Racey

Racey was a British pop group, formed in 1976 in Weston-super-Mare, by singer Phil Fursdon and Clive Wilson. The group was formerly known as Alive 'n' Kickin.

Career

Racey scored a series of hit singles in the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand including "Lay Your Love on Me" and "Some Girls". Their "Smash and Grab" album sold about 500,000 copies worldwide.

The band's hits were written and produced by Mike Chapman and Nicky Chinn. Another Chinn-Chapman song, "Kitty", was reworked and released by Toni Basil as "Mickey" in 1981; it reached Number one on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 and Number 2 in the UK Singles Chart in early 1982.

Racey's first single, "Baby It's You", was penned by Smokie members Chris Norman and Pete Spencer.

Their second single, "Lay Your Love on Me", was the RAK record label's best-selling single, selling about 950,000 copies in the UK alone.

Their third single, "Some Girls", was written for Blondie, for whom Mike Chapman also produced, but was instead given to Racey as a follow-up to "Lay Your Love on Me".

Racey parted company with Chinn and Chapman after "Smash And Grab", and the band split in 1985. Since then two separate groups named Racey exist, one featuring Richard Gower, and the other originally featuring Clive Wilson, Phil Fursdon and Pete Miller, the original bass player of Racey. Miller died of cancer on 6 May 2003.

CDs with re-recordings of the original hits, and new material, are available from both of the present day versions of the group.

Richard Gower appeared in the Countdown Spectacular 2 concert series in Australia between late-August and early-September 2007. He sang 2 songs, they were Lay Your Love On Me, and Some Girls.

Discography

ingles

*"Baby It's You" (1977)
*"Lay Your Love on Me" (1978, UK # 3)
*"Some Girls" (1979, UK # 2)
*"Boy Oh Boy" (1979, UK # 22)
*"Such A Night" (1980)
*"Rest Of My Life" (1980)
*"Runaround_Sue" (1980, UK # 13)
*"Shame" (1980)
*"Little Darlin'" (1981)
*"There's A Party Going On" (1981)
*"Not Too Young To Get Married" (1982)

Albums

*"Smash And Grab" (1979)
*"Some Girls" (1995)
*"Say Wow! Greatest and Latest" (1996)
*"Lay Your Love on Me" (1996)
*"Best of Racey" (2003)
*"The Best of Racey" (2006)

References

* Guinness Book of British Hit Singles - 16th Edition - ISBN 0-85112-190-X

External links

* [http://www.raceywe..com Richard Gower website]
* [http://www.racey.net/index.html Racey official website]
* [http://www.geocities.com/englshkid/racey.htm Racey fan site]