (Take a Look at Me Now)” (also titled “Against All Odds”) is a song by English drummer, singer and songwriter Phil Collins. It was recorded for the soundtrack to the 1984 film of the same name. The single reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the United States, the first of seven US No. 1’s for Collins in his solo career.”Against All Odds (Take a Look At Me Now)” also topped the charts in Canada, Ireland, and Norway, while peaking at No. 2 in the United Kingdom. VeryMusicChannel

News Event: May 2nd Stephen Sondheim’s musical “Sunday in the Park with George”, a fictionalized version of painter Georges Seurat’s relationship with his grandson, starring Mandy Patinkin, opens at Booth Theater, NYC; runs for 604 performances

Van Halen – Jump

“Jump” is a song by American rock band Van Halen. It was released in December 1983 as the lead single from their album 1984. It is Van Halen’s most successful single, reaching number 1 on the US Billboard Hot 100.[1] The song differs from earlier Van Halen songs in that it is driven by a keyboard line, although the song does contain a guitar solo. David Lee Roth dedicated the song to martial artist Benny “The Jet” Urquidez, of whom he was a student. VHTelevision

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 1984 Part Two. We hope you will tune in.. as always we love to hear from you.. thanks William and Sally.