Formation and early hits: Divine, Hazell Dean, Dead or Alive (1984–1985) Musician
Mike Stock had briefly worked with DJ
Pete Waterman in 1980 when John Milton, Mark Stock and Mike wrote a song – "One Nine for a Lady Breaker" – for a
CB radio club. A version of the track found its way to Waterman who managed
Peter Collins, then a successful producer with acts like
Musical Youth and
Nik Kershaw. The track was re-recorded and produced by Collins; Stock sang on the track under the alias Chris Britton. In January 1984, Stock and songwriter
Matt Aitken arranged to meet Waterman at his office in the
Stiff Records building,
Camden Town. Waterman was seeking a new partnership and in February they went into the Marquee Studio in
Wardour Street Soho to record the song "The Upstroke" for Agents Aren't Aeroplanes – a front for their concept of a female
Frankie Goes To Hollywood. The record was released on Proto Records run by
Barry Evangeli and Nick East and distributed by
RCA and was championed by
Radio 1's
John Peel. It achieved popularity in the
gay clubs and discos where many new records were promoted into the mainstream as
Hi-NRG. In 1983, Stock had been approached by
Andy Paul, a Greek Cypriot, to write a song for
Cyprus in the
Eurovision Song Contest. "
Anna Maria Lena" was voted by the Cypriot public to represent their country in the competition and the re-recorded version would be Stock and Aitken's second collaboration with Waterman. Soon after, the team recorded
Hazell Dean's "
Whatever I Do, (Wherever I Go)". The song became Stock Aitken Waterman's first Top 10 hit, reaching No. 4 in the UK. This period saw a rapid refining of the core production team and their roles, with a fourth collaborator, Pete Ware, who was co-credited on the team's earliest records, leaving after Stock and Aitken objected to him taking a job touring with Dean. In September 1984, SAW were approached by
Dead or Alive frontman
Pete Burns to produce the song "
You Spin Me Round (Like a Record)", which became SAW's first UK No. 1 in March 1985. Although a massive commercial success, the trio were still in dire financial straits and the record set the scene for SAW's often fractious creative relationship with those bands and artists who demanded creative involvement in their records. Engineer
Phil Harding, who mixed the track, said tensions were running so high between the band members and producers Stock and Aitken during mixing, that it almost escalated to violence. Stock has disputed the seriousness of studio tensions, alleging that Burns, Harding and Waterman have all "exaggerated" what happened in their recounting of events. The result was a pop/hi-NRG reworking which became a worldwide chart hit, reaching No. 1 on the US
Billboard Hot 100 chart in July 1986 and reaching the Top 10 in the UK and many other countries. Bananarama went on to make Stock, Aitken and Waterman their main producers, and would collaborate with them on some of their biggest hits, including "
Love in the First Degree" (UK No. 3), "
I Can't Help It" (UK No. 20), and "
I Heard a Rumour" (UK No. 14). The act were one of only a few who were given co-writing credits with the producers, with Stock describing the creative relationship as challenging; explaining he was obliged to collaborate with them due to a deal with their management. "It's very difficult to be creative if someone's just going to mock you, or laugh at you," he said. "With Bananarama it was just awkward, all the time very awkward, and I didn't feel comfortable writing with them."
Rick Astley, Ferry Aid (1987) In 1987,
Rick Astley recorded the team's biggest hit – "
Never Gonna Give You Up" – though initially Stock and Aitken were unsure of its appeal with Astley's strong but unorthodox voice. When it was released by
RCA, "Never Gonna Give You Up" went straight to No. 1 in 17 different countries including America and the UK where it became the biggest selling record of 1987. Astley's fourth single, "
Together Forever" also topped the
Billboard Hot 100. That year SAW produced "
Let It Be" in aid of the victims involved in the
Zeebrugge Ferry disaster, and Stock got the chance to work with his musical inspiration
Paul McCartney whose original recordings of
the Beatles were sent to the production team by producer
George Martin. "
Let It Be" went to No. 1 in the UK where it stayed for three weeks. In 1989, SAW would have another No. 1 with McCartney on the
Gerry and the Pacemakers hit – "
Ferry Cross the Mersey" – recorded to raise funds for the victims and their families of the
Hillsborough Disaster.
The assembly line Following their early success, SAW's style evolved into a more mainstream
synthpop, typically performed by attractive singers. Their usual method for creating the music was to write the songs themselves, although some of their early artists wrote or co-wrote their own material. SAW's early work was recorded and mixed at Marquee Studios in
Wardour Street, where Phil Harding and Rob Waldron worked with Dead or Alive on
Youthquake. Waldron went to work as an assistant engineer to Harding when Waterman opened his new studio in
Borough, London. Waldron became the chief recording engineer and
Linn 9000 programmer (A Linn) and Harding was the mixer/remixer. The tendency toward interchanging artists and repertoire was well established when
Rick Astley's breakout album
Whenever You Need Somebody got its name and title track from a minor hit the trio had produced a year earlier for
O'Chi Brown. Similarly, many of their songs were tried out and recorded by multiple artists;
Mel and Kim,
Pepsi and Shirlie and
Sinitta all recorded the song "Who's Gonna Catch You", both
Kylie Minogue and
Mandy Smith recorded "Got To Be Certain", whilst
Mel and Kim,
Carol Hitchcock and
Hazell Dean gave vocals for "More Than Words Can Say". Their prodigious,
production line–like output and similar song structures led to them being referred to as the Hit Factory, and attracted criticism from many quarters, including
The Guardian newspaper, who unflatteringly dubbed the team, "Schlock, Aimless and Waterdown".
Kylie Minogue, Jason Donovan, Band Aid II (1988–1989) In 1987, Waterman formed
PWL (the in-house label of SAW) and one of the first artists to be released on the label was Australian soap star,
Kylie Minogue. Stock was informed by Minogue's manager, Terry Blamey, that she had been in London for ten days waiting to work with SAW though Waterman had not informed Stock. By the time Minogue entered the studio, she was due on a plane back to Australia later that day. In forty minutes Stock and Aitken had written the song, "
I Should Be So Lucky", recorded a backing track and Minogue's vocals. The single was released by PWL in February 1988 and climbed to the No. 1 spot in March where it stayed for five weeks, the joint longest running No. 1 of 1988. It also went to No. 1 in 25 other territories including Minogue's native country
Australia. With demand for a follow-up single, Minogue was not keen on returning to England to work with SAW again after the rushed treatment she had received. Stock flew to Australia to meet Minogue and her parents at her
Melbourne home to apologise and successfully convinced her to record a follow-up single "
Got to Be Certain", which reached No. 2 on the UK charts. When her debut album
Kylie was released in August 1988 it sold 2.8 million copies. Minogue spent more weeks on the singles chart that year than any other artist. Minogue went on to record three more studio albums with SAW, scoring fifteen successive Top 10 UK hits including "
Je Ne Sais Pas Pourquoi" (No. 2), "
Hand on Your Heart" (No. 1), "
Wouldn't Change a Thing" (No. 2), "
Tears on My Pillow" (No. 1), "
Better the Devil You Know" (No. 2) and "
Shocked" (No. 6). Soon after,
Jason Donovan's first single, "Nothing Can Divide Us", became a Top 5 hit in both England and Australia. Donovan's next single, "
Especially for You", a duet with Kylie Minogue, went to No. 1 in January 1989. A duet had not initially been planned by SAW until retailer
Woolworths had taken huge orders for hundreds of thousands before the song had even been written. Stock wrote "
Especially for You", sang the demo with a SAW backing singer and Aitken flew to Australia to record Minogue and Donovan's vocals in time for a Christmas release. Donovan returned to the studio to record the song "
Too Many Broken Hearts", which went to No. 1 in March 1989. His debut album
Ten Good Reasons also held to the top spot for three weeks, selling 1.5 million copies. Donovan went on to have numerous successful singles with SAW, including the No. 1 hit "
Sealed with a Kiss", "
Every Day (I Love You More)" (No. 2), and the Christmas No. 2 record "
When You Come Back to Me", kept off the top spot by the
Band Aid II SAW record "
Do They Know It's Christmas?".
Donna Summer, Cliff Richard and later work (1989–1993) In 1989, SAW had their most successful year with seven UK No. 1s (a feat equalled only by
George Martin in 1963) and fifteen Top 5 hits. During that year, SAW wrote and produced over seven albums' worth of material for artists such as
Kylie Minogue,
Jason Donovan,
Bananarama,
Donna Summer,
Cliff Richard and
Paul McCartney. The team supplied Summer with "
This Time I Know It's for Real", which became her biggest hit in the
United Kingdom since 1979, reaching No. 3, and becoming Summer's final Top 10 hit on the US
Billboard Hot 100. In January 1990, SAW had their last UK No. 1 single, Minogue's cover of "
Tears on My Pillow". SAW also produced
Cliff Richard's No. 3 single "
I Just Don't Have the Heart" and gave 18-year-old singer
Sonia a debut No. 1 with "
You'll Never Stop Me Loving You". Despite continued success in the early-1990s with Minogue's singles and
Lonnie Gordon's "
Happenin' All Over Again" (No. 4), the partnership began to disband. The week of 13 October 1990 became the first with no SAW-produced singles in the UK Top 75 in over two years. In mid-1991, Aitken left the team due to stress and deep dissatisfaction with business and creative decisions made by Waterman. Stock stayed with Waterman to write and produce Minogue's fourth album, ''
Let's Get to It'',
Sybil's 1993 hits, "
The Love I Lost" (No. 3) and "
When I'm Good and Ready" (No. 5), and
Boy Krazy's "
That's What Love Can Do" (which made it to No. 18 in the US). Later that year, Stock ended his relationship with Waterman following a disagreement over their finances; by the end of their partnership, SAW had written and/or produced over 300 Top 75 hits and 30 platinum albums.
Recent times In 2005, the three producers reunited again and released a CD+DVD album,
Stock Aitken Waterman Gold, with some of their best-known and most successful singles. In 2007, SAW released
the Sheilas' single "
(I'm So) Happy Happy (You're Mine)", which reached No. 91 in the UK. A reunion concert event called
Hit Factory Live took place on 21 December 2012 at London's
O2 Arena featuring many of the acts associated with Waterman's record labels. In December 2015, SAW made a return producing a remix of the
Chris Martin-written Minogue song "
Every Day's Like Christmas". Stock and Waterman collaborated on the
UK Eurovision 2010 entry "
That Sounds Good to Me". It was revealed in the final round of
Eurovision: Your Country Needs You on
BBC One, in which
Josh Dubovie eventually earned the right to perform the song at the contest. He finished in 25th place in the
Eurovision Song Contest 2010, receiving 10 points in total. In 2023, the trio reunited for the filming of the
Channel 5 documentary
Legends of Pop: Stock Aitken Waterman, each giving interviews both individually and as a group. On 21 March 2023, it was announced that a musical entitled ''
I Should Be So Lucky, making use of SAW songs, would premiere at the Manchester Opera House before embarking on a UK tour. The musical is written and directed by the creator of the Nativity! franchise, Debbie Isitt, and choreographed by Jason Gilkison, the creative director of Strictly Come Dancing''. ==UK number-one hits==