Clout was, originally, an all-female

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...

group A group is a number of persons or things that are located, gathered, or classed together. Groups of people * Cultural group, a group whose members share the same cultural identity * Ethnic group, a group whose members share the same ethnic iden ...

formed in

Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu and xh, eGoli ), colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, or "The City of Gold", is the largest city in South Africa, classified as a megacity, and is one of the 100 largest urban areas in the world. According to Demo ...

in 1977, best known for their hit single, " Substitute". Later in their career, the group included some male musicians, who had played as session musicians on the recording.

Career

Clout's first and biggest hit, "Substitute", was a new arrangement of a

Righteous Brothers The Righteous Brothers are an American musical duo originally formed by Bill Medley and Bobby Hatfield but now comprising Medley and Bucky Heard. Medley formed the group with Hatfield in 1963. They had first performed together in 1962 in the Los ...

song, composed by Willie Wilson. In 1978, their version reached No. 1 in South Africa, New Zealand, Germany, France, The Netherlands, Sweden, Austria, Denmark and Belgium. It also reached No. 2 on the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

and remained in the UK charts for 15 weeks. Due to sanctions against South African artists and performers by UK's

Equity Equity may refer to: Finance, accounting and ownership * Equity (finance), ownership of assets that have liabilities attached to them ** Stock, equity based on original contributions of cash or other value to a business ** Home equity, the dif ...

at the time, the

BBC One BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's flagship network and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television bulletins, p ...

television series ''

Top of the Pops ''Top of the Pops'' (''TOTP'') is a British Record chart, music chart television programme, made by the BBC and originally broadcast weekly between 1January 1964 and 30 July 2006. The programme was the world's longest-running weekly music show ...

'' used the group's performance of the song on Dutch programme ''

TopPop ''TopPop'' is the first regular dedicated pop music television series in the Dutch language area. The Netherlands broadcaster AVRO aired the programme weekly, from 22 September 1970, to 27 June 1988. Presenter Ad Visser hosted for its first fift ...

'', from 8 April 1978, to present the hit song for its Top 10 countdown. A major success in Europe, Clout scored more Top 10

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'' ...

, notably " Save Me", "You've Got All of Me" and "Under Fire". Clout's cover of "Substitute" reached No. 67 on the U.S. ''Billboard'' Hot 100. Clout split up in 1981, shortly after the release of their last major single, a re-arrangement of the

Hall and Oates Daryl Hall and John Oates, commonly known as Hall & Oates, are an American pop rock duo formed in Philadelphia in 1970. Daryl Hall is generally the lead vocalist; John Oates primarily plays electric guitar and provides backing vocals. The two ...

song "Portable Radio". In 1992, their

greatest hits A greatest hits album or best-of album is a type of compilation album that collects popular and commercially successful songs by a particular artist or band. While greatest hits albums are typically supported by the artist, they can also be crea ...

package was released on CD, and it was re-mastered as ''The Best of Clout'' in 2010.

Musicians

*Cindy Alter: born in

lead vocals,

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

(1977–1981) *Ilene "Lee" Tomlinson: bass, vocals (1977–1980) *Ingrid "Ingi" Herbst:

drum The drum is a member of the percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel-Sachs classification system, it is a membranophone. Drums consist of at least one membrane, called a drumhead or drum skin, that is stretched over a she ...

s, vocals (1977–1981) *Glenda Hyam: keyboards, vocals (1977) *Jenni Garson: guitar, vocals (1977–1981) *Ron "Bones" Brettell: keyboards, vocals (1978–1981) *Sandy Robbie: guitar, vocals (1978–1981) *Gary van Zyl: bass (1980–1981)

Discography

Albums

*1978: ''Substitute'' (aka ''Clout'') *1979: ''Six of the Best'' *1980: ''A Threat and a Promise'' *1981: ''1977 to 1981'' (compilation with one new song) *1992: ''Substitute'' (

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

compilation Compilation may refer to: *In computer programming, the translation of source code into object code by a compiler **Compilation error **Compilation unit *Product bundling, a marketing strategy used to sell multiple products *Compilation thesis M ...

) *1992: ''20 Greatest Hits'' (compilation) *1994: ''Clout'' (German compilation) *2007: ''Since We've Been Gone'' (compilation with nine new recordings) *2010: ''The Best of Clout'' (compilation)

Singles

References

External links

Clout
{{Authority control All-female bands Musical quintets South African rock music groups Carrere Records artists Female-fronted musical groups