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# 91. Ruby Murray - Softly Softly (3 weeks # 1 - 1955)

 

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Ruby Murray was one of the most popular singers in the United Kingdom and Ireland in the 1950s. In 1955 alone, she secured seven Top 10 UK hit singles.

 

Ruby Florence Murray was born on the Donegall Road in south Belfast, Northern Ireland. Her voice's unique sound was partly the result of an operation on her throat in early childhood. She toured as a child singer and first appeared on television at the age of 12, having been spotted by producer Richard Afton. Owing to laws governing children performing, Murray had to delay her start in the entertainment industry. She returned to Belfast and full-time education until she was 14.

 

Again spotted by Afton, she was signed to Columbia and her first single, "Heartbeat", reached number 3 in the UK Singles Chart in December 1954. Afton had offered her the position of resident singer on the BBC's Quite Contrary television show, to replace Joan Regan. "Softly, Softly", her second single, reached number one in early 1955. That same year Murray set a pop-chart record by having five hits in the Top Twenty in one week, a feat unmatched for many years.

 

The 1950s was a busy period for Murray, during which she had her own television show, starred at the London Palladium with Norman Wisdom, appeared in a Royal Command Performance (1955), and toured the world. In a period of 52 weeks, starting in 1955, Murray constantly had at least one single in the UK charts - this at a time when only a Top 20 was listed.

 

She starred with Frankie Howerd and Dennis Price in her only film role as Ruby, in the 1956 farce, A Touch of the Sun. A couple of hits followed later in the decade; "Goodbye Jimmy, Goodbye", a #10 hit in 1959, was her final appearance in the charts. EMI put together a compilation album of her hits on CD in 1989, including songs that regularly featured in her act; "Mr. Wonderful", "Scarlet Ribbons" and "It's the Irish in Me". They updated this with the release of EMI Presents The Magic Of Ruby Murray in 1997, and a triple album, Anthology - The Golden Anniversary Collection in 2005, the 50th anniversary of her peak successes on the charts.

 

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# 90. Martine McCutcheon - Perfect Moment (2 weeks # 1 - 1999)

 

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/c/cc/Perfect_Moment.jpg

 

 

"Perfect Moment" is a song written by Jim Marr and Wendy Page, originally recorded by Polish singer Edyta Gorniak in 1997 but the best known version is by English actress Martine McCutcheon that reached number one in the UK in 1999. It was McCutcheon's first single in which she launched a music career after leaving BBC soap EastEnders. It also reached the top five in Ireland. It is from her album You Me & Us. The music video was filmed in New York City, USA.

 

She released three albums to varying degrees of success, but her pop career stalled due to the poor reception of her third album in 2002. She has since appeared in various television programmes, in films such as Love Actually as 'Natalie', and on stage in My Fair Lady, where her portrayal of Eliza Doolittle won her a Laurence Olivier Award in 2002. She released her autobiography, Who Does She Think She Is? in 2000.

 

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# 89. Aqua - Turn Back Time (1 week - 1998)

 

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"Turn Back Time" is a song by Scandinavian dance-pop group Aqua, released as their seventh single overall, and the third UK release. The single is their third United Kingdom number one. The song featured on the soundtrack for the 1998 film Sliding Doors, and was released across the world the same year. On its May 1998 UK release, the song topped the charts for one week, enough to put them in a small, elite group who see their first three singles all make number one.

 

The song possessed less of a "bubble pop" sound than their other releases, and subsequently gained far more radio airplay than their other releases. The song was slow-paced and showed the full range of Lene Nystrøm Rasted's vocals, while maintaining the Aqua sound. The video for the release contained footage from the Sliding Doors film, and was therefore very different from the previous, comedy videos by the group. There are two different edits of this video, one contains more clips from the film. Much of the video was filmed on the abandoned platform 5 at Holborn tube station.

 

The song samples the Pet Shop Boys' single, "Heart".

 

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# 87. Sandie Shaw - Long Live Love (3 weeks # 1 - 1965)

 

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"Long Live Love" is a Chris Andrews composition which in 1965 afforded Sandie Shaw the second of her three UK #1 hits.

 

Shaw was sufficiently confident in the hit potential of the buoyant "Long Live Love" as to turn down the chance to record "It's Not Unusual", allowing the song to be given to Tom Jones and become his first hit. "Long Live Love" did spend three weeks at No 1 in the UK in June 1965 also affording Shaw a No 1 hit in both Ireland and New Zealand with a No 2 peak attained in South Africa. A Top Ten hit in both the Netherlands (No 7) and Norway (No 8), "Long Live Love" was also a hit in Australia (No 12) and Belgium, reaching No 15 on the latter territory's Dutch language chart.

 

The original English language version of "Long Live Love" was a substantial hit in Canada, peaking at No 6; and in Australia, where it hit No 12. In the USA "Long Live Love" received enough regional attention to return Shaw to the Billboard Hot 100 for the third and last time, with a No 97 peak.

 

In France, Shaw reached No 5 with lyricist Georges Liferman's rendering of "Long Live Love" entitled "Pourvu Que Ça Dure"; at the same time the original "Long Live Love" reached No 32 on the French charts. Shaw also recorded "Long Live Love" for the market in Germany as "Du weißt nichts von deinem Glück"; both the German rendition and English original reached the German Top 30, respective peaks being No 25 ("Du weißt nichts...") and No 28 ("Long Live Love"). The German language version charted higher in Austria (No 5). In 1966 Shaw made a belated Italian rendering of "Long Live Love" entitled "Viva l’amore con te". However the track was relegated to the B-side of "E ti avrò", a recording of the even older "Girl Don't Come", which reached No 11 in the Italian charts.

 

Also in 1966 Shaw rendered "Long Live Love" as "¡Viva el amor!" for an EP released in Spain which also featured renderings of Shaw's UK hits "Girl Don't Come", "Message Understood" and "Tomorrow".

 

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# 86. Peters and Lee - Welcome Home (1 week # 1 - 1973)

 

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"Welcome Home" was a song made popular by Peters and Lee.

 

Originally written by Jean Alphonse Dupre and Stanislas Beldone in French and translated into English by Bryan Blackburn the record was produced by Johnny Franz. Coming after their success in the talent show Opportunity Knocks, Peters and Lee recorded Welcome Home becoming the duo's one and only number one single in the UK spending a single week at the top in July 1973.

 

The song received minor US crossover, appearing on Billboard's Bubbling Under The Hot 100, Country charts, and most notably on the Easy Listening chart, where it peaked at number twenty-six.

 

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# 85. B*Witched - Blame It On The Weatherman (1 week # 1 - 1999)

 

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"Blame It on the Weatherman" is a song by B*Witched, released as the fourth single from their debut album, written and composed by Lene Marlin. Like the other three singles from the album, "Blame It on the Weatherman" reached #1 on the UK Singles Chart. With this B*Witched became, at the time, the first act to have their first four singles all debut at #1 in the UK. Despite success in the UK, it slightly underperformed reaching #9 in Ireland. It became the group's first single to miss the top ten in New Zealand.

 

It was eventually included on the 2003 Charmed soundtrack as a bonus track, having been featured in the season five episode "A Witch's Tail (Part 2)". The song was featured in the general news channel MSNBC as the slogan, "Lean Forward".

 

 

 

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# 84. Sandie Shaw - (There's) Always Something There to Remind Me (3 weeks # 1 - 1964)

 

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British impresario Eve Taylor heard Johnson's version while on a US visit scouting for material for her recent discovery Sandie Shaw, who consequently covered the song for the UK market. Rush-released in September 1964, the song was premiered by Shaw with a performance on Ready Steady Go!, the pop music TV program. Shaw's version reached #1 on the UK charts in three weeks, spending three weeks at #1 in November 1964, and that same month it debuted on the Billboard Hot 100. However, despite reaching the Top Ten in some markets including Detroit and Miami. Shaw's version of failed to best the national showing of the Lou Johnson original; the Hot 100 peak of Shaw's version was #52.

 

A #1 hit in Canada and South Africa, Shaw's version of "...Always Something There to Remind Me" was also a hit in Australia (#16), Ireland (#7) and the Netherlands (#10), the track's success in the latter territory not precluding hit status for the Dutch rendering by Edwin Rutten entitled "Ik moet altijd weer opnieuw aan je denken" (#12). Shaw herself recorded "...Always Something There to Remind Me" in French, as "Toujours Un Coin Qui Me Rappelle", with lyrics by Ralph Bernet, which reached #19 in France. A cover by Eddy Mitchell was more successful, reaching #2 in France in April 1965 and also reaching #3 on Belgium's French-language chart. Shaw made a bid for a German hit as well, rendering "...Always Something There to Remind Me" as "Einmal glücklich sein wie die ander'n". It was not a success.

 

 

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# 83. Pussycat - Mississippi (4 weeks # 1 - 1976)

 

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"Mississippi" was a popular single by Dutch group Pussycat, driven by the three Kowalczyk sisters: Tonny, Betty and Marianne. Written by Werner Theunissen and produced by Eddy Hilberts, "Mississippi" was the sole number one single for Pussycat, spending four weeks at number one on the UK singles chart in October 1976. The song was promoted by John Saunders Hughes in the UK through a Liverpool radio station. The lyrics are about the history of music, how rock music became more popular than country music.

 

It was later followed by "Smile" in 1976, and "Hey Joe" in 1978. Other hits were "If You Ever Come to Amsterdam", "Georgie", "Wet Day in September" and "My Broken Souvenirs". Their career in Europe spanned more than a decade and included some seventeen albums. By 1978 Hans Lutjens had replaced Coumans on drums, as the band continued to release albums and tour, travelling as far afield as South Africa. They made regular appearances on the West German TV series, Musikladen, in the late 1970s and early 1980s.

 

During the 1980s the sisters found it increasingly difficult to finance huge tours with so many musicians, and replaced their backing band with taped music, and thus Pussycat shifted their image one last time. They continued to play and record through to 1985 when they finally disbanded.

 

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# 82. Renee and Renato - Save Your Love (4 weeks # 1 - 1982)

 

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"Save Your Love" is a song which, when performed by duo Renee and Renato, was a UK Number one hit in December 1982. It remained at the top of the chart for four weeks before being knocked off by Phil Collins' "You Can't Hurry Love". The song was written by Johnny Edward (creator and voice of fictional robot TV character Metal Mickey) and his wife Sue.

 

"Save Your Love" entered the UK charts in October 1982 at number 54. However, it began to pick up sales during the Christmas period, and seven weeks after its debut was at the top of the charts, resulting in it being played on Top of the Pops and many radio stations. Renee (whose real name was Hilary Lester), did not appear in the video for "Save Your Love"; instead, she was replaced by a model. The song was a huge hit, but the follow-up "Just One More Kiss", stalled at No. 48 in the charts. The duo went their separate ways.

 

 

Positions (# 81 - 100) :

81. Cheryl Cole - Fight For This Love (2009)

82. Renee and Renato - Save Your Love (1982)

83. Pussycat - Mississippi (1976)

84. Sandie Shaw - (There's) Always Something There to Remind Me (1964)

85. B*Witched - Blame It On The Weatherman (1999)

86. Peters and Lee - Welcome Home (1973)

87. Sandie Shaw - Long Live Love (1965)

88. Spice Girls - Say You'll Be There (1996)

89. Aqua - Turn Back Time (1998)

90. Martine McCutcheon - Perfect Moment (1999)

91. Ruby Murray - Softly Softly (1955)

92. Anne Shelton - Lay Down Your Arms (1956)

93. Steps - Stomp (2000)

94. Jane Morgan - The Day the Rains Came (1959)

95. Katie Melua & Eva Cassidy - What A Wonderful World (2007)

96. Esther and Abi Ofarim - Cinderella Rockefella (1968)

97. Sugababes - About You Now (2007)

98. Tiffany - I Think We're Alone Now (1988)

99. Elton John & Kiki Dee - Don't Go Breaking My Heart (1976)

100. Madonna - Frozen (1998)

 

 

I'm going to bold the ones I like, Alex.

 

That Martin McCutceon song is so awful. :(

 

I'm going to bold the ones I like, Alex.

 

That Martin McCutceon song is so awful. :(

 

I think it's funny you mention that one.

 

It's aural ecstasy compared to Peters and Lee and Renee and Renato.

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# 80. Petula Clark - This Is My Song (2 weeks # 1 - 1967)

 

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"This is My Song" was intended for the film, A Countess from Hong Kong, which Charlie Chaplin wrote and directed. Chaplin saw his film as a throwback to the shipboard romances which were popular in the 1930s and wrote "This Is My Song" with the intent of evoking that era: to reinforce the evocation Chaplin was determined to have Al Jolson sing the song - so determined that he only accepted the advisement that Jolson had died in 1950 when shown a photograph of Jolson's tombstone. Ultimately, the song would be featured in the film only as an instrumental.

 

After being disillusioned in regard to Jolson, Chaplin considered having "This Is My Song" recorded by Petula Clark who had a home in Switzerland near his residence. Clark's husband/manager Claud Wolf - at the time with Clark in Reno NV - received a copy of "This Is My Song" in September 1966 and liked the song which he felt had special potential for success in Germany. However Clark's regular collaborator Tony Hatch was not impressed with the song and refused Wolf's invitation to arrange it for Clark to record; ultimately Ernie Freeman arranged the song and Sonny Burke produced the session - at Western Studios in Los Angeles - in which Clark recorded the song not only in English but in French as "C'est Ma Chanson" (lyrics by Pierre Delanoë who also felt the song a poor choice for Clark), German as "Love, So Heisst Mein Song" (lyrics by Joachim Relin) and Italian as "Cara Felicità" - lyrics by Ciro Bertini). In fact Clark did not wish to record the song in English as she disliked the deliberately old fashioned lyrics which Chaplin refused to modify; however after the translated versions of the song had been recorded there happened to be some time remaining on the session which Burke coaxed Clark to use to record Chaplin's lyrics. The recording session featured the backing of the Wrecking Crew.

 

Clark had assumed her recording of "This Is My Song" with the original quaint Chaplin lyrics would only be used as an album track; on learning of Pye Records plan to release the track as a single she attempted to block its release. Instead, she found herself atop the UK charts for the first time in six years when "This Is My Song" reached #1 on the UK Top Fifty dated 18 February 1967 a position it retained the next week. Certified Silver for sales of 250,000, the total sales of "This Is My Song" in the UK would in fact exceed 500,000.

 

"This is My Song" (in English) is the fourth Petula Clark hit for which she's expressed dislike, the others being "Sailor" - a UK No 1 hit, MONSIEUR a German language No 1 hit which won a gold disc for sales in Germany alone "My Love". However with "This is my song" she actually expresses her then belief that it was not commercial, she clearly has great affection for the song. She actually loathes the other three and sings them rarely. Usually if she sings these three she either includes a snatch in a medley or makes a comedy of them.

 

Petula Clark's "This Is My Song" was #1 for four weeks in Ireland and six weeks in Australia, with #1 rankings also achieved in Rhodesia, South Africa and on the Dutch charts for both the Netherlands and Belgium. "This Is My Song" also earned hit status in New Zealand (#15) and Norway (#6).

 

In its North American single release - which omitted the opening lyrical section, following the instrumental introduction, due to the length of the song, - "This Is My Song" reached #3 in the U.S. and #4 in Canada; the single was certified a Gold record for sales of one million units in the US. The These Are My Songs album peaked at #27 US becoming Clark's second - and final - US Top 30 album (Downtown at #21 would remain Clark's top ranking US album).

 

"C'est Ma Chanson" reached #1 in France and #3 on the chart for Belgium's French-speaking sector, also reaching #10 on Belgium's Dutch chart where the English version had hit #1; total sales of the French language version were reported as 500,000. In Germany, the English version competed with the German language version with the former more successful, reaching #16 while "Love, So Heisst Mein Song" peaked at #23. In Italy the rendering "Cara Felicità" reached #23.

 

 

 

 

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# 79. Nancy Sinatra & Frank Sinatra - Somethin' Stupid (2 weeks # 1 - 1967)

 

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"Somethin' Stupid" is a song written by C. Carson Parks and originally recorded in 1966 by Parks and his wife Gaile Foote, as "Carson and Gaile".

 

The most successful and best known version of the song was issued as a single by Nancy Sinatra & Frank Sinatra and subsequently appeared on Frank's album The World We Knew. Frank had played Parks' recording to his daughter's producer, Lee Hazlewood, who recalled "He asked me, 'Do you like it?' and I said, 'I love it, and if you don't sing it with Nancy, I will.' He said, 'We're gonna do it, book a studio.'" Their rendition was recorded on February 1, 1967. Al Casey played guitar on the recording. Hazlewood and Jimmy Bowen were listed as the producers of the single, with arrangement by Billy Strange.

 

The single spent four weeks at #1 on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart and nine weeks atop the easy listening (now adult contemporary) chart, becoming Frank's second gold single as certified by the RIAA and Nancy's third. It was the first and only instance of a father-daughter number-one song in America. The single also reached #1 on the UK Singles Chart the same year. Because of the song's intimate nature, this single is sometimes unofficially referred to as "The Incest Song".

 

How high will be Robbie & Nicole version in this countdown?

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# 78. Holly Valance - Kiss Kiss (1 week # 1 - 2002)

 

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"Kiss Kiss" is the debut single by American recording artist Stella Soleil. The single is a cover/remake of the Turkish song "Simarik" by Tarkan. The English version was written by Juliette Jaimes, Sezen Aksu, Tarkan, and Steve Welton-Jaimes. The single was released to mainstream radio in April 2001. The single was also released in regions of Europe, excluding the UK.

 

Australian singer Holly Valance made another cover in 2002, but unlike Soleil's version, Valance's cover does not follow identically to the original version. Soleil's version even features the original sound effect for the "kiss" in the song.

 

The single also debuted at number-one in the UK on 5 May 2002, selling 143,408 copies in its first week.

 

The song made its debut on the Australian ARIA Charts and UK Singles Chart at number one, it was Valance's first number one single. It went to spent nine weeks in the ARIA Charts top ten, thirteen weeks in the top twenty and a total of seventeen weeks in the top fifty. In countries like Ireland, Italy, Taiwan and Finland the song went to peak in the top ten. It also reached the Top 20 in Austria, Greece, Sweden, Germany, Japan, New Zealand, Switzerland and Denmark. It was certified Platinum by the ARIA and Gold by the BPI.

 

 

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I think it's funny you mention that one.

It's aural ecstasy compared to Peters and Lee and Renee and Renato.

 

Both songs are miles better, than 90 % chart music in last 3 years.

 

All The Things She Said for Number 1 - by the way.

 

Even not in top 100. :)

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