Monday, July 2, 2018

Musical Monday - Together We Are Beautiful by Fern Kinney


#1 on the Billboard Hot 100: Never.
#1 on the Cash Box Top 100: Never.
#1 on the U.K. Chart: March 15, 1980.

By 1980, disco was essentially dead in the United States. Popular sentiment had tu7rned against the music genre, with the most notable event in killing it off being the "Disco Demolition Night" promotion run by the Chicago White Sox on July 12, 1979. There were a few dying embers that cropped up here and there, but for the most part disco didn't survive the 1970s in the United States.

In the U.K. and the rest of Europe, on the other hand, disco hung around for far longer, and artists like Fern Kinney were the beneficiaries. This disco-ish song reached #1 on the U.K. chart in 1980, but didn't even touch the U.S. charts. Kinney's best performing single was Groove Me, which reached number six on the Billboard dance chart, but had little impact on the Billboard Hot 100, topping out at number twenty-six.

Kinney is also an example of a black performer from the United States who had to leave the country to find success. Though her music was mostly met with indifference in the U.S., she fared much better overseas, most notably with this song which was a big hit in both Australia and the U.K.

Previous Musical Monday: Longer by Dan Fogelberg
Subsequent Musical Monday: Going Underground/Dreams of Children by the Jam

Previous #1 on the U.K. Chart: Atomic by Blondie
Subsequent #1 on the U.K. Chart: Going Underground/Dreams of Children by the Jam

List of #1 Singles from the Billboard Hot 100 for 1980-1989
List of #1 Singles from the Cash Box Top 100 for 1980-1989
List of #1 Singles on the U.K. Chart for 1980-1989

Fern Kinney     1980s Project     Musical Monday     Home

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