- Typically Tropical
Typically Tropical had an unexpected number one UK hit in August 1975, with the
song "Barbados".The band was actually a duo comprising Geraint Wyn Hughes and Jeffrey Calvert, who had met through Hughes' band, Quasar. They would write and record songs at Morgan Studios, where Calvert worked with his father, when no-one else was around. Calvert had been on holiday in
Barbados and based the song on his experiences. It was recorded with varioussession musician s, includingguitarist Chris Spedding ,drummer Clem Cattini , andVic Flick .Although the song, featuring mock vocals by Captain Tobias Wilcox (Hughes' alter ego) of Coconut Airways, was far from being genuine
reggae it was originally intended to be released on Trojan, but the little knownrecord label Gull Records came up with a better offer (reportedly £1,500). "Barbados" was ready for release in November 1974, but the label thought it best to wait until the nextsummer before releasing it."Barbados" entered the
UK Singles Chart on 5 July 1975, and five weeks later was at No.1 for one week. In total "Barbados" spent eleven weeks in the UK chart.The follow-up singles "Rocket Now" and "Ghost Story" failed to chart, and as a recording act the duo went their separate ways, billed forever as
one-hit wonders . Geraint Hughes (often billed and known as Max West), currently composes production library music. Jeff Calvert subsequently became a pilot, although not with Coconut Airways!Hughes and Calvert meanwhile continued to work in the studio together, writing
Sarah Brightman 's "I Lost My Heart to a Starship Trooper " in 1978, and later producingJudas Priest 'salbum , "Sad Wings of Destiny ". [http://www.thepodule.com/hits.html]"Barbados" was later successfully covered by the
Vengaboys in 1999 as "We're Going to Ibiza ".ee also
*
One-hit wonders in the UK
*List of artists who reached number one on the UK Singles Chart
*Number 1 Singles in Ireland 1975 External links
* [http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=11:gjfyxqwgldae~T1 Typically Tropical biography] at
Allmusic website
* [http://www.geocities.com/englshkid/tt.htm Fansite history of the duo]References
* "
Guinness Book of British Hit Singles " 7th Edition - 1988
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