The Real Thing are a British soul group formed in the 1970s. The band charted internationally with their song "

You to Me Are Everything In Modern English, ''you'' is the second-person pronoun. It is grammatically plural, and was historically used only for the dative case, but in most modern dialects is used for all cases and numbers. History ''You'' comes from the Proto- ...

", which reached No. 1 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 ...

. They also had successes a string of British hits such as "

Can't Get By Without You "Can't Get By Without You" was a hit for The Real Thing in 1976. It was the follow-up to their smash hit "You to Me Are Everything". Background The song was written by Ken Gold and Mickey Denne and released on Pye 7N 45618. The B side, "(He's Ju ...

" and " Can You Feel the Force?". They returned to mainstream success in 1986 with the Decade Remix of "You to Me Are Everything". By number of sales, they were the most successful

black Black is a color which results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without hue, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness. Black and white have o ...

rock/soul act in England during the 1970s. The journalist, author and founder of ''

Mojo Mojo may refer to: *Mojo (African-American culture), a magical charm bag used in voodoo Arts, entertainment and media Film and television * MOJO HD, an American television network * ''Mojo'' (play), by Jez Butterworth, made into a 1997 film * '' ...

'' magazine Paul Du Noyer credits them alongside Deaf School with restoring "

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

's musical reputation in the 1970s" with their success.

History

Founded in 1970 by

Chris Amoo Christopher Charles Amoo (born 14 October 1952) is a British singer-songwriter and the lead singer of English soul group, The Real Thing. He is also a dog breeder, and a judge at dog shows including Crufts, where he has had great success with ...

, Dave Smith, Kenny Davis and Ray Lake, the Real Thing's live, progressive soul-influenced covers of American hits attracted enough attention for them to secure a recording deal with

EMI EMI Group Limited (originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records Ltd. or simply EMI) was a British transnational conglomerate founded in March 1931 in London. At the time of its break-up in 201 ...

. The singles they released through EMI in 1972 and 1973 such as "Vicious Circle" were, despite their high quality, not successful sellers (and have not so far been included on any of the band's compilation albums). But the band persisted, even after the departure of Kenny Davis. They did appear on '' Opportunity Knocks'' (the TV talent show). The turn-around for their career began with their collaboration with David Essex and Pye Records. They toured internationally with Essex, recording with him a number of popular songs, though none were big charters. After Chris Amoo's brother Eddie joined the band, the Real Thing finally found chart success with the pop-soul single "You to Me Are Everything", which reached No. 1 on the UK Singles Chart, No. 29 on Billboard's "R&B Singles" and No. 66 on Billboard's "Hot 100". The song was certified silver for 250,000 in sales. Their follow-up, "

", did not chart in the US but was still a success in the United Kingdom, where it reached number 2. In 1976, they released their first album, ''Real Thing'', which included both of their hit singles as well as a third UK hit, "You'll Never Know What You're Missing", which peaked at No. 16. They continued recording prolifically, releasing a steady stream of subsequent albums: 1977's ''Four from Eight'' (originally to have been called ''Liverpool 8'' in honour of the racially mixed, economically depressed neighbourhood in which they grew up, before Pye rejected the title), 1978's ''Step into Our World'', (reissued in 1979 as ''Can You Feel the Force'') and 1982's compilation ''100 Minutes''. During the time period, they accumulated eight more British hits. "

Love's Such a Wonderful Thing "Love's Such a Wonderful Thing" is a song released in 1977 by the UK band The Real Thing taken from their album ''4 from 8''. The song peaked at #33 on the UK Singles Chart. Background The song was written, arranged and produced by brothers Chr ...

" peaked at No. 33 in 1977. 1978 saw "Whenever You Want My Love" at No. 18, "Let's Go Disco" at No. 39 and "Rainin' Through My Sunshine" at No. 40. " Can You Feel the Force?" climbed to No. 5 in 1979, the same year that "Boogie Down (Get Funky Now)" hit No. 33. 1980's "She's a Groovy Freak" capped a successful run, at No. 52, coming just a few months too late to be included in the band's first compilation, a K-tel collection of their ''Greatest Hits'' released in May 1980. In 1982 they returned to working with David Essex, performing as backing vocalists on his tour and they also performed as backing vocalists on Essex's 1982 top 20 hit "Me and My Girl (Nightclubbing)" appearing with him on ''

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 ...

''. They scored a dance-floor hit, reaching No. 58 on the UK Disco chart published in

Record Mirror ''Record Mirror'' was a British weekly music newspaper between 1954 and 1991 for pop fans and record collectors. Launched two years after the ''NME'', it never attained the circulation of its rival. The first UK album chart was published in ''Re ...

and radio playlisted with a single specially written for them by Lynsey De Paul and Terry Britten, called "We Got Love" produced by

Nick Martinelli Nicholas J. Martinelli (born 5 July 1952) is an American R&B and pop record producer. During the 1980s he worked with many R&B and pop music artists, some of them based in the UK. Acts he has worked with include Loose Ends, Phyllis Hyman, Fiv ...

in 1984. The song received positive reviews and was included on a greatest hits of 1984 compilation released by Team Records in Indonesia as well as on the album ''Black Magic''. In 1986, the band enjoyed a chart resurgence with the remixing of several of their hits. "You to Me Are Everything (The Decade Remix)" by DJ Froggy,

Simon Harris Simon Harris (born 17 October 1986) is an Irish politician who has served as Taoiseach and leader of Fine Gael since 2024. A TD for the Wicklow constituency since 2011, he has served as a minister in the government of Ireland since 2016 and f ...

and KC charted twice in the UK, peaking at No. 5 during a 12-week run in spring and returning in June for an additional week at No. 72. "Can't Get By Without You (the Second Decade Remix)" rose almost as high to No. 6, remaining for a consecutive 13 weeks. "Can You Feel the Force" ('86 Remix) climbed to No. 24, but the band's final UK charter for the year, "Straight to the Heart", peaked at No. 71, remaining for only two weeks. In 2002, Daft Punk's Thomas Bangalter teamed up with DJ Falcon to release a single under the name of Together, which sampled the Real Thing's 1977 song "

". The song was entitled "So Much Love to Give" and became a big club hit (though the single only peaked at No. 71 in the UK charts for Bangalter & Falcon), so much so that a number of other dance records used the same sample over the following years. One of these releases was by N-Trance's Kevin O'Toole and Dale Longworth, who covered "So Much Love to Give" under the name of Freeloaders and released it as a single crediting the Real Thing's vocal contribution unlike the earlier French duo's release. The single, released by AATW in 2005, peaked at No. 9 in the UK charts, giving The Real Thing their sixth Top Ten hit (including remixes) and last hit single. On 28 January 2022, the duo released their first album in over 40 years.

''Everything - The Real Thing Story''

In 2019, the band were featured in a documentary called ''Everything - The Real Thing Story'', which charted the history of the band from Eddie's days in

Merseybeat Beat music, British beat, or Merseybeat is a British popular music genre that developed, particularly in and around Liverpool, in the late 1950s and early 1960s. The genre melded influences from American rock and roll, rhythm and blues, skiffle ...

doo-wop Doo-wop (also spelled doowop and doo wop) is a genre of rhythm and blues music that originated in African-American communities during the 1940s, mainly in the large cities of the United States, including New York, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Chica ...

act the Chants (said to be the only group ever to be backed by

the Beatles The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatles, most influential band of al ...

), through Chris' group's SSB (the Sophisticated Soul Brothers) and Vocal Perfection. The latter act went on to be renamed The Real Thing by manager Tony Hall, after seeing the

Coca-Cola Coca-Cola, or Coke, is a carbonated soft drink manufactured by the Coca-Cola Company. Originally marketed as a temperance drink and intended as a patent medicine, it was invented in the late 19th century by John Stith Pemberton in Atlanta ...

advert on a large billboard in Piccadilly Circus. The documentary featured interviews with David Essex, Billy Ocean, Five Star's

Denise Pearson Denise Lisa Maria Pearson (born 13 June 1968), sometimes credited as Deniece Pearson, is an English singer-songwriter. She was the lead vocalist with the British pop/ R&B group Five Star, which comprised herself and her four siblings. The grou ...

Kim Wilde Kim Wilde (born Kim Smith, 18 November 1960) is an English pop singer, DJ and television presenter. She first saw success in 1981 with her debut single "Kids in America", which peaked at No. 2 in the UK. In 1983, she received the Brit Award f ...

and

Leee John Leslie McGregor "Leee" John (born 23 June 1957) is a British musician, singer, and actor of St Lucian descent. He was born in Hackney, London, and educated in New York City, later studying drama at the Anna Scher Theatre School. He is perhaps b ...

from

Imagination Imagination is the production or simulation of novel objects, sensations, and ideas in the mind without any immediate input of the senses. Stefan Szczelkun characterises it as the forming of experiences in one's mind, which can be re-creations ...

; as well as all surviving members of the Chants and the Real Thing. As Eddie Amoo died during the production of the film, the documentary ended up being released two years after his death. Sheridan's lengthy interview with Amoo was shown in full on

BBC Four BBC Four is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It was launched on 2 March 2002

in August 2020.

Group members

; Current * Chris Amoo (born Christopher Charles Amoo, 14 October 1952, Liverpool) – vocals * Dave Smith (born David Smith, 6 July 1952) – vocals ; Real Thing Band * John Chapman – saxophone * Sam Edwards – keyboards * Stuart Ansell – guitar * Jon Bower – bass * Danny Rose – drums ;Former * Eddie Amoo (born Edward Robert Amoo, 5 May 1944, Liverpool; died 23 February 2018, Melbourne, Australia) – vocals, guitars * Ray Lake (born Raymond Lake, 11 February 1946, Liverpool; died 2000) –

falsetto ''Falsetto'' (, ; Italian diminutive of , "false") is the vocal register occupying the frequency range just above the modal voice register and overlapping with it by approximately one octave. It is produced by the vibration of the ligamentous ed ...

backing vocals * Kenny Davis – vocals * Steve Dixon - drums

Discography

Albums

;Studio albums ;Live albums ;Compilation albums

Singles

Notes

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Real Thing, The English dance music groups Musical groups established in 1970 English pop music groups Musical groups from Liverpool Black British musical groups Pye Records artists British rhythm and blues musical groups British soul musical groups British disco groups