THE 1000 BEST SONGS IN THE WORLD EVER.

864-Hot Chocolate-Brother Louie.

1973-Number 7 single.

Best Bit-At 1.12. Between 1970-1980 in the UK, Hot Chocolate had at least one hit single every year, the only two other acts to match this fete were Elvis Presley, and Diana Ross.

Hot Chocolate were formed in West Hampstead, London, England, in 1968, by Errol Brown, (1943-2015) (vocals) Franklyn De Allie, (guitar) Jim King, (drums) Patrick Olive, (percussion) and Tony Wilson (bass.) Hot Chocolate remain active, and in total there have been 17 different members come and go, with Patrick Olive being the bands one constant. They started out as ‘The Hot Chocolate Band,’ which was eventually shortened to ‘Hot Chocolate,’ by Mickie Most, (1938-2003) after they signed to his ‘RAK’ record label. The discography of Hot Chocolate includes eight studio Albums released between 1974-1993, and 50 singles issued between 1969-1998, there are also 14 official compilation Albums available. In the UK, they have achieved 29 top 40 hits, with the Russ Ballard penned song ‘So You Win Again,’ reaching Number 1 in 1977. In America on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart, they have charted within the top 40 on five occasions, with ‘You Sexy Thing,’ peaking the highest at Number 3 in 1975.

Hot Chocolate began their recording career with a cover version of John Lennon’s (1940-1980) 1969 song ‘Give Peace a Chance,’ but before releasing it they had to get permission from Lennon, who was impressed enough to sign them to ‘Apple Records.’ Their version failed to chart, and in 1970 they moved on to ‘RAK’ records, and Micky Most. Tony Wilson along with Errol Brown, were the groups main songwriters, with Brown taking over more or less full control in 1976, after the departure of Wilson. In 1986 Brown, and Larry Ferguson departed the band, with Brown going on to pursue a solo career, which saw the release of four solo Albums between 1989-2001, and 14 singles issued between 1987-2002, with two of those tracks reaching the UK top 40. Lester Errol Brown was born on November 12, 1943, in Kingston, Jamaica, but moved to the UK at the age of 12. In 2003, Queen Elizabeth II named him a ‘Member of the Order of the British Empire,’ for ‘services to popular music for the United Kingdom.’ and in 2004 he received an ‘Ivor Novello Award’ for ‘outstanding contributions to British music.’

Hot Chocolate were one of the first high profile interracial groups in the UK, and this was very unusual for the time. ‘Brother Louie’ which was written by Errol Brown, and Tony Wilson, with the production by Mickie Most, is a song about an interracial love affair between a white man, and a black woman, who are told in no uncertain terms by their respective families that they shouldn’t be together. Errol Brown has said that the song was inspired by his own real life experiences,’That comes from early dating in a place where there’s a majority of white people,That was fine for us because we grew up and rubbed shoulders with other nationalities, so it wasn’t a heavy thing. but in those days a lot of white parents never had anything to do with black people. It was understandable, they just didn’t know what was going on, apart from what they read in books or saw on TV, jungle scenes.’ The spoken words on ‘Brother Louie’ were provided by Alexis Korner, (1928-1984) and although Cozy Powell, who was also signed to ‘RAK’ records at the time did do session work for Hot Chocolate, I cannot be fully sure that he played the drums on this song.

In America, the Hot Chocolate version of ‘Brother Louie’ failed to chart, with radio stations shying away from the songs controversial subject matter. Around six months after it’s American release a version by the New York City based Rock band ‘Stories,’ was issued, leaving out the spoken parts, and the verse where Louie meets the girl’s parents, this version went all the way to Number 1 on Billboard in America, and sold over one million copies, giving ‘Stories’ their one and only chart hit single.

In 2009 Errol Brown proudly spoke about being tagged Britain’s first multiracial Pop band.’That was deliberate. I wanted to show the world that we could work together, whatever our colour or creed. It may sound idealistic, but bigotry and prejudice have always offended my sensibilities. I thought it important to show that we were all God’s children, and needed to respect each other. This is my philosophy of life. It’s the way I’ve tried to live.’

‘See what I mean, Louie really caused a scene. He did, I tell you, ain’t no diff’rence ‘tween black or white, brothers, you know what I mean.’