Kele Le Roc

TOTP 26 MAR 1999

Posted on by 80stastic

On the same day this TOTP aired, The Rugrats Movie opened in UK cinemas. Based on the popular children’s animated TV series about the lives of a group of American toddlers and infants, the show was made available to British audiences via being the featured cartoon on Saturday morning children’s television series Live & Kicking on BBC1. Working in a record shop at the time of its transmission on a weekend, I didn’t catch Rugrats that often but I always enjoyed the adventures of Tommy, Chuckie, Angelica et al. I know I wasn’t the show’s target audience but it was light, innocent fun and an antidote to the stresses of adult life. I wonder which Rugrats character the artists featured in this TOTP would be?

We start with something straight out of left field – Andy Williams with “Music To Watch Girls By”. When I say ‘left field’, I mean as opposed to all the other dance crud or pop puppets in the charts at this time but in actual fact, the presence of a legendary easy listening crooner in the UK Top 40 in the 90s wasn’t a total shock. In the middle part of the decade we’d had a revival of the genre courtesy of Mike Flowers Pops and their easy listening version of “Wonderwall” by Oasis. This triggered a reaction within younger audiences tired of grunge and subsequently Britpop and their embracing of a more nostalgic sound would lead to the ‘lounge scene’ which saw a resurgence in cool lounge bars and clubs that featured easy-listening records and cocktail music. However, that wasn’t necessarily what caused Andy Williams to suddenly be a chart star again. No, that was down to a TV advert. Of course it was. This one, in fact, for a Ford Pinto car:

Williams looks the consummate performer here despite being 71 at the time. The success of the song (it peaked at No 9 in the charts) led to the obvious release of an Andy Williams Best Of but also an easy listening compilation album also called “Music To Watch Girls By” of which there were two volumes I think featuring artists like Tony Bennet, Bobby Darin, Perry Como and Petula Clark. However, my immediate go to Andy Williams memory is “Happy Heart” being used to soundtrack the ending of the Danny Boyle film Shallow Grave.

Which Rugrat character would they be? Grandpa Lou. Not only is he the oldest character but he had an obsession with the number 15. Look at these connections between Andy Williams and that number:

  • When renewing his contract with CBS in 1966, Andy Williams negotiated a $1.5 million guarantee to record 15 albums over the following five years.
  • Out of his 43-44 recorded albums, 15 were gold-certified.
  • Marriage Date: He married Claudine Longet on December 15, 1961. 

For a while, Kele Le Roc looked like she would be a prime mover in the UK R&B scene. In 1999, she won two MOBO awards for Best Newcomer and for Best Single and yet she seemed to fall away as fast as she had appeared. Just one album was ever released under her name which failed to impact the charts in any major way despite it including two Top 10 hits and then it all went quiet. So what happened to Kele Le Roc? Well, at the point where her career seemed on the point of lift off, she was dropped by record label Polydor despite those two MOBO gongs which, on the face of it, seems a ludicrous decision. I don’t know the whole story but Kele herself cited the catch-all phrase ‘creative differences’. She then spent three years trying to free herself from her contract with management company First Ave and all momentum for her solo career was lost. However, she didn’t give up on music and became a prominent featured vocalist in the UK Garage scene, collaborating with artists like Basement Jaxx, Shy FX, and T-Power.

In this TOTP performance, she was promoting the second of those two hit singles, the MOBO award winning “My Love”. I’m guessing when she thinks back to that time, this would be the TV appearance she wants to be remembered for and not the one that took place on ITV’s CD:UK during which her performance was interrupted by a stage invader who pinches her microphone off her and slams it to the floor whilst holding a banner saying ‘The Womb’ (which was the name of his own band). Apparently, he was protesting about the show’s policy of miming even though it seems that Kele was singing live. I think she handled it pretty well in fairness which is more than the protester did with that microphone.

Which Rugrat character would they be? Angelica – in a 10th-anniversary special titled “All Growed Up”, Angelica and Tommy fight over a microphone attached to a karaoke machine.

From their starting position of having a novelty, line dancing hit with “5,6,7,8”, the success that Steps achieved was as impressive as it was unlikely. Thirteen consecutive Top 5 hits including two No 1s, three chart topping albums and 22 million records sold worldwide. Like Take That, after an initial split, they returned to the pop world in the new millennium and are still touring and recording and their hits have been the source material for a jukebox musical. This single – “Better Best Forgotten” – only missed the top spot by one place and was the final track lifted from their debut album “Step One”. However, their legacy hasn’t permeated every corner of the music world. Check out this video of the rapper Aitch appearing on YouTube interview show Chicken Shop Date:

It’s the Alan Partridge style, non-plussed reaction that provides the genuine comedy moment for me – absolutely no idea who his phonic namesake is. Still, in a battle of who’s the more famous, I’m not sure who the winner out of ‘H’ or ‘Aitch’ would be despite the latter’s recent stint on I’m A Celebrity…Get Me Out Of Here.

Which Rugrat character would they be? Chuckie’s step-sister Kimi Watanabe-Finster.

We’ve already had a pinch of easy listening, a sprinkling of R&B and a dash of pure pop on the show tonight and next up is a dose of cutting edge electronic dance music to add to the mix courtesy of Underworld. Having crossed over into the mainstream consciousness via their No 2 hit “Born Slippy” from the Trainspotting soundtrack, there was much anticipation for the group’s next album release which arrived in 1999. “Beaucoup Fish” duly made No 3 in the charts selling 100,000 copies to date. It also generated three hit singles of which “Push Upstairs” was the biggest peaking at No 12. Whilst I’d enjoyed “Born Slippy” (who didn’t?), I wast on board for this much les accessible track I’m afraid. Far too heavy a sound for my tender ears. Let’s move on….

Which Rugrat character would they be? It’s Angelica again. There is an ‘underworld’ fan theory sometimes known as ‘creepypasta’ that suggests the characters are not actually alive but are figments of Angelica’s imagination. Furthermore the theory posits that Angelica is a neglected child with a drug addiction who imagines her friendships with the babies to cope with her lonely life and that the babies are dead or never existed in the first place. That’s sounds even heavier than “Push Upstairs”.

Houston…I have a problem….this is not right nor is it OK! This is the fourth time on the show for “It’s Not Right But It’s OK” by Whitney Houston and guess what? It’ll be on the running order for a fifth time in a month or so. And guess what again? Three weeks after that, her follow up single “My Love Is Your Love” will begin its run of three TOTP appearances! In the famous Apollo 13 aborted moon mission, said problem was a ‘Main B Bus Undervolt’ (wherever that was) but here it’s a Whitney H overload. She clearly was executive producer Chris Cowey’s ‘Greatest Love Of All”.

Which Rugrat character would they be? Tommy Pickles. As the show’s main protagonist, he appears in the highest number of episodes.

After two weeks at the top, Boyzone are no longer No 1 but, of course, that doesn’t stop them from appearing on the show again for the third week on the trot as this is the Chris Cowey era. However, make the most of them as there are only two more hits to come in this first era of the band as they would go on an extended sabbatical come the new millennium as solo careers and acting endeavours took over. For now though, it was their cover of “When The Going Gets Tough” that was commanding their attention and, having listened carefully to the climax of the song, it seems that whether you were Billy Ocean or in possession of a Dublin accent, there was no way of singing the line “going gets tough” without it sounding like “go and get stuffed”.

Which Rugrat character would they be? This is AI’s answer to that question:

  • Ronan Keating – Tommy Pickles: As the frontman and leader, Ronan fits the role of Tommy—the brave, optimistic leader of the group who guides everyone through adventures.
  • Stephen Gately – Chuckie Finster: With his sweet, sensitive, and endearing nature, Stephen matches Chuckie, the lovable, anxious worrywart who is loyal to his friends.
  • Keith Duffy – Phil DeVille: Known for his mischievous, energetic, and slightly chaotic personality, Keith fits the twin Phil.
  • Mikey Graham – Lil DeVille: Often providing a more thoughtful, yet still mischievous balance to the twins, Mikey fits Lil.
  • Shane Lynch – Angelica Pickles: With his tough-guy image, tattoos, and sometimes rebellious attitude in the early days, Shane fits the bossy, assertive, and rule-bending Angelica. 

Right, who’s this? Why it’s Tina Cousins of course. No, she wasn’t a sister of ice skating champion Robin Cousins but that woman who sang with Sash! Remember her? No? Well, she was also on that ABBA medley hit alongside Steps, Cleopatra, Billie and B*Witched. Still no? If you haven’t placed her from those clues, I don’t think references to her solo career will help you, mainly because the hits under her own name (including this one“Killin’ Time”) sound just like that one she made with Sash! In fact, they sound like any other Sash! track to my untrained ears. They might have the requisite bpm to dance to in a club but could you listen to a whole album of it? Apparently not as Tina’s debut solo album only made it to No 50 in the UK charts though it was more popular in Scandinavia. Tina would have one more big hit (again with Sash!) in 2000 but continued to release music into the noughties and beyond and still makes regular PAs on the club circuit.

Which Rugrat character would they be? Well, Angelica is the cousin of Timmy Pickles but I’m going for a character called Tina Trousers who was a toy doll that appeared in one episode. Tina Cousins once dispensed with trousers altogether when performing that ABBA medley at the BRITS preferring instead to wear a silver catsuit.

And so we come to a piece of chart history. Two pieces in fact. By dint of going straight in at No 1 with their single “Blame It On The Weatherman”, B*Witched become the first band ever to have their first four singles debut at No 1. The record wouldn’t last long as those dastardly Westlife boys would equal that feat by the end of the year and break it within the first few months of 2000. However, I’m pretty sure that the couldn’t lay claim to that second chart record which was that this was the first time ever that siblings had taken over from each other at No 1. Yes, the chart baton was handed over by Shane Lynch of Boyzone to his twin sisters Keavey and Edele of B*Witched. I don’t recall a big fuss about this at the time but it was quite a story I guess.

Having released two frenetically paced songs as their first two singles and a ballad as their third, B*Witched ploughed a furrow down the middle with their fourth as “Blame It On The Weatherman” is a mid-tempo pop song with an almost acoustic feel that was pleasant but unspectacular to my ears. Given that its parent album had been out over five months by the time of its release, was it a surprise that it went straight to No 1? Maybe. This was the peak of the group’s success with no subsequent release (single nor album) even making the Top 3.

I clearly recall doing a big display for “Blame It On The Weatherman” in the Our Price shop I was working in at the time so I, at least, must have been expecting big sales. The other big release that week which got a similar sized display was “Strong” by Robbie Williams which would enter the charts at No 4 but for some reason was never featured on TOTP which strikes me as quite odd on reflection.

Which Rugrat character would they be? With twins in their line up, they have to be Phil and Lil DeVille.

Order of appearanceArtistTitleDid I buy it?
1Andy WilliamsMusic To Watch Girls ByGood song but no
2Kele Le RocMy LoveNope
3StepsBetter Best ForgottenNo
4UnderworldPush Upstairs I did not
5Whitney HoustonIt’s Not Right But It’s OKNah
6BoyzoneWhen The Going Gets ToughNot even for charity
7Tina CousinsKillin’ TimeNever
8B*WitchedBlame It On The WeathermanAnd no

Disclaimer

I make no claim to the rights of this show and all ownership and contents including logos and graphics belongs totally to the BBC or copyright holder(s).

All opinions on the music and artists featured are my own. Sorry if you don’t agree.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m002qx5m/top-of-the-pops-26031999

TOTP 30 OCT 1998

Posted on by 80stastic

It’s a case of someone old someone new in this episode of TOTP with some artists that have been around for literally decades in some cases mingling with acts making their debut on the show. Our host is Jamie Theakston (again!) and we start with a group who were definitely in the ‘old’ bracket. If this had been 1983, an appearance by Culture Club on the show would have been a big deal as they were one of the biggest pop bands in the world. Fifteen years later though, did the pop kids of 1998 know who they were and, if they did, were they bothered in the slightest that they were back? I say ‘back’ but “I Just Wanna Be Loved”, whilst a new song, didn’t immediately herald an album of never before heard material. Rather, it was a solitary new track to promote a Best Of album called “Greatest Moments”, a collection designed to cash in on a reunion tour. The tour was a success and did, a year later, lead to that album of new material with the release of 1999’s “Don’t Mind If I Do”. However, it seemed it was a case of audiences loving the hits live but not being arsed about hearing any new recordings and it floundered peaking at a lowly No 64 in the UK chart.

I’ve got to say that compared to some of the hits from their glory days*, “I Just Wanna Be Loved” does not compare. Some limp lovers rock sir? I’ll pass thanks as should have the band as this was somnambulistic rubbish. How did it get to No 4 then I hear you ask? A good promotion campaign backed with the tour and that Greatest Hits album I’m guessing.

*Apart from “Karma Chameleon” which is and will always be absolute garbage.

And what was the deal with George’s (and Mikey’s) headgear? I think @TOTPFacts sums it up nicely:

Having said all of that, I have a confession to make. I saw Culture Club on that 1998 tour. Me, my wife and some friends went though, in my defence, I was more interested in the two other artists on the bill, The Human League and ABC. I have to say that I got a bit pissed up before we went to the concert and so I can’t remember much about it other than Culture Club played the dog shit “Karma Chameleon” as the last song of the set with Boy George saying that it wouldn’t be a Culture Club gig without them playing that track which I guess is true. Various machinations in the band’s story followed including a period where Mikey Craig and Jon Moss recruited a new singer to replace George who was busy with other projects (it all came to nothing) and a BBC documentary about a planned 2014 tour that didn’t happen. Ultimately though, they got themselves together and have toured and had a Las Vegas residency as recently as 2023.

Next, we get some more of this backstage shenanigans nonsense that debuted last week. If the idea behind it was to demonstrate that the show remains a pull for some of the biggest names in pop/rock music, I’m not sure that Theakston saying that he’s there with Kele le Roc really makes that point. The whole thing is completely undermined anyway by using it as a segue to a performance by a band who aren’t actually there as we get a repeat showing of The Beautiful South doing “Perfect 10” from four weeks back. Yes, four weeks back in which time the single has fallen down the charts consistently from its debut peak position of No 2, albeit whilst remaining inside the Top 10 until it finally dropped out of it this week thereby creating a rather odd looking on screen caption reading ‘The Beautiful South – Perfect 10 – 11’. My first observation is why reshow it now and my second is ‘10 – 11’ – I don’t think it’s going to rival the current ‘six-seven’ slang meme.

From a band who’d been around for nearly a decade to someone making his TOTP debut. I knew the name Lyndon David Hall from working in a record shop and knew what type of music he made but I never actually heard any of it until now. I wasn’t expecting much especially from a song called “Sexy Cinderella” but I was pleasantly surprised. I mean, it’s all very bump ‘n’ grind which isn’t really my thing (I could do without the lyrics about getting freaky with blindfolds if I’m honest) but the guy could sing and, I don’t know, it just feels like a proper song with a degree of musicality to it unlike something like that which Dru Hill served up the other week. For a while, Hall was one of the brightest new lights in UK R’n’B winning a MOBO in 1998 and being the first UK artist to be voted ‘Best Male Artist’ by readers of Blues & Soul magazine in 1999. However, after releasing three albums and appearing in the hit film Love Actually, Hall was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma and died in 2006 aged just 31 following complications resulting from the stem cell transplant he received in 2005. He had been in remission at the time of his death.

Theakston’s pinching my lines! In his intro to the next artist he says “Next up, looking more like Blondie than…erm…Blondie, it’s The Cardigans”. I made that connection in my review of the 16 October show when I said of the band’s performance of “My Favourite Game”:

“Persson looks effortlessly cool up there on stage in this performance with her peroxide blond hair backlit by the studio lights making her look more like Debbie Harry than Debbie Harry did in the late 90s”

OK, I’m not claiming that I was unique in coming to that conclusion – it’s hardly a startling revelation that nobody else could possibly have made. In fact, it’s a blindingly obvious comparison but even so. It’s more evidence to add to my increasingly large file named ‘Jamie Theakston’s a bit of a prick’. I may have more to add later.

Seemingly not content with this fake backstage set up, we were now getting more and more personal video messages from artists introducing their own promos. Last week we had Michael Stipe with a segue into REM’s latest release and now here was Bono to lead us into U2’s single “The Sweetest Thing”. Released to promote their greatest hits compilation “The Best Of 1980 – 1990”, it did what it said on the tin in that it is a sweet song with a sweet story behind it. Written by Bono for his wife Ali to apologise for being in the recording studio and forgetting her birthday, it was originally released as a B-side to the 1987 single “Where The Streets Have No Name”. However, it was polished up and re-recorded for inclusion on that aforementioned Best Of album.

The song is simple yet tuneful but is turned into something else by the attendant video which saw Bono on a carriage ride across the Georgian mile in Dublin. In an attempt to apologise to his wife, he enlists various performers to join him along the journey including Boyzone*, the boxer Steve Collins, members of the Riverdance cast, some Chippendales, and the Artane Boys marching band who not only had links to U2 (drummer Larry Mullen Jr was once a member) but to the wider rock world via the appearance of some of their number on the artwork for INXS’s 1992 album “Welcome To Wherever You Are”. All of this undoubtedly adds to the charm of the video but for me, it works mainly because Bono doesn’t attempt to mine along instead remaining facing the camera with his mouth closed throughout. With his hat and wraparound glasses he reminds me slightly of Elvis Costello here. “The Sweetest Thing” debuted at No 3 on a chart that made history with the entire Top 5 made up of brand new singles for the first time ever.

*Apparently Boyzone recorded their own version of “The Sweetest Thing” but the record company suits didn’t think it sounded like a Boyzone track and any plans for a potential release were permanently scrapped. Searches of the internet have not revealed any trace of their version of the song which is probably for the best.

After Lyndon David Hall earlier, we now get another UK R’n’B artist, also from London who also won a MOBO award (two actually), who was also making their TOTP debut and who I was also not expecting much from but whose song I surprisingly thought was not bad. Kele Le Roc (real name Kelly Biggs) whom I’m beginning to think of as a female version of Lyndon David Hall so closely did their career trajectories run in parallel, would have two Top 10 hits to her name by the end of the 90s starting with this one – “Little Bit Of Lovin’” featuring a vocal that reminds me of Randy Crawford. In 2001, she would team up with Basement Jaxx on the No 6 hit “Romeo” and would go on to work with such dance luminaries as Shy FX and T Power. She would trump all of the above though in 2020 when she collaborated on a version of Baby D’s “Let Me Be Your Fantasy” with Gok Wan – no really!

Back to 1998 though and “Little Bit Of Lovin’” was co-written by Robbie Nevil who had that hit “C’est La Vie” back in 1987. He couldn’t have had anything to do with coming up with Kelly’s stage name could he? “C’est La Vie”? Kele Le Roc? Please yourselves!

From a group who’d been around for 20 odd years (U2) to a TOTP debut (Kele Le Roc) to…how would you describe Alanis Morissette at this point in her career? An established artist? Yeah, let’s go with that. Certainly, the monster success of her “Jagged Little Pill” album had positioned her squarely in that category. However, with that level of profile comes expectation and the task of following her breakthrough third studio album was daunting to say the least. In the end, topping sales of 33 million worldwide proved unachievable and “Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie” sold a quarter of the copies of its predecessor. Still, 8 million units shifted is hardly too shabby.

Lead single “Thank U” was a strong introduction to the album. A multi-faceted track based around an hypnotic drum loop sample from Sly And The Family Stone, it was also very suitable for daytime radio play – Morissette was canny enough not to veer too far away from the sound that had made her a superstar. Then there were its lyrics which added an extra layer of depth. Telling the tale of her inner epiphany of self knowledge following a trip to India, they were more personal in nature than many a mainstream hit would normally feature. However, what really caused a splash weren’t its sonic properties but the visual ones that went with the video. Featuring a totally nude Alanis wondering around various public locations in Downtown Los Angeles, it was an arresting promo to say the least. Thankfully there was no chance of Morissette being actually arrested herself on public indecency charges as it was filmed in a closed set. It would become her highest charting single in the UK when it peaked at No 5 as, despite “Jagged Little Pill” containing five hits, none of them got higher than No 7. It’s the video that we see here in another example of the relaxing of executive producer Chris Cowey’s no video policy albeit that we get a personal message from Alanis introducing it (another Cowey innovation).

And so we arrive at an artist whose first hit was in 1965! Yes, it’s Cher who, rather surprisingly, would have the UK’s biggest selling single of 1998 with “Believe”. Our host’s intro does, as I suspected, provide me with some more evidence for my ‘Jamie Theakston’s a bit of a prick’ file when he says of Cher “She’s no spring chicken but she’s still a top bird”. As this will be No 1 for seven weeks, I think I’ll just finish this post with some of its chart facts:

  • No 1 in 23 countries
  • As of 2017, “Believe” had sold 1,830,000 copies in the UK making it the biggest selling single by a female artist in UK chart history
  • As of 2025, it was certified 5 times platinum by the BPI
  • In the US, “Believe” was ranked the number one song of 1999 on both the Billboard Hot 100 and the Hot Dance Club Play charts
Order of appearanceArtistTitleDid I buy it?
1Culture ClubI Just Wanna Be LovedNegative
2The Beautiful SouthPerfect 10Its a no
3Lyndon David HallSexy CinderellaI did not
4The CardigansMy Favourite GameGood tune but no
5U2The Sweetest ThingNope
6Kele Le RocLittle Bit Of Lovin’Nah
7Alanis MorissetteThank UNo
8CherBelieveI did not

Disclaimer

I make no claim to the rights of this show and all ownership and contents including logos and graphics belongs totally to the BBC or copyright holder(s).

All opinions on the music and artists featured are my own. Sorry if you don’t agree

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m002ms9b/top-of-the-pops-30101998