Classic Pop April 2019

With his Purple Rain

Tour winding towards

its end, Prince announces

that he is about to stop live

performances completely.

THIS MONTH IN...

IN OUR ROUND-UP OF APRIL 1985’s BIGGEST

MOMENTS IN POP, A-HA RELEASE TAKE ON ME,

WHAM! GO TO CHINA, FREDDIE MERCURY GOES

SOLO AND USA FOR AFRICA HIT THE TOP SPOT...

JOHNNY BLACK

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© REX

Alone Again Or play at the Marquee club

in London. After a name change to The

Shamen, they will fi nd greater success in

1992 with their controversial No.1 hit

Ebeneezer Goode.

A

-ha release their single Take On Me. It will, however, not
make a signifi cant impact in the charts until it’s re-released
in September.
Norwegian trio A-ha moved to London in January 1983.
With their fi nely-chiselled good looks, they had the makings of
classic pop heartthrobs, but lived on the breadline until October
1984 when they released their fi rst version of Take On Me, which
they had been working on since their earliest days back in Oslo.
“The theme from Take On Me is the very fi rst thing I heard Pål and
Mags play together,” Morten Harket has recalled. “I said right
away, ‘That’s going to be a hit.’ Even though the single fl oundered,
they remained convinced that it could be successful and re-recorded it with top producer Alan
Tarney, before reissuing it in April 1985. It fl opped again but, fortunately, Warner Brothers
in the US was as convinced as the band that it had potential. Warner’s stumped up for a
spectacular £125,000 video directed by Steve Barron, which blended animation with live
action, and it did the trick. In October 1985 Take On Me went to No.1 in the US, before going
on to rack up three million American radio plays and 36 million sales worldwide.

The compilation Hits 2

ousts Paul Young’s

The Secret Of Association

from the top of the UK

albums chart. It will spend

a total of six weeks

at No.1.

Journalist Neil

Tennant quits Smash

Hits magazine to

pursue a full-time

career with his newly-

formed synth-pop

duo Pet Shop Boys.

© Nancy Bundt

© REX