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This song has now been a hit for 4 different acts... Samantha's version, her eleventh single in under 3 years, Made No. 16 in February 1989... Dusty Springfield's original made No. 4 in 1964 (and is featured on the fabulous Unforgettable 2 album).In case you were trying to remember, The Tourists and the Bay City Rollers. The latter somehow had the biggest US hit with the song. What I didn't know or had forgotten was that Dusty's original had been re-released in 1988 after its use in a TV commercial; that's presumably how it found its way onto a compilation of Sixties and Seventies hits (nice cross-promotion there, even if they neglected to mention that it also featured the original version of 'Something's Gotten Hold Of My Heart') and may also be why it was chosen as a Sam Fox single.
I'm not entirely sure how aware younger readers might be of Ms Fox, a "glamour" model who became one of Britain's biggest stars by her willingness to pose topless in tabloid newspapers: she began doing so at the age of 16, which one hopes wouldn't happen today. Indeed under current UK law I think it would be illegal to view those early pictures online. Anyway, it may come as more of a surprise how successful a pop star she was, eight of these eleven singles having made the Top 40 and three even the Top 10. Amazingly, she even had several hits in the USA, where presumably few people had seen her breasts in newspapers. The extent of her chart success would seem to imply that she had more going for her than fame and cleavage, and as I recall one or two of her singles were decent, if you'll pardon the phrase. This, admittedly not her biggest success, applies a standard issue Stock Aitken Waterman production to a tried and tested old song and creates something which is serviceable and not the worst version I've ever heard, but not quite what I would call enjoyable either. It was a last payday for co-writer Ivor Raymonde who died the following year, though. And since his son was a member of the Cocteau Twins, that's the closest they get to making a Now album.
Available on: I Wanna Have Some Fun
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