Founded in 1970 by
Chris Amoo, Dave Smith, Kenny Davis and Ray Lake, the Real Thing's live, progressive soul-influenced covers of American hits attracted enough attention for them to secure a recording deal with
EMI. In 1976, they released their first album,
Real Thing. The album included both of their hit singles as well as a third UK hit, "You'll Never Know What You're Missing", which peaked at No. 16. They continued recording prolifically, releasing a steady stream of subsequent albums: 1977's
Four from Eight (originally to have been called
Liverpool 8 in honour of the racially mixed, economically depressed neighbourhood in which they grew up, before Pye rejected the title), 1978's
Step into Our World, (reissued in 1979 as
Can You Feel the Force) and 1982's compilation
100 Minutes. In 1982, they returned to working with David Essex, performing as backing vocalists on his tour and they also performed as backing vocalists on Essex's 1982 top 20 hit "Me and My Girl (Nightclubbing)" appearing with him on
Top of the Pops. After a label change to RCA, they scored a dance-floor hit, reaching No. 50 on the Music Week "Top Disco & Dance Songs" chart as well as No. 58 on the UK Disco chart published in
Record Mirror and radio playlisted with a single specially written for them by
Lynsey De Paul and
Terry Britten, called "
We Got Love (Real Thing)" produced by
Nick Martinelli in 1984. The song received positive reviews, spending 6 weeks on the UK Top 200 charts and peaking at peaking at #118. The song was included on a greatest hits of 1984 compilation released by Team Records in Indonesia as well as on the album
Black Magic. In 1986, the band enjoyed another chart resurgence with the remixing of several of their hits. "You to Me Are Everything (The Decade Remix)" by
DJ Froggy,
Simon Harris and KC charted twice in the UK, peaking at No. 5 during a 12-week run in spring and returning in June for an additional week at No. 72. Ray Lake took his own life on 9 March 2000. He was suffering from a heroin addiction. In 2002,
Daft Punk's Thomas Bangalter teamed up with DJ Falcon to release a single under the name of Together, which sampled the Real Thing's 1977 song "
Love's Such a Wonderful Thing". The song was entitled "So Much Love to Give". It became a big club hit (though the single only peaked at No. 71 in the UK charts for Bangalter & Falcon), so much so that a number of other dance records used the same sample over the following years. One of these releases was by
N-Trance's Kevin O'Toole and Dale Longworth, who covered "So Much Love to Give" under the name of
Freeloaders and released it as a single crediting the Real Thing's vocal contribution unlike the earlier French duo's release. The single, released by
AATW in 2005, peaked at No. 9 in the UK charts, giving The Real Thing their sixth Top Ten hit (including remixes) and last hit single. Eddie Amoo died on 23 February 2018. On 28 January 2022, the duo released their first album in over 40 years. ==
Everything – The Real Thing Story==