Official Chart Flashback 1984: Frankie Goes To Hollywood - Relax
27.01.2022 - 10:53
/ officialcharts.com
38 years ago this week, Frankie Goes To Hollywood rose to Number 1 with their debut single Relax.
The song, first released in October 1983, had quite the adventure arriving at the top, with a long-winded climb and brief tenancy around the lower reaches, before entering the Top 40 at the start of the year.
The song got its big break when it opened Top Of The Pops’ 20th anniversary show on January 5th 1984, as one of the few new entries in a post-Christmas rundown.
Frankie Goes To Hollywood first formed in 1980 from the ashes of local Liverpudlian act the Sons of Egypt, when singer Holly Johnson got together with Peter ‘Ped’ Gill and Mark O’Toole, and initially a female vocalist, who left after finding herself upstaged by Holly’s longtime friend Paul Rutherford dancing during their performances. The band then took to performing with a pair of dancers called The Leatherpets, who Holly and Paul would, um, tie up during their show. The line-up was completed with the arrival of Brian ‘Nasher’ Nash on guitar, after original guitarist Jed O’Toole left the group.
Frankie recorded a series of radio sessions for the likes of John Peel and were championed by Janice Long, however it was their performance on the TV show The Tube, recorded at the Liverpool State Ballroom. Fortunately watching The Tube that evening was producer Trevor Horn – who was having quite a successful run having recently produced ABC’s landmark The Lexicon of Love album the previous year, and who was looking for turns to sign to his new label Zang Tuum Tumb (ZTT). He tracked the group down and snapped them up in May 1983, after convincing his business partner, and former journalist, Paul Morley that they were the future.
The band then embarked on a somewhat
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