Wow there are now only seven big sleeps until the fat, weird, beardy bastard in red jams himself in your chimney. If that sounds like a double entendre or euphemism it wasn’t supposed to ok. Any it’s December 18th and day 18 of this years ABC of British bands advent calendar blog posts. That means we are at the letter ‘R’, would you like to know what is behind the little cardboard flap today? Okay then I’ll put you out of your misery, it’s Racey!
The bands was formed in Weston-super-Mare in the mid 70s by Phil Fursdon and Clive Wilson. Their first single was “Baby It’s You” in 1977 it was written by Chris Norman and Pete Spencer off of Smokie. Racey were signed to Mickie Most‘s RAK Records and their first hit, like many on that label, was written by Nicky Chinn and Mike Chapman. It was a big hit reaching number 3 in the UK chart, number 2 in Ireland and number 1 in Australia.
The follow-up was “Some Girls”, a song that was originally written by Nicky Chinn and Mike Chapman for Blondie who were being produced by Mike Chapman at the time. Both songs were produced by Mickie Most. “Some Girls” fared even better than “Lay Your Love On me” reaching number 2 in the UK, number 2 in Ireland and number 1 in both Australia and South Africa. The band had one more UK top 20 hit before they broke up in 1985. That was in 1980 and it was a cover of the classic rock ‘n’ roll tune originally by Dion and the Belmonts; “Runaround Sue”. On their 1979 album ‘Smash And Grab’ the band recorded a Chinn- Chapman composition called “Kitty”. this later went on to be recorded under the title “Mickey” which was a big hit for Toni Basil in 1982. Now take some time to relive the late 70s and early 80s when Racey were at their peak.
With Just A Hint Of Mayhem 