The Story of Pop: 1998 (Chapter 42)

With another revisitation back to the UK singles charts as they looked 25 years ago this week, this is The Story of Pop: 1998. And here comes yet another huge chart hit from 1998…

• Artist: 911
• Song: More Than A Woman
• Released: 12/10/1998
• Writers / Producers: Barry Gibb / Maurice Gibb / Robin Gibb / Phil Harding / Ian Curnow
• Highest UK Chart Position: #2
• Weeks on Chart: 15

If there’s one thing boybands have in common with football teams – apart from the voracious fan loyalty and equally legendary rivalry – it’s that there’s also a bit of a pecking order which determines how big your band is.

In the 90s, if Take That, Boyzone and Backstreet Boys were Arsenal, Manchester United and Chelsea, the top Premier League of boybands, then others would be playing in Second or even Third Division, the Stockport County or Carlisle United of boybands. And 911 were most certainly in that hypothetical bracket; they arguably had a loyal fanbase, but perhaps not to the same mass crossover scale of some of their peers.

And in fact, Carlisle is the connector here. Formed in Glasgow in 1995, Jimmy Constable and Spike Dawbarn hailed from Liverpool and Warrington respectively, and had been dancers on The Hitman and Her, the early 90s late night music show on ITV, hosted by Pete Waterman and Michaela Strachan.

It was where, a few years previously, Jason Orange had got his break as a dancer, prior to joining Take That. Seeing how popular they had become, they said, in their words, that they wanted in. But knowing that they needed a singer to stand a chance of making it, Jimmy, speaking on ITV2’s The Big Reunion in 2013, said “The sooner we can get somebody in, the sooner we can get on the road and get some women. That’s all we were kind of in it for.”

Lee Brennan, a young singer and songwriter from Carlisle, was drafted in, and thus began their gradual ascent to the top through schools tours and under 18s nightclubs tours. After self releasing and funding a cover of Shalamar’s “A Night To Remember” as their first single in May 1996, they quickly signed a major label deal for £3.5 million with Virgin Records – and the hits kept on coming from there.

However, by the time 1998 rolled around, they were at something of a crossroads career wise. Their first album, The Journey, had been certified gold, and was home to many of their biggest hits to that point, including “Bodyshakin'” (#3 in May 1997). But things had stalled somewhat with the release of their second album, Moving On.

The first single from it, the genuinely brilliant “Party People… Friday Night” had hit the top 5 in October 1997. The album was expected to follow, but was pushed back continually for months – in part, owing to their touring schedule, but also their huge success in the Far East, where they were even more in demand than on home turf – but finally got its release after a third single, “How Do You Want Me To Love You?” in June 1998.

However, that single just scraped into the top 10 at #10, and was gone from the chart two weeks later. The Moving On album similarly failed to shift in the same numbers as their debut had. Speaking in 1999 on the BBC music programme The O Zone, they said that “How Do You Want Me To Love You?” was not a song that they had wanted to release, and it ultimately led to them parting ways with their original management company.

Suddenly, there was now a pressing need to get 911 back on top, and to give themselves the one thing they lacked to that point: a number one record. So they headed back to the studio to record their third album. There It Is was comprised entirely of cover versions, namely from old 70s and 80s numbers such as Rose Royce’s “I Wanna Get Next To You” and – perhaps more interestingly – Rick Astley’s “Never Gonna Give You Up”.

Alas, in a time before the Rick-rolling meme transcended the song and helped to establish it as a classic of the decade, it, along with the rest of the tracks on the album, was seen as a curious choice and a steel rod that critics used to whip 911 with over their apparent lack of originality. Now, it’s true to say boybands in the 90s often turned to cover versions, and some were indeed better than others. But, it kept the parents of young fans who recognised the original happy enough, and done right, it could result in pure pop magic.

Which is precisely what the album’s lead single achieved. “More Than A Woman” was instantly recognisable as one of The Bee Gees‘ best known songs. Recorded by the Gibb brothers for the soundtrack of the iconic Saturday Night Fever starring John Travolta in 1977, it was interestingly never officially released here in the UK as a single, although it did make the top 40 in the US and Australia off the back of the film’s success.

However, the US soul band Tavares – who had also recorded the original version of “It Only Takes A Minute” in 1975, that Take That then covered and enjoyed their first top 10 hit with in 1992, had also recorded “More Than A Woman”, and it too appeared on the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack, and they subsequently hit #7 with their version in November 1977.

Happily, 911’s decision to record the song just so happened to come about at the same time a multi artist charity tribute album to the Gibb brothers, titled Gotta Get A Message To You, was being put together. On the album were the likes of Cleopatra, Louise, Robbie Williams and The Lightning Seeds, as well as Steps, with their now legendary cover of “Tragedy” that would itself go onto be a chart topper.

Keeping the dazzling disco vibe of the original, the single was added to the tribute album, offering it great exposure, and was also added to the A List at Radio 1 over a month before its release. Notching up extensive airplay, it looked as if Lee, Jimmy and Spike were building a head of steam to finally achieve their biggest hit to date.

But despite holding a midweek lead, “More Than A Woman” was to stumble on the home straight as the Saturday sales were added, and the boys were ultimately caught at the death by “Gym and Tonic”, a barely remembered opportunistic sound alike cover by Spacedust of the immensely more popular “Gymtonic” by Bob Sinclar, a slice of French house in the Stardust vein of things, which had failed to be cleared for commercial release owing to its use of voice samples from a Jane Fonda workout video. Unsurprisingly, it was the lowest selling number one of 1998.

Still, 911 did debut at #2 to get their biggest hit to that point, and it eventually went onto be their third biggest seller in their overall career, with just under 200,000 copies sold. And they wouldn’t have long to wait to finally get their chart topper, as their next single, also from the There It Is album, “A Little Bit More“, originally by Dr. Hook, smashed in at number one in January the following year, as we covered on The Story of Pop: 1999.

Don’t forget to follow our brand new playlist on Spotify – updated weekly so you never miss a song from the story of pop in 1998. And you can leave your memories of the songs below in the comments, Tweet us or message us on Instagram, using the hashtag #StoryofPop1998.