A Journey Through Stock Aitken Waterman

Our journey reaches the end of 1987 with Stock Aitken Waterman's bid for the UK Christmas number 1 slot: a double A-side release from Rick Astley that combined his cover of "When I Fall In Love" with…

With Rick Astley and "Never Gonna Give You Up" riding high around the world, two singles were released in an attempt to capitalise on that success. The first was a duet between O'chi Brown and Rick t…

It was the end of an era as the final Dead Or Alive single produced by Stock Aitken Waterman was released. And although "I'll Save You All My Kisses" wasn't the biggest of hits, that song and the sto…

It's hard to imagine that a song as phenomonally successful as "Never Gonna Give You Up" sat on the shelf at PWL for months before finally being released in mid-1987, but that's exactly what happened…

By now, Stock Aitken Waterman had made a name for themselves as hitmakers — and that was begining to rub some people the wrong way. In response to the haters and the perception that they could only d…

It was a match made in pop music heaven: Sinitta and Stock Aitken Waterman. But although the idea of the "So Macho" star recording at the Hit Factory seems like a no-brainer now, it didn't happen ove…

The Hit Factory era was in full swing by mid-1987, with three of the singles in this episode being major international hits. Samantha Fox came to work with Stock Aitken Waterman — and their collabora…

Stock Aitken Waterman had their hands full with music legends in early 1987. First, they put together charity ensemble record "Let It Be" by Ferry Aid. Former PWL Records MD David Howells joins us to…

The journey through SAW gets back underway with another game-changing hit produced by Stock Aitken Waterman. Breaking the team's follow-up curse, Mel & Kim's second single, "Respectable" bucked the u…

In the second episode dedicated to Phil Harding and Ian Curnow's PWL years, we discuss more of the projects the songwriting and production team worked on at the Hit Factory, including the first singl…

In the first of two special episodes, we take a look at some of the other music coming out of PWL from 1987 onwards. With Stock Aitken Waterman's workload increasing, long-time mixmaster Phil Harding…

Duo Morgan McVey might not have had a hit, but not only did Jamie Morgan and Cameron McVey go on to incredibly successful careers individually, but their Stock Aitken Waterman-produced single, "Looki…

They'd become household names as part of Wham!, and in 1987, Pepsi & Shirlie kicked off their pop career as a duo with smash hit single "Heartache". In this episode, we hear from the pair, who have j…

As we reach the end of the Stock Aitken Waterman-produced singles from 1986, we hear for one last time from Phil Fearon, about his remake of "Ain't Nothing But A House Party", and Youth and June Mont…

What a mixed bag of SAW-produced singles we have in this episode, including the fifth and final PWL release by Princess, a Latin-flavoured tune by music legend Georgie Fame, the second single by pop/…

In an exclusive interview, Kim Appleby reveals all the details behind Mel & Kim's debut single. From the story of how she and sister Mel were discovered to the song they almost released instead of "S…

It was meant to be the song that launched his solo career, but things didn't go to plan for Austin Howard, who recorded "I'm The One Who Really Loves You" with Stock Aitken Waterman for the soundtrac…

We discuss a trio of new artists working with Stock Aitken Waterman for the first time, as well as a trio who were coming off the back of a massive SAW-produced hit. First up, it's Galaxy frontman Ph…

In our biggest episode yet, we look at the next four SAW-produced singles to be released in 1986, including "Tell Me Tomorrow", which was featured in the film Knights & Emeralds — and we hear from Pr…

Another major turning point in the Stock Aitken Waterman story came when they began working with girl group Bananarama. SAW hadn't had a major hit since "Say I'm Your Number One" and Bananarama's las…