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Shakin' Stevens

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Shakin' Stevens

Shakin' Stevens also known as 'Shaky' (born Michael Barratt, 4 March 1948, in Ely, Cardiff, Wales) is a Platinum selling Welsh rock and roll singer and songwriter, who has the distinction of being the top selling male UK singles artist of the 1980s. His recording career spans more than 35 years, although it was not until 1980 that he saw commercial success in his native land. In the UK alone Stevens has charted no less than 33 top 40 hit singles in the sales charts, making him one of the most charted (and biggest selling) acts of all-time.

Life story

He was the youngest of 11 children born in Ely, South Glamorgan to Jack and May Barratt. His father was a Great War veteran who by 1948 was working in the building trade. The oldest of his siblings were born in the later part of the 1920s, and by the time of his birth some of them were already married and had children of their own. Jack Barratt died in 1972 at the age of 75, while May survived until 1984 and the age of 79.

Shaky married his wife Carole on 7 October 1967 and they have three children. At the time of their marriage, his official occupation was a milkman, and he lived in a flat which formed part of an office block in inner-city Cardiff. The office block was demolished several years later.

He began his career during the mid 1960s, fronting Shakin' Stevens and the Sunsets, managed by Paul 'Legs' Barrett (no relation). The Sunsets were a 1950s-influenced rock'n'roll outfit from Penarth, South Glamorgan. An early break for the band arrived when they were given a support slot for The Rolling Stones in December 1969. Despite landing a recording contract with Parlophone Records the following year, the band found success hard to come by, at least in their native Great Britain, though they had hit singles in other countries. After seven years of constant touring and recording, Shaky left the band in 1977 and gained a lead role in Jack Good's "Elvis!" musical.

Regular TV appearances on the revamped TV show Oh Boy led eventually to his first chart success, a reworked version of a Buck Owens song "Hot Dog", which Owens would go on to re-record using Stevens arrangement which had been created by pedal steel guitar player B.J. Cole.

In 1979, Shaky signed what was to be his most successful management deal with Freya Miller, and in 1981, he had his first UK number 1 with "This Ole House" and would have 10 more songs reach the top 5, including three number 1 hits with "Green Door", "Oh Julie" and "Merry Christmas Everyone", while "You Drive Me Crazy" and "A Love Worth Waiting For" reached number 2 in 1981 and 1984 respectively. His 1984 hit "Teardrops" featured Hank B. Marvin on guitar and Stevens has often featured famous musicians such as Albert Lee, Roger Taylor, Bonnie Tyler and more recently Tony Joe White on his recordings. In the mid 80s, Stevens reunited with former producer Dave Edmunds to record an album Lipstick, Powder and Paint and the Christmas smash Merry Christmas Everyone, which was a number 1 hit over Christmas 1985. Its release was put back one year to avoid coinciding with the runaway success of Band Aid, to which he did not contribute .Not surprisingly, Shaky was not present at Live Aid on 13 July 1985. When the hits stopped being so frequent and the Radio 1 plays were thin on the ground, Shaky's fan club called upon all core club members to march up Oxford Street towards Broadcasting House, with balloons and banners protesting their hero's lack of airplay on RADIO ONE

The hits continued throughout the 1980s and into the early 1990s. Chart successes also included his album Shaky reaching number 1.

It was in the 1990s, however, that Stevens took a lengthy break from recording and was stung by a court ruling requiring a substantial payout to former bandmates the Sunsets - who had , of course, played the instruments and made that great sound in the first place. In 1999, Shaky returned to performing and undertook tours that year and the year following. In 2004, things started to look up for Stevens he had a further platinum CD / DVD album in Denmark and a gold album in South Africa.

In the sitcom I'm Alan Partridge, Stevens' fictional endorsement of Partridge's book Bouncing Back - in which he described it as "lovely stuff" - was supposedly critical to its success.

In 2005, he returned once again to the charts in the United Kingdom, with his greatest hits album The Collection, which reached the UK top 5. That year, he also appeared in the video to Tony Christie's and Peter Kay's #1 hit single "Is This the Way to Amarillo", alongside many other UK stars, including Ronnie Corbett, Jim Bowen, Michael Parkinson and Geoffrey Hayes. He was the winner on the reality television show, Hit Me Baby One More Time. This was quickly followed by a re-release of his cover and his own biggest hit sung in the show, ("Trouble" covering Pink's version) / "This Ole House"), which reached #20 on the UK Singles Chart in June 2005, his 33rd Top 40 hit in the United Kingdom.

In May 2007, Stevens released a brand new album in Denmark entitled Now Listen.

In December 2007, Stevens re-entered the UK charts with a re-issue of Merry Christmas Everyone, 22 years after its original launch making number 22 in the process.

Discography

UK Releases only

Singles

  • "Spirit Of Woodstock" (1970) Parlophone
  • "Sweet Little Rock & Roller" (1972) Polydor
  • "Honey Honey" (1973) Emerald
  • "Jungle Rock" (1976) Mooncrest
  • "Never" (1977) Track
  • "Somebody Touched Me" (1977) Track
  • "Justine" (1978) Track
  • "Treat Her Right" (1978) Epic
  • "Endless Sleep" (1979) Epic
  • "Spooky" (1979) Epic
  • "Hot Dog" (1980) Epic (UK #24)
  • "Hey Mae" (1980) Epic
  • "Marie Marie" (1980) Epic (UK #19, Germany #19, Ireland #28)
  • "Shooting Gallery" (1980) Epic
  • "This Ole House" (1981) Epic (UK #1, Austria #8, Germany #5, Ireland #1, Switzerland #4)
  • "You Drive Me Crazy" (1981) Epic (UK #2, Austria #6, Germany #6, Ireland #1, Switzerland #4, Sweden #9)
  • "Green Door" (1981) Epic (UK #1, Austria #8, Germany #6, Ireland #1, Switzerland #5)
  • "It's Raining" (1981) Epic (UK #10, Austria #11, Germany #13, Ireland #2)
  • "Oh Julie" (1982) Epic (UK #1, Austria #1, Germany #2, Ireland #1, Switzerland #1, Sweden #1)
  • "Shirley" (1982) Epic (UK #6, Austria #4, Germany #7, Ireland #4, Switzerland #4, Sweden #3)
  • "Give Me Your Heart Tonight" (1982) Epic (UK #11, Austria #10, Germany #6, Ireland #5, Switzerland #6, Sweden #19)
  • "I'll Be Satisfied" (1982) Epic (UK #10, Germany #27, Ireland #5)
  • "The Shakin' Stevens EP" (1982) Epic (UK #2, Germany #40, Ireland #2)
  • "It's Late" (1983) Epic (UK #11, Germany #18, Ireland #3)
  • "Cry Just A Little Bit" (1983) Epic (UK #3, Germany #27, Ireland #2 Switzerland #19, US #67)
  • "A Rockin' Good Way" (credited to "Shakey and Bonnie", i.e. Shakin' Stevens and Bonnie Tyler)(1984) Epic (UK #5, Austria #9, Germany #22, Ireland #1, Netherlands #8, Norway #4, Sweden #11, Switzerland #10)
  • "A Love Worth Waiting For" (1984) Epic (UK #2, Austria #13, Germany #26, Ireland #2)
  • "A Letter To You" (1984) Epic (UK #10, Germany #44, Switzerland #21)
  • "Teardrops" (1984) Epic (UK #5, Austria #14, Germany #25, Ireland #5)
  • "Breaking Up My Heart" (1985) Epic (UK #14, Austria #23, Germany #31, Ireland #7)
  • "Lipstick Powder And Paint" (1985) Epic (UK #11, Austria #24, Germany #52, Ireland #11, Switzerland #22)
  • "Merry Christmas Everyone" (1985) Epic (UK #1, Germany #75, Ireland #3)
  • "Turning Away" (1986) Epic (UK #15, Ireland #11)
  • "Because I Love You" (1986) Epic (UK #14, Ireland #13)
  • "A Little Boogie Woogie (In the Back of My Mind) (1987) Epic (UK #12, Ireland #9)
  • "Come See About Me" (1987) Epic (UK #24, Ireland #15)
  • "What Do You Want To Make Those Eyes At Me For" (1987) Epic (UK #5, Ireland #8)
  • "Feel The Need In Me" (1988) Epic (UK #26, Ireland #17)
  • "How Many Tears Can You Hide" (1988) Epic (UK #47)
  • "True Love" (1988) Epic (UK #23)
  • "Jezebel" (1989) Epic (UK #58)
  • "Love Attack" (1989) Epic (UK #28, Ireland #27)
  • "I Might" (1990) Epic (UK #18, Austria #26, Ireland #14)
  • "Yes I Do" (1990) Epic (UK #60)
  • "Pink Champagne" (1990) Epic (UK #59)
  • "My Cutie Cutie" (1990) Epic (UK #75)
  • "The Best Christmas Of Them All" (1990) Epic (UK #19, Ireland #22)
  • "I'll Be Home This Christmas" (1991) Epic (UK #34)
  • "Radio" (1992) (credited to Shakin' Stevens and Roger Taylor) Epic (UK #37)
  • "Trouble"/"This Ole House" (2005) Sony/BMG (UK #20)
  • "Now Listen" (2007) Sony/BMG
  • "Merry Christmas Everyone" (re-entry) (2007) (UK #22)

Albums

  • A Legend (1970) Parlophone - Released On LP & Cassette Only
  • I'm No J.D. (1971) CBS - Released On LP, Cassette & CD
  • Rockin' And Shakin' (1972) Contour - Released On LP, Cassette & CD
  • Shakin' Stevens & The Sunsets (1973) Emerald - Released On LP Only
  • Play Loud (1978) Track - Released On LP & Cassette
  • The Track Years (1979) Media - Released On LP, Cassette & CD
  • Take One (1980) Epic - Released On LP, Cassette & CD
  • Marie Marie (1980) Epic - Released On LP & Cassette
  • This Ole House (1981) Epic - Released On LP, Cassette & CD
  • Shaky - Green Door (1981) Epic - Released On LP, Cassette & CD
  • Hot Dog (1982) Epic - Released On LP & Cassette
  • Give Me Your Heart Tonight (1982) Epic - Released On LP, Cassette & CD
  • The Bop Won't Stop (1983) Epic - Released On LP, Cassette & CD
  • Greatest Hits (1984) Epic - Released On LP, Cassette & CD
  • Lipstick Powder And Paint (1985) Epic - Released On LP, Cassette & CD
  • Let's Boogie (1987) Epic - Released On LP, Cassette & CD
  • A Whole Lotta Shaky (1988) Epic - Released On LP, Cassette & CD
  • There's Two Kinds Of Music...Rock And Roll (1990) Telstar - Released On LP,Cassette,CD,VHS
  • Merry Christmas Everyone (1991) Epic - Released On LP, Cassette & CD
  • The Epic Years (1992) Epic - Released On Cassette, CD, VHS
  • The Singles Collection - The A & B Sides (4 CD Set) Sony/BMG - Released 4 CD Set
  • The Collection (2005) Sony/BMG - Released On CD & DVD
  • Now Listen (2007) Sony/BMG - Released On CD Only

Chart sources

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