Their creative range inevitably made them harder to categorise for pop markets; after their floor-filling romantic tunes, their brilliantly gritty 1977 album 4 From 8 was initially regarded as a misfire. Eddy says he feels for the guys from the Chants; I look back on it as my apprenticeship but for the guys in the Chants they came out with nothing and now its like we never existed., Hes aware that growing up in Liverpool 8 could have cut down his chances in life, but hes made it. The four promising black soul singers he was managing would have to change their name. If we were going to do anything, wed do it together., The Real Thing were one of the most popular groups of the 1970s in the UK, with five top 10 hits (Credit: Alamy). Begun in 1970 by Chris Amoo, Dave Smith, Kenny Davis and Ray Lake, The Real Thing's live, progressive soul-influenced covers of American hits attracted enoug. This inspiration would pulse throughout The Real Things own compositions. In 2013, his Afghan hound won third place in its class. Instead they became the Real Thing. They showed you can make timeless pop, and still address the realities of urban life. Instead, she's apparently moved on to other pursuits. For further details of our complaints policy and to make a complaint please click this link: thesun.co.uk/editorial-complaints/, The Real Thing star Eddy Amoo has died suddenly aged 74, His bandmates announced the news on social media today, Eddie on stage at Rewind Festival at Scone Palace last July, The Liverpool soul legend had huge hits with the group including Cant Get By Without You and You To Me Are Everything, Independent Press Standards Organisation (IPSO). We never got back to that pinnacle we reached creatively with Can You Feel the Force.. There was the Northern Soul scene (We couldnt relate to that, says Eddy), but the Real Thing found themselves stuck on the chicken-in-a-basket cabaret circuit, performing a frustratingly narrow range of songs (Drifters medleys, old Motown classics). But it also sparked at least one of his kid's careers. They had five top 10 hits, broke into the US charts, and were the most successful black rock and soul act in the UK for the whole of the 1970s. It would have been Eddy's wish for us to carry on and still feel the force.. Songs like Children of the Ghetto proved too much of a stretch for the fans and so the band reverted to plan A: the Star-Wars-inspired, loved-up Can You Feel the Force? Ironically, in retrospect, Eddy feels that as sole songwriters and producers, the band were given too much control over the record; The record company should have made us use a producer. Inspired by his elder sibling, Chris formed his own vocal group, extravagantly-called The Sophisticated Soul Brothers. They werent the hotties my schoolgirl peers supposed. . In March 1984, a single recorded with Debby Bishop was released on EMI. The documentary ends happily, though, with the band on stage recently. Everything: The Real Thing Story (BBC Four) travels back in time to the year when the quartet Chris Amoo, Dave Smith, Kenny Davis and Ray Lake, later joined by Chriss brother Eddie supplied the soundtrack to the hottest summer in living memory. dominica prime minister who married his daughter; angus rowing boat sliding seat; discontinued blue diamond almond flavors; love beauty and planet discontinued. RELATED:Kevin Hart And His Comedian Friends Want You To Meditate With Them. Our dear brother #RayLake passed away exactly 20 years ago today. Died: 2000 due to a drug overdose. But I think that when you have success particularly if you come off the street a lot of people expect different things and you find that you dont change but a lot of people around you do. 6th July 1952) and The Real Thing were one of the most popular groups of the 1970s in the UK. 5 in 1979, the same year that "Boogie Down (Get Funky Now)" hit No. Offer ends Sun 16th Jan. Stock photos, 360 images, vectors and videos. You can get an online thing going now.". Im not the kind of person to turn away, but Id also think of my mother and father; if it was heavy when we were growing up, they had no chance of saying anything.. Cart. The Real Thing represented a huge breakthrough in black British music. . I remember sitting there with Chris one day and I said Can you feel the force? and it just dropped in. The latest movie news, trailers, reviews, and more. But in 1976 the conditions were right for more British soul music to make an impact; in June 1976 it was the turn of the Real Thing to get to hit the top of the charts. Who is Ray Romano's Daughter Alexandra, And What Does She Do? No longer would they be called Vocal Perfection a gift to hostile critics. They brought the Toxteth experience to the music that they were playing; they did it in a social way rather than politically. But the first thing that we noticed at the airport was the signs for whites-only/blacks-only toilets. For other inquiries, Contact Us. We do them everywhere else in the country. They moved to EMI and Plastic Man got the band their first Top of the Pops appearance (it was a song Eddy Amoo had originally written for the Chants). We were writing pieces like the Liverpool Medley (an 11-minute album highlight, comprising Liverpool Eight/ Children Of The Ghetto/ Stanhope Street) because they were close to our hearts, says Amoo. Eddie Amoo (born Edward Robert Amoo, 5 May 1944, Liverpool; Ray Lake (born Raymond Lake, 11 February 1946, Liverpool; died 2000), This page was last edited on 7 January 2023, at 18:22. The hope was that he would help break the band in America; He just had a different sound in mind to what we had and I think the marriage didnt work. A lot of my mates ended up doing time and have come out and have got their lives together and maybe it would have been the same for me. They scored a dance-floor hit, reaching No. Everything The Real Thing Story is in UK cinemas now. The Real Thing were buff before buff was a thing, and looked good in sleeveless waistcoats. The disco explosion was upon us, but the rising interest in black music was further fed by radio; radio crossed over soul ballads and funk, bump & boogie into the mainstream. "You to Me Are Everything (The Decade Remix)" by DJ Froggy, Simon Harris and KC charted twice in the UK, peaking at No. It was alsoNicki Swift that pointed out that per Alexandra's LinkedIn page, she was a marketing and communications manager at Shondaland in Hollywood, at least as of mid-2020. And, thirty years since their first release, they are still playing and recording; when I interviewed Eddy Amoo in July 2002, the band were just about to head off to a gig in Amsterdam. 1 on the UK Singles Chart, No. [5] During the time period, they accumulated eight more British hits. His vocal performances were never used. More like this: - Is this the ultimate comfort song? There were some false steps in their later career. The Real Thing's Children Of The Ghetto has been covered by musicians like Mary J Blige and Courtney Pine (Credit: Alamy) . Stock photos, 360 images, vectors and videos Years active. Meanwhile, as Chris Amoo explains, The Real Things formative sound stemmed from a different side of the inner-city: Toxteth (aka Liverpool 8), a largely black working-class neighbourhood which has been likened to Harlem. Read about our approach to external linking. Chris added after the statement: The fans' outpouring of support makes us realise how much love there is out there for The Real Thing, and we're doing this for them, and for Eddy, who was the greatest showman. THE Real Thing star Eddy Amoo has died aged 74. I think were hearing the legacy of that breakthrough in many acts today., They were the first all-black British band to have a UK number one single, You To Me Are Everything (Credit: Alamy), The Real Thing stood out because they were this amazing R&B band that made pioneering music that was the equal of, if not better then, their American contemporaries, agrees writer/DJ Bill Brewster, co-author of Last Night A DJ Saved My Life. He tells me that Ray Lake from the band died a couple of years ago, reportedly the victim of a drugs overdose. Weve always seen Toxteth as positive; it gave us grounding, and it was one of the safest places, because there was always somebody around., The proximity to the US Air Force base Burtonwood was also significant; Amoo recalls that black US servicemen would socialise in Toxteth in the 60s and early 70s and theyd regularly bring records with them. The Real Thing might have broken America but for the fact that during their US tour with David Essex, three dismal cover versions of You to Me are Everything sullied the Billboard Top 100. Much of their archive footage has been wiped, including that Opportunity Knocks debut (the first time that an all-black group appeared on a UK TV talent show). Lightboxes. The most successful Liverpool-based band of the 1970s, meanwhile, were probably the Real Thing. The follow-up LP was a concept album entitled 4 From 8, containing only self-penned songs including an eleven minute track, Liverpool 8 Medley, a combination of three songs; Children of the Ghetto, Liverpool 8 and Stanhope Street; The LP was totally where we were at and what we were into, says Eddy. The Real Thing's Children Of The Ghetto has been covered by musicians like Mary J Blige and Courtney Pine (Credit: Alamy) . The first four members of the Real Thing Chris Amoo, Ray Lake, Kenny Davis and Dave Smith all grew up together in Liverpool 8, hung out in some of the street gangs of the time, but bit by bit became more interested in singing than fighting. By the end of the 1960s the Merseybeat boom was long gone, although the Chants had survived The bands last release was in 1969, for RCA; a version of I Get the Sweetest Feeling; Youve got to remember the Chants were never part of the Merseybeat scene, says Eddy, We were a group apart really, because we had moved on from that and wed graduated into being an r&b and soul band.. Eddy now lives barely a mile from the house he grew up in Toxteth; and in our interview we were to return a number of times to his memories of the city and Toxteth (or Liverpool 8 as the district was known back in the 1970s, then, as now, home to many people from the citys black community). Pye put a sizeable marketing budget behind the release. Eddy's brother and bandmates paid tribute to their inspiration in a touching post online. 19 Ocak 2023 . Their follow-up, "Can't Get By Without You", did not chart in the US but was still a success in the United Kingdom, where it reached number 2. In fact, not only was his daughter on 'Everybody Loves Raymond' named after Alexandra (the on-screen daughter was Ally), but she also guest-starred as Ally's best friend, Molly. They did appear on New Faces (the TV talent show). The Top of the Pops viewers in our household cheered wildly when the Real Thing knocked the Wurzels off the top of the charts; at last something with a bit of class, something half decent to dance to at the youth club disco. Theyre amazingly under-rated; they also released lots of really good records later on, including street soul on small labels.. ), but Alexandra is very obviously happy with the life she's chosen. We all live in this cauldron of black, white, Chinese, African, Indian., The Beatles had sung about Penny Lane, the Real Thing wrote about Stanhope Street; Stanhope Street was one of the main thoroughfares in Liverpool 8, explains Eddy, When I was a kid wed always seemed to end up walking through the streets and then maybe at ten oclock at night wed all end up on some corner on Stanhope Street getting chips or something like that. Everything: The Real Thing Story (BBC Four) travels back in time to the year when the quartet - Chris Amoo, Dave Smith, Kenny Davis and Ray Lake, later joined by Chris's brother Eddie -. Edyy started his career in The Chants in the 1960s, a band championed by the Beatles' John Lennon. Endearingly, Eddy starts getting excited when I tell him, but then doubts my story; Really? ray lake the real thing daughter . Kenny Davis left the group relatively early on, and member Ray Lake sadly passed away in 2000. In the studio, the Real Thing recorded some songs written and produced by David Essex, among them Watch Out Carolina which is slightly too obviously indebted to Rock On. Much missed.. Clearly, Alexandra is not about the "desk life," as she captioned one of her Instagram posts. Dave Smith. [4][5], As a member of The Real Thing, he had great success with "You to Me Are Everything", "Can't Get By Without You", and "Can You Feel the Force?". Originally named The Sophisticated Soul Brothers, Chris Amoos band took on a savvy manager, Tony Hall (a multi-faceted journalist, promoter and jazz producer), and a snappy new name (The Real Thing was inspired by a famous soft drink advert). He continues to appear as a judge in various dog show events. [13] The song received positive reviews[14] and was included on a greatest hits of 1984 compilation released by Team Records in Indonesia as well as on the album Black Magic.[15]. The Real Thing tour the UK throughout 2020. Real life businesspeople shot on location. After Chris Amoo's brother Eddie joined the band, the Real Thing finally found chart success with the pop-soul single "You to Me Are Everything", which reached No. "We would love to do that, and we most probably will no doubt but it is really difficult. And credit is definitely due. The band consisted of Chris and his friends Dave Smith, Ray Lake and Kenny Davis (and later joined by Edward Ankrah, younger brother of Joe Ankrah, from The Chants). their version dealt with what was going on in Toxteth, Liverpool. One day in 1972, a pop picker called Tony Hall was driving through Piccadilly Circus when he noticed a Coca-Cola billboard. Enterprise. We knew that Ray had problems, but we didnt see them quickly enough, admits Amoo. 66 on Billboard's "Hot 100". James Brown had one of his biggest ever British hits in 1976 with Get Up Offa That Thing. Kenny Davis. The Real Things Children Of The Ghetto has been covered by musicians like Mary J Blige and Courtney Pine (Credit: Alamy). And we were wrong!, The Chants signed to Pye, and released four singles on the label, starting with I Dont Care in 1963. Especially racism; I dont think things are as bad as they were in the early 70s, Eddy believes, But the fact still remains that Liverpool is still a very institutionally racist city. Although because of the advent of social media that does give you an outlet; you dont have to go cap in hand to record companies now in order to get played. On 28 January 2022, the duo released their first album in over 40 years. 28 on Billboard 's R&B Singles chart and No. We were duped about Sun City being separate, in that it was run by black people, he sighs. This was the era that we grew up in; it was almost acceptable, as a joke, you were so used to it, he replies, earnestly. [2] His elder brother Eddie Amoo was also a member of The Real Thing; he died 23 February 2018. Profile: English falsetto vocalist and founding member of The Real Thing. Eddy agrees; We used ghetto as a togetherness term really; that was a part of it, it was poetic, in those terms. Ray Romano's kids mostly stay out of the spotlight, but who is his daughter Alexandra and what does she do? One of these releases was by N-Trance's Kevin O'Toole and Dale Longworth, who covered "So Much Love to Give" under the name of Freeloaders and released it as a single crediting the Real Thing's vocal contribution unlike the earlier French duo's release. Turns out Nelson is right: I do have a problem. It makes sense, though, given her entire family's zest for experiencing and making jokes about everything in life. The Beatles stronghold is unmissable, across numerous tours and landmarks, including a dockside sculpture, where you can snap a selfie with the Fab Four before catching a ferry across the Mersey. 71, remaining for only two weeks. OK, with the Chants we were able to step out of that and make a life for ourselves but a lot of people cant, you know.. ray lake the real thing daughter. Download this stock image: Ray Lake of The Real Thing, London 1977 - 2E3RPDD from Alamy's library of millions of high resolution stock photos, illustrations and vectors. Lane is a writer who loves entertainment and media and watches as many movies as she reads books. This service is provided on News Group Newspapers' Limited's Standard Terms and Conditions in accordance with our Privacy & Cookie Policy.