THE 1000 BEST SONGS IN THE WORLD EVER.

787-Nomad featuring MC Mikee Freedom- (I Wanna Give You) Devotion.

1991-Number 2 single.

Best Bit-At 0.49. As well as conveying a message of love, there are also a couple of political comments relevant to the era, about Poll Tax, and the ex Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher.

Nomad were the short lived ‘House Music’ trio of Damon Rochefort, Steve McCutcheon, and vocalist Sharon D. Clarke, they took their stage name from Rochefort’s first name, as ‘Damon’ spelt backwards is ‘Nomad.’ As Nomad the trio released one Album, ‘Changing Cabins’ in 1991, and there have been eight singles issued between 1989-2003, which includes new remixes of ‘(I Wanna Give You) Devotion,’ in 1995, (UK Number 42) and also in 2003 (UK Number 179.) In the UK they have charted twice within the top 40, with the other hit single being ‘Just a Groove,’ which reached Number 16 in 1991. Two of their tracks have reached the Billboard ‘Dance Club’ chart, with ‘(I Wanna Give You) Devotion,’ making Number 1, and ‘Something Special’ from 1991, reaching Number 37.

‘(I Wanna Give You) Devotion,’ was the second of four singles released from ‘Changing Cabins,’ the only studio Album issued by Nomad, in 1991.The song was co-written by Damon Rochefort, and Steve McCutcheon, and the Bristol, England, born Rapper, MC Mikee Freedom, who wrote and performed the ‘Rap’ vocals on the track. The song which was produced by Rochefort, had nine off official remixes, and made the top 40 in 12 European countries, including Greece, where it reached the Number 1 position. In the UK it was the 23rd best selling single of 1991, with sales of around 200,000 copies.

All three members of Nomad went on to great success after they parted company. Steve McCutcheon who was born on January 15th, 1972, in Chertsey, Surrey, England, and is now better known as Steve Mac, is one of the most successful songwriters and producers since the mid 1990’s in British Pop Music. To date he has contributed to 30 UK Number 1 singles, working with numerous artists, including Calvin Harris, Westlife, Susan Boyle, and Little Mix. His biggest success has been with the Irish boy band ‘Westlife,’ having co-written, or co-produced nine of their UK Number 1 singles, he also co-wrote, and co-produced ‘Shape of You,’ which spent 14 weeks at Number 1 in the UK in 2017 for Ed Sheeran. In total Steve Mac has worked on songs that have sold in excess of 200 million copies worldwide.

Damon Rochefort was born in 1965 in Cardiff, Wales, after ‘Nomad,’ he continued writing and producing for artists including Kim Wilde, and La Toya Jackson. In 1995 he switched to script writing, going on to write several episodes of the British sit com ‘Birds of a Feather.’ Since 2004 he has written around 200 episodes of the British soap opera ‘Coronation Street,’ including the landmark episodes of Deirdre Barlow’s funeral, and the aftermath of the shows 50th anniversary’s live tram crash. Sharon D. Clarke MBE, (see also best songs 414) was born on August 12th, 1966, in Enfield, London, England, she is a three-time ‘Olivier Award’ winner, and is best known to television audiences for her role as Lola Griffin in the British medical drama ‘Holby City,’ and also as Grace O’Brien in ‘Doctor Who.’ She has played leading roles in many West End Musicals, including being the original ‘Killer Queen’ in ‘We Will Rock You,’ and Oda Mae Brown in ‘Ghost the Musical.’

In 2010 Steve Mac spoke about (‘I Wanna Give You) Devotion,’ which was the first song he ever wrote,’It was a real accident. I just remember struggling to get the drums right. I didn’t really know how to work the sequencer properly. I didn’t have that much knowledge of what I was doing, and I think if I had then it wouldn’t have been as good a track. I love the naiveté of what I was doing back then, and I miss that a little bit now.’

”Cause a frightnin’ nightmare can terrorise, poll tax came and up went the rise. Open your eyes and realise, I’m a truly disguise, like hawk the slayer, he came and caught me, Maggie came but now she’s slaughtered.’