Smorgasbord Blog Magazine – Music Column – The Breakfast Show with William Price King and Sally Cronin – Chart Hits 1985 Part One – Sade, Whitney Houston, Huey Lewis & The News, Jefferson Starship

We hope you enjoyed your Christmas and if you are planning a party for New Year perhaps this week’s selection of hits from 1985 might make it on to your playlist.

 Here is my first selection of top 1985 hits which I hope you will enjoy.

New Event: January 28th Charity single “We Are the World” is recorded by supergroup USA for Africa (Michael Jackson, Lionel Richie, Quincy Jones, Bruce Springsteen, Stevie Wonder, and other pop stars)

Sade  –  Smooth Operator 

“Smooth Operator,” a smooth jazz piece from Sade’s debut album “Diamond Life,” was their first top-10 entry in the US, peaking at #5 on Billboard’s Hot 100 where it spent 13 weeks in the top 40, and also topped the Billboard Adult Contemporary chart for two weeks. It was the English band’s third single in the UK where it peaked at #19 on the UK Singles chart. “Smooth Operator” was nominated for the “MTV Video Music Award for Best New Artist,” and the “MTV Video Music Award for Best Female Video.” The song is about a fashionable con-man who is popular with women, and breaks many hearts in high class social circles.

News Event: February 14th “Whitney Houston” debut album by Whitney Houston is released (Grammy Award Best Pop Vocal Performance, Female 1986, Billboard Album of Year 1986)

Whitney Houston –  Saving all my love for you

“Saving all my love for you” was penned by Michael Masser and Gerry Goffin and was Whitney’s first song to top the Billboard Hot 100. It also peaked at #1 in both the UK and Ireland and became a major hit worldwide. Houston won the Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance and the American Music Award for Favorite R&B/Soul Video with this song

News Event: May 8th 20th Academy of Country Music Awards: Alabama, George Strait, and Reba McEntire win

Now time for my first picks from 1985 and tracks that have stood the test of time.

Huey Lewis & The News – The Power of Love

“The Power of Love” is a 1985 single by Huey Lewis and the News, written for and featured in the 1985 blockbuster film Back to the Future. The song became the band’s first number-one hit on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 and their second number-one hit on the U.S. It was a top ten hit on the Official UK Singles Chart. The song is included alongside “Back in Time” on the film’s soundtrack.  hueylewisofficial

News Event: July 13th “Live Aid” concerts held at both Wembley Stadium (London) and John F. Kennedy Stadium (Philadelphia) raises over $70 million for African famine relief

Jefferson Starship – We Built this City

“We Built This City” is a 1985 song by American rock band Starship. It was released as their debut single on their album Knee Deep in the Hoopla. The song peaked at number one on the Billboard Hot 100. Outside the United States, “We Built This City” topped the charts in Australia and Canada, peaked inside the top ten of the charts in Germany, the Republic of Ireland, Sweden and Switzerland, the top twenty of the charts in Belgium, New Zealand and the United Kingdom, and the top thirty of the charts in Austria and the Netherlands. Not all the critics were fans, but I like the song and still play today. Starship

Additional sources: On This Day – Music – Hits of the 80s: 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 1985 Part Two. We hope you will tune in.. as always we love to hear from you.. thanks William and Sally.