Smorgasbord Blog Magazine – The Breakfast Show with William Price King and Sally Cronin – Chart Hits 1986 Part Two – Peter Gabriel, Billy Ocean, The Bangles, Lionel Richie

Welcome to our show and we are excited to share decades of music with you in 2022.

Here is my second selection of top 1986 hits which I hope you will enjoy.

Peter Gabriel – Sledgehammer

“Sledgehammer” was released as the lead single from the album “So,” produced by Peter Gabriel and Daniel Lanois. It topped the charts in Canada and the US, and reached #4 in the UK. It was Gabriel’s biggest hit in North America and ties with “Games Without Frontiers” as his biggest hit in the UK. The song’s music video won a record nine MTV Video Music Awards and Best British Video. “Sledgehammer” garnered three Grammy nominations for Peter Gabriel for “Best Male Rock Vocal Performance,” “Record of the Year” and “Song of the Year.” In a 2005 poll conducted by Channel 4, the music video was ranked second on their list of the 100 Greatest Pop Videos.

August 25th Warner Bros. releases Paul Simon’s seventh solo album “Graceland”, a blend of pop, African, zydeco, and rock music; wins Grammy for album of the year, 1987 and sells over 16 million copies 

Billy Ocean – When the going gets tough

“When the going gets tough,” penned by Wayne Brathwaite, Barry Eastmond, Mutt Lange, and Billy Ocean, was used as the theme song for the Michael Douglas film “The Jewel of the Nile.” Aided by a video featuring Douglas and co-stars Kathleen Turner and Danny DeVito as lip-syncing back up singers and with DeVito miming the saxophone solo, the song became a major international hit reaching #1 on the UK Singles Chart for four weeks and number two on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart.

October 9th Stage musical “Phantom of the Opera” premieres in London, written by Andrew Lloyd Webber and starring Michael Crawford and Sarah Brightman; runs for 13,629 performances 

Here are my second picks from 1986.

The Bangles – Manic Monday

“Manic Monday” is a song by the American pop rock band the Bangles, and the first single released from their second studio album, Different Light (1986). It was written by American musician Prince using the pseudonym “Christopher” and was originally intended for the group Apollonia 6 in 1984. It became the Bangles’ first hit, reaching No. 2 in the United States and the United Kingdom, as well as in Austria, Canada, Germany, and Ireland, and peaked within the Top 5 in Australia, New Zealand, Norway, and Switzerland. TheBanglesMusic

November 10th Columbia Records releases Bruce Springsteen and the E-Street Band “Live/1975-85”, a 5 LP box set of concert recordings 

Lionel Ritchie Dancing on the Ceiling

“Dancing on the Ceiling” is a song by American recording artist Lionel Richie. It was written by Richie, Mike Frenchik, and Carlos Rios for his third studio album of the same name (1986), Released as the album’s leading single, it became a worldwide hit, reaching the top five in Sweden and Belgium as well as peaking on the top spot on the national singles chart in Norway. It peaked at number two on the Billboard Hot 100 in September 1986. lionelrichie

December 27th “Les Miserables” opens at Kennedy Center, Washington, D.C.

 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 1987 Part One. We hope you will tune in.. as always we love to hear from you.. thanks William and Sally.