Liquid Gold

Liquid Gold
Origin	Brackley, England, United Kingdom
Genres	disco, pop rock
Years active	1977-1984
Labels	Polo Records Ltd
Past members
Ellie Hope Ray Knott Syd Twynham Wally Rothe Tom Marshall Franco Morruzzi

Liquid Gold was an English disco group, from Brackley in Northamptonshire. Their biggest success came in 1980 with Dance Yourself Dizzy, which peaked at number two on the UK chart.^[1][2]

Career

Liquid Gold was formed by Ray Knott and Ellie Hope, who had met auditioning to play in Babe Ruth, a group that released four albums between 1972 and 1975. Both of them worked on the band's last album, Kid Stuff. They then recruited Wally Rothe (and Syd Twynham under the name Dream Coupe; after a few shows they signed to Creole Records, a Polo Records subsidiary, and changed their name to Liquid Gold.^{[3][dead link]}

Their first single, "Anyway You Do It", was released in October 1978. It narrowly missed the Top 40 in the UK Singles Chart, peaking at #41,^[2] but resulted in their being transferred to Polo for their next release, "My Baby's Baby". A remixed version of the song was concurrently released by Parachute Records in the United States and became a hit, reaching #5 on the US Billboard Hot Dance Club Play chart, and #45 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1979.^[4] Despite their success in the US, however, they never toured there.^[3]

At home, their next single was "Mr. Groovy", which did not chart; it was quickly followed with "Dance Yourself Dizzy", which became their biggest UK hit, peaking at #2 on the UK chart in 1980.^[1] The song also reached #26 on the US Hot Dance Club Play chart.^[4] Their next single, "Substitute", peaked at #8 in the UK in the summer of 1980. Their final UK Top 40 entry was "The Night, the Wine, and the Roses", which hit #32 late in the year.^[1]

In March 1981, the single "Don't Panic" was released, and it was also entered into the Song For Europe contest to pick the UK's entry for the Eurovision Song Contest 1981. The song did not gain enough votes to win. The following year saw the release of the singles "Where Did We Go Wrong" (UK #56)^[2] and "Turn the Table". In 1983, Rothe quit the band, and Twynham left soon after. With the smaller line-up, they released one final single that year, "What's She Got". They disbanded shortly afterwards.

All of their songs were produced, arranged, written, and engineered by Adrian Baker.

"Synth and Strings", a 1999 UK chart hit by Yomanda, was based around a sample from "Dance Yourself Dizzy". In 2008, "Dance Yourself Dizzy" remixes were released on a 12" single with bonus CD, and digital download.

Members

• Wally Rothe, otherwise known as Eddie Rothe - drums
• Ray Knott - bass
• Syd Twynham - guitar
• Ellie Hope - vocals

References

1. ^ ^{a b c} Search for "Liquid Gold" performed at EveryHit.com database on March 31, 2008.
2. ^ ^{a b c} Roberts, David (2006). British Hit Singles & Albums (19th ed.). London: Guinness World Records Limited. p. 323. ISBN 1-904994-10-5. 
3. ^ ^{a b} Ellie Hope/Liquid Gold at discomuseum.com
4. ^ ^{a b} Chart Positions, Allmusic.com

Preceded by Maggie Moone

OGAE Second Chance Contest winner Retrospective 1981

Succeeded by The Millionaires