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Saturday Night Retro

It was my 19TH Christmas on Earth back in 1985 – and my first away from home and away from my family. I was newly stationed in the USAF in the United Kingdom by 6½ weeks, so there was no chance at all that I could take leave and return back home stateside for the holidays.

While I have vivid memories of my two years spent living, working, and playing in the U.K. I don’t remember much from that Christmas of 1985 away from my loved ones. I don’t remember if I was invited out to a coworker’s home, or if I stayed at the dorm and walked to the chow hall for a very special dinner. It was obviously a cold and forgettable holiday season in my life back then.

Here’s a song that I actually do remember from that Christmas, for it was the coveted Christmas # 1 smash on the radio all across the British Isles. It’s from one of the biggest-selling male artists in British music history. He’s Shakin’ (‘Shaky’) Stevens, and THIS is “Merry Christmas Everyone” !

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The Major’s Friday Night Disco Party

Disco Ball

Last week at the ‘Disco Party’ I featured Tavares with their Bicentennial (Summer Of 1976) hit from up above – “Heaven Must Be Missing An Angel”. It’s 1 of about 20 TOP 40 hits since the rock era began (in the 1950s) that start with that very special word “Heaven”. You may also remember “Heaven” from Bryan Adams (and also DJ Sammy, Los Lonely Boys, and Warrant) – or how about Belinda Carlisle‘s # 1 smash from 1987 – “Heaven Is A Place On Earth”. There’s also Donna Summer‘s TOP 5 Disco smash “Heaven Knows”.

But this week I’ve got a Pointer Sister who branched out on her own during the late-1970s. She’s Bonnie Pointer, and she scored an incredible feat late in 1979. You see Disco allegedly died on a hot July night in 1979 at a Chicago White Sox baseball game. But a few leftover Disco songs on the charts never got the memo – including this one. Here’s Bonnie Pointer with “Heaven Must Have Sent You” – a TOP 15 Disco smash from the Autumn Of 1979 – several months after Disco allegedly died at Comiskey Park.

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History Holidays Music Radio

Saturday Night Retro

Starting next Saturday night and continuing through the remainder of December it’ll be a very ‘Retro’ Christmas with three consecutive Christmas hits in a row from Shakin’ Stevens, Band Aid, and José Feliciano. Be sure to not miss the festivity of that as we celebrate the reason for the season.

This week on the ‘Retro’ I’m flashing back a decade ago to 1999 for some cool European trance music. It’s from German DJ / Producer André Tanneberger – better known to his fans worldwide (including myself) as simply ‘ATB‘. In this 1999 European pop and dance smash featuring female vocalist Yolanda Rivera he simply wants us to keep on going – “Don’t Stop”. This song actually enjoyed later success on South Florida radio via the former PARTY-93.1 during August, September, and October 2002. That’s when I discovered it, and danced to it at the clubs in and around Orlando Florida. “DON’T … STOP“:

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History Music People Radio

The Major’s Friday Night Disco Party

Brothers Ralph, ‘Pooch’, ‘Chubby’, ‘Butch’, and ‘Tiny’ are Tavares, and the’re a long-running R & B and Disco act from New Bedford Mass. They achieved their greatest mainstream chart success during the mid-1970s at the peak of the Disco era, but they’ve been performing together as a group for 50 years !

This was their biggest selling hit to date – and their only gold-certified single. It’s their # 1 Disco smash “Heaven Must Be Missing An Angel”: