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"Love Train" was Holly Johnson's first solo single after Frankie GTH disbanded, and reached No.4 in the UK Charts in 1989, and #65 in the Billboard Hot 100 in the U.S. It didn't have the most original of titles, but was a solid debut single, nonetheless, and went down well in the clubs.

The club-friendly tune gained a lot of arplay on the commercial radio stations, and while the lyrics were a world away from those he helped pen for the Frankie singles, Johnson did manage to slip in an innuendo that could've given DJ Mike Read a heart attack - "You're just right to keep me up all night". Coupled with a video that looked like it was set in toy town, this was shear genius!

Although the song didn't feature an epic production by Trevor Horn, it was a jaunty slice of melodic pop that, in terms of commercial appeal, was almost perfect.

The second single from the Blast album stayed in the UK charts for 11 weeks, and just like Love Train, also peaked at No.4. The song was No.1 in Austria and No.2 in Germany. 

There were around a dozen remix versions of Americanos, including the Mambo Dub Mix and Liberty Mix which featured on the CD single version. The Justin Strauss Extended Mix featured on a reissued two CD version of the Blast album in 2010 which featured 30 tracks. The original Justin Strauss mix and extended mix originally featured on a U.S promotional CD released in 1989.

Following the success of these two singles, the album Blast was quickly released by MCA, and this rocketed straight to no.1. Two more singles were also released from the album, "Atomic City", a dramatic, anti-nuclear track produced by Dan Hartman, and "Heaven's Here, a lyrically impressive love song which featured a tea-time chorus.

For anyone wanting to create a hit single in the 80s, Blast provided the perfect lesson on how to do it. It featured ten melodic tracks that were a world away from Trevor Horn's ginormous productions, and had just the right mix of ingredients to make a No.1 album. And Johnson ingeniously managed to slide his political views into songs that had teen pop choruses.  

An imaginatively titled remix album Hollelujah was released in 1990 and featured a Frankie Knuckles remix of "Love Train", plus remixes of "Americanos", "Atomic City", "Perfume" and "Heaven's Here", plus the title track Hollelujah.

1991 was not the best of years for Holly Johnson, and it's one he'd probably rather forget about. 

He released a second studio album on the MCA label Dream's That Money Can't Buy, but soon discovered that MCA hadn't bothered setting aside a promotional budget for the album. Combined with a lack of airplay for the first single, "Where Has Love Gone?", the album and lead single failed to break into the UK top 40. 

It seems incredible that Johnson was treated with such disrespect, particularly after the success of the previous No.1 album on their label. Having said that, the singles were not quite as well crafted or as infectious as his two top 5 hits from Blast.

Another two singles were also released from the album, "Across The Universe" and "The People Want To Dance", which, inevitably, both failed to reach the UK Top 40. However, I do remember a clip of the video for "Across The Universe" being shown on the Saturday morning TV show Going Live. Sarah Greene was pretty enthusiastic about it, at least.

Unsurprisingly, Johnson left MCA during 1991.

1991 was also the year that the singer discovered he was HIV positive, and he decided to withdraw from the public eye.

1994 was a particularly productive year for the musician. The single "Love and Hate" was produced and written by Holly Johnson, with Ryuichi Sakamoto also having a hand in the lyric writing. It was released to promote Sakamoto's new album, with Johnson the main star of the video.

Ryuichi Sakamoto is a Japanese musician who was originally a keyboardist for the electronic act Yellow Magic Orchestra, who formed in 1978 and disbanded in 1983. As a solo artist, Sakamoto has released 38 solo albums, and teamed up with 80s band Aztec Camera in 1993 on the single Dreamland.

Holly performed a set at the 80s Rewind Festival in England during the summer of 2011, and in Scotland during July 2012. He also made a guest appearance on a cover of The Hollies He Ain't Heavy He's My Brother by the Justice Collective, which was released in December 2012 and became the UK Christmas No.1 single - proceeds went to charities associated with the Hillsborough stadium disaster. 

Also during December, Gabrielle Aplin hit the No.1 spot with her cover of Frankie Goes To Hollywood's single The Power Of Love, which means that Holly had a hand in two number one singles in the same month!

Johnson made further appearance as 80s Rewind and other music festivals after 2012. 

Four singles were released from the album in total, with the final single Dancing With No Fear reaching #2 in the UK vinyl charts in 2015.

Johnson embarked on his first UK solo tour, "Dancing with No Fear", and released limited copies of a live album recorded during the tour entitled Unleashed From The Pleasuredome.

Holly is ready to go to war on 20th June 1984