Johnny Wakelin (born 1939) is an English recording artist best known for songs like "Black Superman" and "In Zaire", both celebrating boxer Muhammad Ali.

Career

Wakelin had his first outings in clubs in his hometown but without big success. Discovered by Pye record producer Robin Blanchflower, the man who launched

Carl Douglas Carlton George Douglas (born 10 May 1942) is a Jamaican recording artist based in the UK who is best known for the 1974 disco single "Kung Fu Fighting". Early life Carlton George Douglas was born in Kingston, Colony of Jamaica. He later liv ...

to the top of 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 ...

with "

Kung Fu Fighting "Kung Fu Fighting" is a disco song by Jamaican vocalist Carl Douglas, written by Douglas and produced by British-Indian musician Biddu. It was released in 1974 as the first single from his debut album, '' Kung Fu Fighting and Other Great Lo ...

", and working with Steve Elson and Keith Rossiter in addition to Blanchflower, Wakelin set about writing songs that would, he hoped, "catch people's eye"

"Black Superman (Muhammad Ali)"

In late 1972, Wakelin wrote and recorded the original version of the song, under the title "Hungarian Superman (Joe Bugner)" as an homage to the Hungarian-born British-Australian boxer by that name. The single failed to chart, and in 1973 Bugner lost 12-round decisions to former heavyweight champions Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier. Wakelin got the idea of reworking the original song as an homage to Bugner's rival, the boxing champion Muhammad Ali who fought on 30 October 1974 in Kinshasa, Zaire, against George Foreman in a matchup known as

The Rumble in the Jungle George Foreman vs. Muhammad Ali, billed as ''The Rumble in the Jungle'', was a heavyweight championship boxing match on October 30, 1974, at the 20th of May Stadium (now the Stade Tata Raphaël) in Kinshasa, Zaire (now Democratic Republic of t ...

. Ali gained victory in the eighth round. Wakelin modified the song's original Eastern-European polka rhythm to

reggae Reggae () is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1960s. The term also denotes the modern popular music of Jamaica and its diaspora. A 1968 single by Toots and the Maytals, " Do the Reggay" was the first popular song to use ...

at a time when West Indian music was growing in popularity. The new song was Wakelin's "Black Superman (Muhammad Ali)" released in late 1974. In January 1975 the song reached number seven on the singles charts of both the UK and Australia. By October of the same year, it had reached number one in Canada on the ''RPM'' Singles Chart.Library and Archives Canada: ''RPM'' Top Singles Chart, October 25, 1975
/ref> It also spent six months in the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100 in more than one chart run in 1975, eventually peaking at No. 21 in September of that year.

Later songs

1975 brought a further single, "Cream Puff," backed by "Gotta Keep on Going"; it flopped, but both songs would be incorporated into Wakelin's March 1976 album, ''Reggae, Soul & Rock 'n' Roll''. A bigger success was "In Zaire", also about the 1974 fight, which reached the

charts 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 tab ...

in many parts of Europe in 1976. After few further releases ("Africa Man", "You Turn Me On", "Dr. Frankenstein's Disco Party") his success cooled down. He re-recorded his hit "In Zaire" in different versions which had a little success. Furthermore, he stayed active as a songwriter, and continued to release albums. Wakelin sang "Where Seagulls Fly", the Brighton & Hove Albion F.C. anthem released for their appearance in the

1983 FA Cup Final The 1983 FA Cup Final was contested by Manchester United and Brighton & Hove Albion at Wembley Stadium. Manchester United were the favourites, as Brighton had been relegated from the First Division that season, and had never reached a cup fin ...

Discography

Albums

*''Black Superman'' (1975) *''Reggae, Soul & Rock 'n' Roll'' (1976) *''In Zaire'' (1976) *''African Man'' (1976) *''Double Trouble'' (1978) *''Gems from the Pen'' (1984) *''Rock 'n' Country Blues'' (1996) *''From Ali to the Naz'' (1997) *''Sway with Me'' (2005) *''In Africa'' (2005) *''Right Before My Eyes'' (2006) *''No Smoking '' (2007)

Singles

References

External links

Discography & Info
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wakelin, Johnny 1939 births Living people English male singers English songwriters People from Brighton British male songwriters