- Place – UK – USA – Trinidad
- Time – 70’s – 80’s – 90’s
- Artist – Tony Wilson
Tony Wilson
Was born in Trinidad and was involved with music from the age of 16.
He was a member of the group Soul Brothers, who released three singles.
He was a founding member of Hot Chocolate in 1968, and left the band in 1976.
Tony & I
I first met Tony a year or so before he left Hot Chocolate in 1976
You”ll Always Be A friend
Tony Wilson Is without a doubt one of the nicest most unassuming and talented people I have ever worked with.
Tony will be 86 this year (Whatever you may read about his age elsewhere)
He lives happily with his partner Delia in Trinidad, and we speak on a regular basis.
Tony moves to London to try his luck
In the late 60’s Tony lived in Brixton South London and was writing songs along with a couple of friends and as he put it, “We almost had a band.”
I lived in Kennington, near the Oval cricket ground so it was possible Tony and I crossed paths around that time.
He told me years later, he aways came to see the cricket.
I never ventured into the grounds but I would be at every match with my bucket and shammy leather cleaning cars for a shilling each.
Trying hard to further his career in music he managed to meet the successful record producer Derek Lawrence, who had a fantastic knack of spotting new talent but somehow, a great deal of them slipped through his fingers.
Derek had a few hit singles and with his relationship with Ritchie Blackmore, he was invited to produced Blackmore’s new band,Deep Purple’s first three albums. So for Tony this was a great opportunity to break into the business.
I worked with Derek many times during the seventies and he was more a character producer than a musical one.
By that, I mean he would have his feet up on the recording desk telling inflated stories about his time in the business, rather than any real musical input to the session.
Derek sometimes also exaggerated about his friends in the industry.
He told Tony, he would pay for some studio time for Tony and his band mates and then he would play the recordings to his friend John Lennon at Apple.
When the band arrived at the studio and with Derek not in attendance, they decided to record a version of Lennon’s, Give Peace A Chance.
Lawrence was less than thrilled with the recording but the band thought it might impress Lennon.
Derek put the recording on the back burner and kept making excuses such as, Lennon was out of the country.
John – Yoko & the record deal
Tony and his friend Errol, who was then the roadie for the band, decided to go to Apple’s office at 3 Saville Row London, armed with their recording and simply knocked on the door to see if there was anyone who would listen to their tape.
To there surprise some 15 minutes later they were sitting in an office with John and Yoko.
John played the tape and loved it. He asked, “Why did you change the lyrics.”
Tony explained that they couldn’t work out the original words from the hit single, so we made up our own.
Hot Chocolate is born
Lennon smiled then asked “What the name of the band” “We don’t have one,” Errol replied.
Lennon then said, “Go and get a coffee and ask one the girls in reception to come up with a name,” which they did.
They told one of the secretary’s about John’s request.
The young girl took a good look at them both and said, “Hot Chocolate.”
A short while later they returned to Lennon’s office.
Lennon and Yoko loved the name but insisted they added the word BAND.
So the name The Hot Chocolate Band was born.
Errol’s version of the meeting
I believe Errol’s version of the Apple meeting is slightly different from Tony’s version as I think he felt embarrassed about just turning up at the door of Apple.
His version, mentions they wanted to do a cover of Give Peace A Chance but thought he needed Lennon’s permission.
He was then contacted by Lennon.
How?
This is an interesting story but very unlikely with everything that Lennon had going on at that time.
Back to the meeting.
John then surprised them both by saying, The Plastic Ono Band are doing a gig at the Lyceum Ballroom London and they wanted them to perform their version of Give Peace A Chance at the gig.
They were petrified as that was the only song they could perform.
John told them, “There are several other acts on the bill and you’ll just have to do the one song.”
They nervously agreed.
Their version was released on Apple records Cat No 18.
Tony In Hot Chocolate
Apple goes sour
The relationship would be short-lived due to the disagreements within Apple leading to the breakup of the Beatles and the closure of Apple.
So along with the rest of the Apple artist, they were all free to look for alternative recording deals.
Micky Most steps in
Fortunately for the band, Micky Most was waiting in the wings and quickly signed them to his RAK label but instead they drop the word Band from the name.
Hot Chocolate and success.
This would be a very successful move for the band having 10 hit singles along with several hits writing for other artist before Tony decided to leave in 1976
Although, Tony shared lead vocal duties with Brown on Hot Chocolate’s early songs, their writing partnership went far beyond just the hits for Hot Chocolate, gaining covers by many other artists such as Mary Hopkin Herman’s Hermits and Julie Felix.
Tony sung the lead on the first hit single Love Is Life but Micky Most soon made a conscious decision to promoted Errol more and more as the front man, making it appear that H/C was just the backing band for the main artist, which continued until Errol left the band in 1985.
You Sexy Thing
Was recorded sometime before it became the classic it did. But Mickey never saw the potential of this recording.
He did in fact release it as a B side of the H/C single Blue Night.
By the time You Sexy Thing finally became the massive hit that it did. The bands royalties had gone up slightly but Most decided to pay them the old royalty they were earning back when they first recorded it.
Tony leaves H/C
Tony’s real frustration came with some of the songs H/C were recording.
Most’s art, was really all about making and selling outright pop records rather than the little more serious songs, Tony felt they were worthy of.
Tony told me that all those early hits he wrote with Errol really only came to life when Harvey Hinsley (sadly uncredited) came up with those amazing guitar riffs, which gave each song an immediate H/C identifying sound.
Time for a change
Tony decided to leave the band and sign as a solo artist to Albert Grossman’s USA Bearsville record label.
He did invite the rhythm section of the band to join him in his new venture, but they were nervous to leave their stable situation with RAK.
The tough streak of Most continued throughout the life of the band.
When Errol left RAK in 85, the band wanted to find a replacement singer and continue as Hot Chocolate but Most wasn’t interested, knowing his star had left the building.
He did however let the band go and kindly agreed to let them continue to use the name at the cost of Ten thousand pounds.
They had no choice but to agree.
Albert Grossman & Bearsville Records
Albert Grossman is one of those legendary people whose name almost everyone in the music industry recognises although at the same time he maintained a very low profile and avoided the publicity and hype often associated with other record company executives.
He was one of the original directors of the Newport Folk Festival and managed such artists as Bob Dylan, The Band, Peter, Paul & Mary, Janis Joplin, Gordon Lightfoot, Ian and Sylvia, The Paul Butterfield Band, James Cotton, the Electric Flag and others before establishing Bearsville Records, where he spent most of his time overseeing the record company and related operations while gradually adding to and enhancing the artistic community he helped attract to the area.
Tony signs to Bearsville
I recorded Tony’s first album I Like Your Style (1976) at De Lane Lea Studios in Wembley.
We did in fact use the rhythm section of Hot Chocolate.
On completion of the album someone told Micky Most that some of the band were backing Tony on his new album.
With the band still under contract to RAK Most wasn’t too pleased.
With threats of law suits flying. The only option was to record the whole album from scratch.
Taking into account, not only the cost but the time this was going to take It was decided that we would try and just record just the rhythm tracks again with different musicians and keep the vocals and Tony’s bass and various percussion parts.
We did attempt to do this but it was an impossible task.
So we managed to overdub some drum and percussion and various instruments in an effort to hide the original backing tracks, which seem to do the job.
It was impossible to hide the sound of Harvey Hinsley’s wonderful guitar work, but with a few effects we managed to disguise the original sound.
Tony Moves to Bearsville
Once the album was completed some 18 months later, Tony and his family moved to upstate New York to the beautiful town of Bearsville, which was just a mile or so from Woodstock.
Tony and I at his home in Bearsville
Almost everything in Bearsville Albert owned. This included the ten pin bowling alley, local school, the houses where his artists and staff lived.
My family and I stayed with Tony many times.
It was truly a beautiful place buzzing with a laid back music vibe.
Bill Haley and Tony Wilson
In 1979 I was producing an album with Bill Haley and asked Tony if he would write a song for the album.
A few days later he gave me a cassette with a wonderful song called Everyone Can Rock n Roll.
Bill loved the song and it became the title of the album.
I was invited to work as an engineer for Bearsville studios
It wasn’t long before Albert offered me a job at his studio for far more than I was earning back in the UK.
I declined Albert’s offer. I had to explain whilst I loved everything about the place, my wife and I had one major objection.
This was due to the fact that both of our children we so young my wife and I didn’t want them to be witness to some of the violence we had seen.
Albert immediately replied. “We have had only one murder here in the last 11 years.”
I explained the problem is things like the TV. You would be watching a program and it would interrupted without warning with Eye Witness News, reporting live, some major car crash or similar showing close up’s of bodies and the mayhem.
Although he thought we were over reacting he excepted my explanation.
Never-less we enjoyed every stay we had there.
Woodstock
In Woodstock a short drive away was Deanie’s restaurant, the local hang out for families, musicians with a great atmosphere and wonderful food and probably the best Strawberry tarts we have ever eaten to this day.
Deanie’s restaurant postcard:
People that worked for Bearsville Records
During my stays with Tony I got to meet some of the interesting people that worked at the record company.
Ian Kimmet Director of A&R
Ian was Born and raised in Scotland and at the age of 14 began playing in bands.
As a teenager he played guitar behind such artists as Lulu, Nazareth, and Alex Harvey. When it was time to leave school seeing no real future in the music scene in Scotland, a friend took a job in a small studio in London and suggested that Ian come try his luck.
Ian gave up his job and moved to London. After a year as a department store clerk, Kimmet eventually found a position with Feldman’s Music which represented Albert Grossman’s music publishing concerns in London.
Randy Van Warner
During this time Ian met Randy Van Warner, which was the beginning of a long and eventually rewarding relationship.
A short time later Albert Grossman asked Ian to set up an office for him working out of WEA in London, he accepted the position and worked for Albert for the next 21 years
In January 1978 Albert asked Ian to join him in the U.S and Randy came over shortly thereafter and signed to Bearsville
Randy was a funny guy, with a great dark sense of humour, which was good, because otherwise the music would have been too sweet.
Vinnie Fusco
Director of International Operations and Music Publishing
Vinnie was a larger than life character. He was born and raised in New York.
He was a brash salesman kind of a guy, with a voice that would have fitted nicely into the Colombo crime family.
Vinnie became an avid Bob Dylan fan.
After seeing Albert Grossman in Don’t Look Back Vinnie wrote him a letter asking for a job interview.
In July of 79, he and his new wife Jacquelyn arrived in Bearsville and accepted his position at Bearsville Records.
One great but strange night
I had arrived from the UK to stay with Tony armed with Tony and I’s favourite tipple Brandy, unknown to me Tony also had purchased a bottle of the same.
Margaret Tony’s wife told me that Vinnie, his wife and Randy had been invited for dinner that evening along with Ian who unfortunately had prior engagement.
Margaret also told me should Vinnie ask, if I would like to hear his wife sing, it would be a good idea to say polity, perhaps another time.
I had asked why, and Margaret laughingly replied “Well he did once manage Tiny Tim, which might give you an idea.”
Let the evening begin
Everyone arrived on time, with Vinnie accompanied by his wife and a bottle of his favourite liquor, Brandy.
After dinner we all sat in the living room and Vinnie asked Tony to get his guitar so Randy and Tony could sing a few songs.
With Vinnie holding court along with a huge glass of Brandy, he asked Randy and Tony to sing a new song they had just finished called Just When I needed You Most.
This was one of the best ballads I had ever heard.
Although, Tony and I was partaking in a reasonable size Brandy Vinnie was by now, on the second bottle.
Margaret, realising where the evening was going decided to go to bed.
A new art form in singing
Soon after Vinnie said to his wife Jacquelyn “Sing Kenny something” My heart skipped a beat and I really had no defence mechanism in place.
Jacquelyn, declined several times but with Vinnie’s insistence she final agreed.
The room fell silent as she got down on the floor and crouched and curled up with her hands over her head looking somewhat like a frog.
Within a few second’s, she starting squealing making a sound like a Coyote howling.
I could feel Margaret upstairs laughing and thinking to herself, I told you to say no.
Tony and Randy both had their eyes closed, l knew they were doing their best not to break into laughter.
This squealing continued for what seemed like a lifetime but was really only a few minutes.
Vinnie, spoke up “Ok Jacquelyn that’s enough that was great”
Oops,
Jacquelyn rising from the floor in one movement with arms waving in the air like a tree sprouting from the ground and shouted, “Are you for real, I was just tuning up.”
Much to everyones disappointment she continued this presentation, which was more like an exhibition in street art rather than a recognisable rendition of a vocal performance.
Once Jacquelyn finished there was a distinct atmosphere between her and Vinnie and she grabbed her coat and said in a venomous voice, “I’m going to the car are you coming?” Vinnie was opening the last bottle of Brandy and said, “ As Soon as I finish this drink” Jacquelyn left giving Vinnie a look that would kill.
My Turn
I now became the focus of his attention. He wanted me to remix a track for him at the studio.
I declined saying. “I’m on vacation I really don’t want to do any studio work.”
He went on and on until he said, “If you don’t do this you won’t get out of Bearsville alive” I said, “Well it looks like I’m going be here longer than I thought.”
Vinnie followed up by saying. “How do you wanna die?”
Randy spoke up quietly saying, “No problem there you’re gonna boar him to death.”
Randy realising how late it was decided to leave, leaving Tony and I to listen to Vinnie ramble on whilst he finished the last drop of the three bottles of Brandy.
The night turns to day
It was now about six in the morning and seeing his wife asleep in the car we helped Vinnie up and took him to the kitchen door, which led to the garden where his car was parked.
The kitchen door was open and Vinnie said” I’m fine I’m fine.”
So Tony and I stood back as he took one foot forward two feet to the side and walked straight into the kitchen wall knocking everything off the shelves.
We managed to get him to the car and woke Jacquelyn up and put him in the back.
Reading between the lines, I’m not sure Jacquelyn was very happy with him.
Overall is was just an interesting night full of surprises.
The first recording of Just The I Needed You Most
The following morning I wished I had recorded Just When I Needed You Most. on a cassette
So I asked Tony to record me a version that afternoon, which he did.
Please go to https://youtu.be/lMbsM1Q4jvY to hear the Demo
Back to the UK
When I returned to the UK I recorded two versions of the song one with a male vocal and also a female version.
I couldn’t convince anyone this was hit song.
Alan Sizer head of Poyldor A&R told me, ballads are too hard to get radio play.
Randy’s finished record, which had a beautiful autoharp solo played by John Sebastian from the band Lovin Spoonful who was another local living in the area.
When Randy’s version was released and hit the American charts Randy phoned me to say thank you for my belief in the song.
Randy went on to sell millions of records and he had cover versions by many major artist, which turned the song into an all time classic.
I was invited to record Tony’s second album in the USA, but unfortunately I had various other commitments at the same time.
Fate calls a break
Tony and I worked on many various projects together until around 1995 when fate took us both on different paths.
Fate reunites
We reunited about 10 years later, when I found several of our many productions being plagiarised around the World.
I am still at the time of writing this blog chasing a couple of record companies who are using our material without any premiss from us whatsoever.
We still speak a least once a month, but Tony’s interest in music or the music business is zero, on the other hand he enjoys watching World affairs, Cricket and Football, which is part of his everyday life.
The story of the making of the album The Heat Is On Red Stripe, as told in an interview to Ian Shirley for the magazine Record Collector.
I spoke to Tony and went through every question that Ian sent to confirm my memory matched his.
The Heat Is On Album Interview with Record Collector Magazine 2019
Red Stripe is not only one of the greatest beers in the world and brewed in Jamaica but also the name of a label set up by writer/arranger/producer Kenny Denton and Tony Wilson of Hot Chocolate in 1980. The label has generated a number of collectables like the sensational Use My Body/Try Love by Mavis John (UK 1980 Red Stripe SON 2234) that is worth £80.
As well as a number of other singles Red Stripe put out the compilation LP The Heat Is On (1981 Red Stripe SNTF 856) that is worth £60. Denton has recently reissued this LP as well as his famous disco project Nostromo and was gracious enough to talk about the genesis of the Red Stripe and his most recent Alien encounter.
How did The Heat Is On LP originally come about?
The Heat Is On album came out of an idea in early 1980 by my good friend Tony Wilson. Tony was a founder member of Hot Chocolate, and co-wrote many of the early releases with Errol Brown and also sung lead vocal on the first few hits. They also wrote songs for Julie Felix, Mary Hopkin and Herman’s Hermits before releasing their first single as Hot Chocolate, Love Is Life in July 1970.
When did you meet Tony?
I first met Tony at the end of his Hot Chocolate days, when he signed as a solo artist to Albert Grossman’s Bearsville record label. I recorded Tony’s first album I Like Your Style (1976) at De Lane Lea Studios in Wembley. Just after that Tony and his family moved to the beautiful town of Bearsville, which is just a mile or so from Woodstock.
So how did Red Stripe come about?
In early 1980 Tony suggested to me the idea of recording some of the great local talent from his birth place Trinidad. As much as I would have like to record in Trinidad, my work schedule at that time didn’t allow me the time to spend a few months recording there.
At that time I was producing albums in New York, Nashville, Texas, and Sweden. Those were truly busy years. It was decided Tony would take some backing tracks we had made together in the UK and add vocals with various artist there. At the same time Tony recorded several new songs he had written.
Why were records released in the UK and Trinidad?
Tony hooked up with a local record company in Trinidad called Kalinda who owned their own studio with the added addition of a great studio band. He agreed to let the record company have the non-exclusive rights to release the material in Trinidad for a reduction in studio costs. Soon Tony was recording many of his talented friends.
Can you tell me about the track Do You Really Want My Love released in 1980 as both the Trinidad and UK pressing are worth £100 and £70?
Do You Really Want Mave and Dave who were a married couple recorded My Love. Dave was a very successful DJ on radio in Trinidad there. Tony told me he was like the Noel Edmunds of Trinidad! His wife Mavis was a schoolteacher, with the most amazing voice, so she recorded two more solo titles for the album, Use My Body and How Can I Love Again.
Who were some of the other artists who ended up having singles released and featured on the LP?
Jackie Wonder, recorded Too Much Pressure On The Kid and was a compare introducing music acts at a local club in Trinidad and would have his on spot each night singing a few songs.
Oliver Chapman, who recorded two songs was a childhood friend of Tony’s and was in a band called Wildfire, who were very successful in the area. Friction was another band Tony chose to record two titles with, one being the Errol Brown song Like A Rose. Friction was a younger version of Wild fire.
Conrad Waldon was also a childhood friend of Tony’s and last but not least was Neil Lalgee who worked for Kalinda Records he sang on two of the songs, Just The I Needed You Most and I’ll Give You All That You Ask.
What happened next?
Tony returned to the UK and in-between my productions we went back into De Lane Lea in Wembley. Tony invited our good friend Jimmy Chambers (Later of Londonbeat fame) who I had produced a couple of singles with, to add backing vocals and a few musical/percussion overdubs. We then did final mixes and put together the finished album.
Why did you called the label Red Stripe?
We chose Red Stripe because of its obvious connection to Trinidad. The idea at the time was to try and create some attention and sell some product and then bring over all the artists for a tour. Unfortunately the radio stations didn’t share our enthusiasm. We released several singles and of course the album but there was no interest whatsoever
The 7 inch version of Use My Body from 1981 is worth around £80 and is now in circulation on compilations. How did that come about?
I believe this was due to Mavis Johns manager, Margaret Gittens who asked Tony a couple of years ago if she could have the rights of the track Use My Body on a non-non-exclusive basis, which we agreed to under a five year deal.
Margaret then placed the track with, Jeff Swallom, from Cultures of Soul Records and also with David Buttle at Mr Bongo Records.
Use My Body was also pitched and picked up and used in episode 9 of the TV series Looming Towers, which is now showing in the UK on BBC2 on Friday nights.
This has generated even more interest in the album The Heat Is On that led to the reissue.
With this 40th anniversary release I am hoping to create enough interest so I could release a vinyl limited edition of the album.
My idea with Rare Release Records is to continue to make available many recording from the past that may have gone under the radar but are now being sort after.
I found out after this interview the song Use My Body had also been used in two other US TV shows High Fidelity and High Maintenance.
END.
There is an excellent book called Pop Icon: The Tony Wilson Story written by Shawn Randoo
This book takes an in-depth look at Tony’s early years. It is available for sale by contacting Shawn on his Facebook page.
Some of the recordings Tony and I made over the years.
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