Fact #167772
When:
Short story:
The Only Way Is Up by Yazz goes to No. 1 in the UK Singles Chart.
Full article:
Two new female stars arrived in August 1988, and they could hardly have been more different.
Bleached blonde former hairdresser/model/stylist Yasmin Evans married the head of a record label and had a huge No1 hit with a 70s cover version, The Only Way Is Up, under the name Yazz.
Natural brunette and Tufts University graduate with a degree in anthropology, Tracy Chapman paid her dues in the folk clubs of Boston, then had a huge international No1 hit with her own song, Fast Car, under her own name.
Although Yazz seemed to appear from nowhere, she had previously recorded with The Biz, one of the first acts to work with Stock Aitken and Waterman (and one of the few not to get a hit as a result). She had more success as the voice on the Coldcut hit single Doctorin’ The House, and it was the pair of Kiss FM deejays (Matt Black and Jonathan Moore) behind that song who produced Yazz’s hi-NRG version of The Only Way Is Up.
It can’t have done her any harm that her new boyfriend was pop entrepreneur Jazz Summers, who happened to own the label on which the single was released. The single rocketed to No1 at which point, according to Yazz “I just cried. I cried my eyes out. I even cried before I sang the song on Top Of The Pops.”
However, the song caused some disquiet among hardcore clubbers where it was felt that it was symptomatic of the way in which the innovative British dance music scene was being diluted - pandering to the crowd rather than leading it
“Jon (Jonathan Moore) and me thought long and hard about doing The Only Way Is Up,” said Yazz later. “It was one of his favourite songs too. But we just had to do it, and we took a lot of care over it. What more can I say?”
Tracy Chapman was born in Cleveland, Ohio on 30 March 1964 and, by her early teens, had started writing prose, poetry and songs. She won a scholarship to Tufts University and, while there, started performing - first on the streets and then in Boston’s folk café scene to make money to help pay her way.
Just twelve weeks after being spotted and signed to Elektra Records, her song Fast Car was on the charts. “It’s not really about a car at all,” she would explain on stage, “basically it’s about a relationship that doesn’t work out because it’s starting from a wrong place.” Chapman was always reluctant to discuss her songs, sometimes finding it hilarious to be asked what she considered bizarre questions about her lyrics. “Somebody asked me what kind of car it was in that song. I think it was an Aries K car at first, and then it was a Toyota Corolla.”
Although Fast Car was not written directly from her own experience, Chapman had suffered the pain brought about by broken relationships. “I was very aware of the struggles my mother went through,” she revealed, “being a single parent, and a black woman, trying to raise two kids.”
Before long, her debut album was being listed among Elektra’s Top Ten all-time best sellers, alongside six albums by The Eagles. Asked if she was planning to buy an expensive car with her new-found wealth, she laughed and replied, “No. No fast cars. I’ll just fix up my old car. It’s a 1980 Tercel with, like, 99,000 miles on it.”
In January 1995, Q magazine voted Tracy Chapman’s debut album among the 100 Best Albums of All Time and, as recently as 1997 it appeared as one of the selections in The Times’ Ultimate Collection feature.
Tweet this Fact
Bleached blonde former hairdresser/model/stylist Yasmin Evans married the head of a record label and had a huge No1 hit with a 70s cover version, The Only Way Is Up, under the name Yazz.
Natural brunette and Tufts University graduate with a degree in anthropology, Tracy Chapman paid her dues in the folk clubs of Boston, then had a huge international No1 hit with her own song, Fast Car, under her own name.
Although Yazz seemed to appear from nowhere, she had previously recorded with The Biz, one of the first acts to work with Stock Aitken and Waterman (and one of the few not to get a hit as a result). She had more success as the voice on the Coldcut hit single Doctorin’ The House, and it was the pair of Kiss FM deejays (Matt Black and Jonathan Moore) behind that song who produced Yazz’s hi-NRG version of The Only Way Is Up.
It can’t have done her any harm that her new boyfriend was pop entrepreneur Jazz Summers, who happened to own the label on which the single was released. The single rocketed to No1 at which point, according to Yazz “I just cried. I cried my eyes out. I even cried before I sang the song on Top Of The Pops.”
However, the song caused some disquiet among hardcore clubbers where it was felt that it was symptomatic of the way in which the innovative British dance music scene was being diluted - pandering to the crowd rather than leading it
“Jon (Jonathan Moore) and me thought long and hard about doing The Only Way Is Up,” said Yazz later. “It was one of his favourite songs too. But we just had to do it, and we took a lot of care over it. What more can I say?”
Tracy Chapman was born in Cleveland, Ohio on 30 March 1964 and, by her early teens, had started writing prose, poetry and songs. She won a scholarship to Tufts University and, while there, started performing - first on the streets and then in Boston’s folk café scene to make money to help pay her way.
Just twelve weeks after being spotted and signed to Elektra Records, her song Fast Car was on the charts. “It’s not really about a car at all,” she would explain on stage, “basically it’s about a relationship that doesn’t work out because it’s starting from a wrong place.” Chapman was always reluctant to discuss her songs, sometimes finding it hilarious to be asked what she considered bizarre questions about her lyrics. “Somebody asked me what kind of car it was in that song. I think it was an Aries K car at first, and then it was a Toyota Corolla.”
Although Fast Car was not written directly from her own experience, Chapman had suffered the pain brought about by broken relationships. “I was very aware of the struggles my mother went through,” she revealed, “being a single parent, and a black woman, trying to raise two kids.”
Before long, her debut album was being listed among Elektra’s Top Ten all-time best sellers, alongside six albums by The Eagles. Asked if she was planning to buy an expensive car with her new-found wealth, she laughed and replied, “No. No fast cars. I’ll just fix up my old car. It’s a 1980 Tercel with, like, 99,000 miles on it.”
In January 1995, Q magazine voted Tracy Chapman’s debut album among the 100 Best Albums of All Time and, as recently as 1997 it appeared as one of the selections in The Times’ Ultimate Collection feature.