Hot Chocolate - 14 Greatest Hits (1996) CD-Rip

The only British pop act to have a hit single in the domestic pop charts in every year during the Seventies, HOT CHOCOLATE secured a creditable total of 30 hit singles, including 13 Top 10 entries, between August 1970 and February 1984, spending a total of 255 weeks in the Top 50 during the same period.
Fronted by the charismatic shaven-headed ERROL BROWN, Hot Chocolate started their career doing gigs in the Brixton area of London during the late Sixties. Their music reached the ears of an A & R person at The Beatles’ Apple Records and they were signed to the label, subsequently releasing a reggae version of the Plastic Ono Band hit Give Peace A Chance, which had reached number 2 in the summer of 1969. Following their rather inauspicious recording debut (their version of Give Peace A Chance failed to chart), Hot Chocolate left Apple and signed with top producer Mickie Most’s Rak Records in 1970.
Three months later Hot Chocolate secured their first hit single when LOVE IS LIFE, written by Errol Brown and Tony Wilson, and produced by Most, entered the U.K. charts and subsequently climbed to number 6, spending a total of 12 weeks in the Top 50. The group followed it with a second hit single, YOU COULD’VE BEEN A LADY, which peaked at number 22. Hot Chocolate’s third single, I BELIEVE (IN LOVE), followed in August 1971 and gave them a second Top 10 hit, as well as enjoying 11 weeks in the Top 50. In October that year they had their fourth hit recording with YOU’LL ALWAYS BE A FRIEND which reached number 23.
Within the next three years Hot Chocolate were to secure no less than ten hit singles including BROTHER LOUIE which climbed to number 7, (and was a U.S. number 1 hit for American rock band The Stories), RUMOURS (number 44), EMMA (number 3), CHERI BABE (number 31), DISCO QUEEN (number 11), A CHILD’S PRAYER (number 7), YOU SEXY THING (number 2), DON’T STOP IT NOW (number 11), MAN TO MAN (number 14), and HEAVEN IS IN THE BACK SEAT OF MY CADILLAC (number 25).
In 1976 Hot Chocolate’s co-writer Tony Wilson left the line-up of the group. However the hits continued, with Errol Brown donning the mantle of chief songwriter, although their very next single, SO YOU WIN AGAIN, released in June 1977, was penned by former Argent member Russ Ballard. It took them to the top of the U.K. charts, where it remained for three weeks, and was followed by another Top 10 hit, PUT YOUR LOVE IN ME, five months later.
Throughout the remainder of the Seventies, and well into the Eighties, Hot Chocolate continued to chalk up hit after hit after hit. Their tally included EVERY l’s A WINNER which was composed by Errol Brown, (number 12), I’LL PUT YOU TOGETHER AGAIN (composed by Geoff Stephens and Don Black, and originally featured in their musical project Dear Anyone) (number 13), MINDLESS BOOGIE (number 46), GOING THROUGH THE MOTIONS (number 53), NO DOUBT ABOUT IT (number 2), ARE YOU GETTING ENOUGH OF WHAT MAKES YOU HAPPY (number 17), LOVE ME TO SLEEP (number 50).
In addition Hot Chocolate had several best-selling albums, most notably with their debut self-titled HOT CHOCOLATE which reached number 34 in November 1975; MAN TO MAN (number 32 in 1976), GREATEST HITS (number 6 - and had a total of 35 weeks in the Top 50), EVERY l’s A WINNER in 1978 (number 30), 20 HOTTEST HITS which soared to number 3 at the end of 1979 and had a 19 week chart run, and 1982’s MYSTERY (number 24). YOU’LL NEVER BE SO WRONG (number 52), GIRL CRAZY (number 7), IT STARTED WITH A KISS (number 5), CHANCES (number 32), WHAT KINDA BOY YOU LOOKING FOR (GIRL) (number 10), TEARS ON THE TELEPHONE (number 37), and I GAVE YOU MY HEART (DIDN’T I) (number 1).
Following the Top 20 success of I GAVE YOU MY HEART, Hot Chocolate experienced a lull in their chart fortunes and it was to be another three years before they another hit single. Even then it was with a re-mixed version of YOU SEXY THING, rather than a new song, although the single did climb to number 10 in the pop charts.
In 1987 Errol Brown decided to go solo and the inevitable break up of Hot Chocolate followed. However Hot Chocolate have secured their own particular niche in the annals of pop music history and this new collection features many of the hit records that made them the most popular British pop group of the Seventies.