![]() "Then we qualified for Top of the Pops about the beginning of January because of The Tube. It hung around the nether regions of the charts for three months until we did The Tube again, that amazing programme in Tyne Tees up in Newcastle. ![]() Taking a trip down "nostalgia lane," Holly told Sunday Brunch: "In October it will be 40 years since the record was released. Liverpool musician Holly Johnson on Channel 4's Sunday Brunch with hosts Tim Lovejoy and Simon Rimmer (Image: Sunday Brunch/Channel 4) Yesterday, September 24, Channel 4's Sunday Brunch hosts Tim Lovejoy and Simon Rimmer were joined by Holly Johnson, Sam Quek, Richard Blackwood and Susan Wokoma. This year marks 40 years since the release of Relax, as well as 35 years of frontman Holly Johnson's solo number one platinum selling album, Blast. Paula said at the time of filming, the band, "who were not in anyway famous or even discovered or hadn't got a deal or anything," sang their "fantastic song" whilst surrounded by "erotic dancers." Looking back over five series, in a later episode Paul Yates said it was one of the "most memorable" moments on the show. READ MORE: Spot yourself in these classic 051 pictures as famous nightclub returns READ MORE: Decades old Liverpool pub photos brought to life in colour A famous moment on The Tube, the then unsigned bandfirst performed on the show at the now lost State nightclub on Dale Street in February 1983. While on air, The Tube visited Liverpool a number of times to film live performances and interview musicians and artists at the heart of the city. During the decade, for five series, it was The Tube that gave TV and music lovers something they'd never seen before, not only making household names of presenters Jools Holland and the late Paula Yates, but also helping launch the careers of Frankie Goes to Hollywood. That was a gamechanger.Liverpool musician Holly Johnson has shared his fond memories of the early days of Frankie Goes To Hollywood and the 80s scene in the city.įormed in Liverpool as part of the city’s thriving Post Punk scene, Frankie Goes To Hollywood first burst onto the music scene back in the 1980s. The New York Mix made a big difference because it started getting played in clubs. We were getting so many complaints about the Sex Mix, including from gay clubs which found it offensive, that I decided to do another 12-inch, something more ambitious with material that wasn’t on the original. They thought it was disgusting.Ībout a week later, I went to Paradise Garage for the first time. The guys from Foreigner, who didn’t like me much anyway, wanted to see it. Paul sent over the video on VHS cassette. I was in New York working with Foreigner when I realised how risque Relax was. In my imagination, he was among minarets on top of a temple playing to a crowd below as they all moved towards him in time with the music. He came down to do the vocal, and I suggested he play it at the start of Relax. Holly had been blowing his saxophone on the studio roof in Notting Hill at 2am, and a bunch of guys appeared on the street, calling up to him. We put our heads down and got it first take. We had to work for hours to get to a point where we could record it. Steve was playing guitar, Andy keyboards and JJ working the Fairlight. I was working the drum machine and was manually switching between patterns on the fly and singing a guide vocal. I could programme a drum machine perfectly in sync with the piano. This was the first time you could sequence natural sounds, which was a huge step forward. The Fairlight had a programme called Page R. All the work we had put into these different versions suddenly coalesced. Sometimes when you do that and give it one more go, you get lucky. We were all frustrated because it felt like we were going nowhere. On the final single version, I was recording with three brilliant people: Steve Lipson, Andy Richards and JJ Jeczalik. But that's why I hired the Blockheads – I needed to try the track with some other musicians, to see if there was anything else we could do with it. By the time we finished Welcome to the Pleasuredome, he was good. Brian Nash came in, but had only just learned how to play. The original guitarist was the bass player Mark O'Toole's brother, Jed, but he had to leave and get a day job. The band we signed weren't quite the band who had appeared on the original demo, though we didn't know that at the time.
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