5000 Volts is the name of a British
disco
Disco is a genre of dance music and a subculture that emerged in the 1970s from the United States' urban nightlife scene. Its sound is typified by four-on-the-floor beats, syncopated basslines, string sections, brass and horns, electric pia ...
recording act that achieved success throughout Europe during the 1970s. The
group consisted of vocalists
Tina Charles and Martin Jay, with a changing group of
session musician
Session musicians, studio musicians, or backing musicians are musicians hired to perform in recording sessions or live performances. The term sideman is also used in the case of live performances, such as accompanying a recording artist on a ...
s.
Career
They released several
singles
Singles are people not in a committed relationship.
Singles may also refer to:
Film and television
* ''Singles'' (miniseries), a 1984 Australian television series
* ''Singles'' (1992 film), written and directed by Cameron Crowe
* ''Singles'' ...
in the mid-1970s, but did not achieve success until
radio stations began playing the
B-side
The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph records and cassettes; these terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side usually features a recording that its artist, producer, or record compan ...
to their 1975 single, "Bye Love". The song, "
I'm on Fire", was released in its own right and became a major
hit throughout Europe, peaking at number 4 on the
UK Singles Chart;
and at
number 1 on the German
Top100 Singles chart
A chart (sometimes known as a graph) is a graphical representation for data visualization, in which "the data is represented by symbols, such as bars in a bar chart, lines in a line chart, or slices in a pie chart". A chart can represent tabu ...
and the
Swedish chart and also number 10 in
South Africa. It was also a major top 10 hit in
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...
and
charted in the United States where it reached number 26, competing against
Jim Gilstrap
James Earl Gilstrap (born November 10, 1946)''U.S. Public Records Index'' Vol 1 (Provo, UT: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc.), 2010. is an American singer, considered one of the most prolific session musicians in the industry. He is best known for ...
's version of the song, which hit number 78.
Although
Tina Charles provided the
vocals, she was not publicly acknowledged as the group's singer and for the band's 1975 appearance on
BBC Television
BBC Television is a service of the BBC. The corporation has operated a public broadcast television service in the United Kingdom, under the terms of a royal charter, since 1927. It produced television programmes from its own studios from 193 ...
's ''
Top of the Pops'' they were fronted by singer/actress
Luan Peters.
In 1975, the group was expanded by
record producer Tony Eyers into a permanent five piece, with the inclusion of Martin Cohen (bass and vocals), Kevin Wells (drums) and Mike Nelson (keyboards). Subsequent singles failed to attract widespread interest in the UK, although the group became popular in South Africa and
Germany. Charles left the group after a dispute with the
record label and continued with her solo career.
She was replaced by Linda Kelly.
The next single "
Doctor Kiss Kiss
''Doctor Kiss Kiss'' is the second hit single by British Disco Band 5000 Volts
5000 Volts is the name of a British disco recording act that achieved success throughout Europe during the 1970s. The group consisted of vocalists Tina Charles ...
" reached number 8 in the United Kingdom,
and number 6 in South Africa, but the band struggled to maintain public interest. The group disbanded in 1978.
Martin Jay launched a solo career without success, before returning to his earlier role as a session musician, working for bands such as
Enigma,
Tight Fit
Tight Fit is an English pop group which had several hits in the early 1980s, including a UK No.1 for three weeks with their cover version of "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" in 1982.
History
In 1981, record producer Ken Gold came up with the idea ...
in 1981 and the
UK Mixmasters
Nigel Wright (born 13 June 1955, Bristol) is a record producer from England. His career as music producer, orchestrator and songwriter has scored five number one singles, 31 Top 20 singles and a string of platinum albums with recording artists as ...
in 1990.
In 2012, Tina Charles and Martin Jay reunited to re-record some of their hits. The album ''Reunited'' was the result of their reunion.
Discography
Albums
*1976: ''5000 Volts'' (Philips Records 9109-215) –
SWE SWE may refer to:
* Sensor Web Enablement, an Open Geospatial Consortium framework for defining a Sensor Web
* Shallow water equations, a set of equations that describe flow below a pressure surface
* Snow water equivalent
* Society of Women Engine ...
#30
*1997: ''5000 Volts'' (Rem!nd Records 5300211 - The Netherlands, compilation)
*2012: ''Reunited''
Singles
References
External links
"Doctor Kiss-Kiss" lyrics
{{Authority control
British disco groups
British dance music groups
Musical groups disestablished in 1977
Philips Records artists