"Looking Good Diving" is a 1987 song performed by Morgan-McVey, who were vocalists Jamie Morgan and

Cameron McVey Cameron Andrew McVey (born 11 March 1957) is an English singer, songwriter and music producer. He worked with the bands Massive Attack, Portishead, All Saints, Sugababes/Mutya Keisha Siobhan and his wife Neneh Cherry. He is the father of Ma ...

. It was their only single. The single was released through

Sony Records Sony Records was a record label founded by R&B duo Ike & Tina Turner in 1963. It was not affiliated with Sony Group Corporation. Ike Turner produced singles by members of the Kings of Rhythm and the Ikettes on Sony Records. Records on the label ...

in 1987, produced by SAW and mixed by Phil Harding. 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 ...

, "Looking Good Diving with the Wild Bunch", featured

Neneh Cherry Neneh Mariann Karlsson (born 10 March 1964), better known as Neneh Cherry, is a Swedish singer-songwriter, rapper, occasional DJ and broadcaster. Her musical career started in London in the early 1980s, where she performed in a number of punk roc ...

on vocals, and was a tribute to the 'buffalo stance', a type of pose. "Looking Good Diving with the Wild Bunch" was re-recorded by Cherry in 1988 and released as her debut solo single, "

Buffalo Stance "Buffalo Stance" is a song by Swedish singer Neneh Cherry, released from her debut album, '' Raw Like Sushi'' (1989), in November 1988. The song peaked at 3 on both the UK Singles Chart and the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100, and it reached No. 1 in ...

". "Buffalo Stance" peaked at No. 3 on the UK chart, and achieved similar success around the world. Morgan says the final SAW version closely followed the structure of their demo, notably keeping the distinctive Phil Ramacon keyboard hook. Morgan denies that the song is about

cunnilingus Cunnilingus is an oral sex act performed by a person on the vulva or vagina of another person. The clitoris is the most sexually sensitive part of the human female genitalia, and its stimulation may result in a woman becoming sexually aroused ...

, instead saying it is about looking good while striving to impress a love interest.

Morgan-McVey

Morgan McVey were a mid-1980s pop duo with a background in

fashion photography Fashion photography is a genre of photography which is devoted to displaying clothing and other fashion items, sometimes haute couture. It typically consists of a fashion photographer taking a picture of a dressed model in a photographic studio o ...

, video direction and modeling, composed of Jamie Morgan and

. Jamie Morgan has been highly influential as part of Buffalo, a styling team whose streetwise look was typical in the style mags of the time. Originally conceived as a

Simon & Garfunkel Simon & Garfunkel were an American folk rock duo consisting of the singer-songwriter Paul Simon and the singer Art Garfunkel. They were one of the best-selling music groups of the 1960s, and their biggest hits—including the electric remix of " ...

-style male vocal duo who would harmonise over

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 ...

beats, early demos failed to deliver on the concept. Facing creative inertia, the act's record company convinced them to work with rising pop producers

Stock Aitken Waterman Stock Aitken Waterman (abbreviated as SAW) are an English songwriting and record production trio consisting of Mike Stock, Matt Aitken, and Pete Waterman. The trio had great success from the mid-1980s through the early 1990s. SAW is considered ...

(SAW), a proposition that left them with mixed feelings. Morgan says "Looking Good Diving" left McVey "embarrassed", and the band disintegrated as McVey favoured working with his future wife, Cherry. After the duo split, Morgan would go on to release a cover of " Walk on the Wild Side", which peaked at number 27 on the UK Singles Chart in 1990, whilst McVey would go on to produce for electronic acts

Massive Attack Massive Attack are an English trip hop collective formed in 1988 in Bristol by Robert "3D" Del Naja, Adrian "Tricky" Thaws, Andrew "Mushroom" Vowles and Grant "Daddy G" Marshall. The debut Massive Attack album ''Blue Lines'' was release ...

and Portishead and pop acts like All Saints and

Sugababes Sugababes are a British girl group composed of Mutya Buena, Keisha Buchanan and Siobhán Donaghy. The lineup changed three times before returning to the original lineup in 2011. Formed in 1998 by All Saints manager Ron Tom, Sugababes releas ...

Music video

The music video for "Looking Good Diving" features the duo with Neneh Cherry on guitar and

Naomi Campbell Naomi Elaine Campbell (born 22 May 1970) is an English model, actress, singer, and businesswoman. She began her career at the age of 15, and established herself amongst the most recognisable and in-demand models of the past four decades. Cam ...

on the keyboard. Morgan says both he and McVey were left deeply embarrassed by the video, but he feels it has now become iconic as a "so naff and so 80s video" that is now seen as "so bad it's good". However, in the immediate aftermath of the single release, McVey became so consumed by his embarrassment, he abandoned the act to work with future wife Cherry.

Track listing

#"Looking Good Diving" (Morgan, McVey,

) #"Looking Good Diving with the Wild Bunch" featuring Neneh Cherry (Morgan, McVey,

Cherry A cherry is the fruit of many plants of the genus ''Prunus'', and is a fleshy drupe (stone fruit). Commercial cherries are obtained from cultivars of several species, such as the sweet ''Prunus avium'' and the sour ''Prunus cerasus''. The nam ...

) (remixed by

The Wild Bunch ''The Wild Bunch'' is a 1969 American epic Revisionist Western film directed by Sam Peckinpah and starring William Holden, Ernest Borgnine, Robert Ryan, Edmond O'Brien, Ben Johnson and Warren Oates. The plot concerns an aging outlaw gang on th ...

)Morgan* / McVey* – Looking Good Diving
, discogs.com. Retrieved 2 February 2012.

Covers

The song was covered by

Nick Kamen Ivor Neville "Nick" Kamen (15 April 1962 – 4 May 2021) was an English singer-songwriter, musician and model. He was best known for "Turn It Up" from 1989, the singles "Each Time You Break My Heart" from 1986 and "I Promised Myself" from 1990, ...

for his 1990 album ''

Move Until We Fly Ivor Neville "Nick" Kamen (15 April 1962 – 4 May 2021) was an English singer-songwriter, musician and model. He was best known for "Turn It Up" from 1989, the singles "Each Time You Break My Heart" from 1986 and "I Promised Myself" from 1990, ...

''.

References

1987 songs 1987 debut singles Nick Kamen songs Songs written by Mike Stock (musician) Songs written by Matt Aitken Songs written by Pete Waterman Song recordings produced by Stock Aitken Waterman Songs written by Cameron McVey Sony Music singles {{1980s-single-stub