THE 1000 BEST SONGS IN THE WORLD EVER.

528-The Real Thing-You to Me Are Everything.

1976-Number 1 single.

Best Bit-At 0.57. Everybody knows about ‘Mersey Beat,’ but here’s some classic ‘Mersey Disco/Soul.’

The Real Thing were formed in 1970, in Liverpool, England by Chris Amoo, Dave Smith, Kenny Davis, and Ray Lake (1946-2020.) They were first signed to ‘EMI’ records, but their early releases failed to make any commercial impact. They then were invited to tour Europe with David Essex, and signed a new record deal, this time with ‘Pye’ records, after which Chris Amoo’s brother Eddie Amoo (1944-2018) joined the band.The Real Thing released four studio Albums between 1976-1980, and have appeared on the UK top 40 singles chart on 14 occasions between 1976-2005. The Real thing were named by their manager Tony Hall, who chose the name after seeing the ‘Coca-Cola’ advert on a large billboard, in Piccadilly Circus, London. The band remain active as a duo of original founding member Chris Amoo, and fellow vocalist Dave Smith.

‘You to Me Are Everything’ appears on The Real Things debut Album ‘Real Thing,’ and spent three weeks at Number 1 in the UK during the exceptionally hot summer of 1976. ‘ The Real Thing had up until that point been writing their own material, but achieving no commercial success, so in an attempt to get radio play they turned to the songwriting team of Ken Gold, and Michael Denne, who also wrote their follow up hit, the UK Number 2 single ‘Can’t Get By Without You.’ The other hits achieved by the band were either written, or co-written by the Amoo brothers, with Ken Gold sometimes being called in to produce.

A decade later in 1986, after being away from the charts for seven years, three of The Real Thing’s songs were remixed, and entered the UK top 40. ‘You to Me Are Everything (The Decade Remix 76-86’) was the brainchild of DJ Froggy (1950-2008,) Simon Harris, and KC, this time the song reached Number 5 in the UK, spending 13 weeks in the top 40, which was two weeks longer than the original version had in 1976. The other two songs that were remixed and made the chart were ‘Can’t Get by Without You (The Decade Remix’) reaching Number 6, and ‘Can You Feel the Force?'(86 Remix) which made Number 24.

‘You give me just a taste of love to build my hopes upon, you know you’ve got the power boy to keep me holding on.’