Pat & Mick
by Mark Nobes
Aside from his legendary mullet and his time presenting the children's TV show Fun House, one of the other memories I have of Pat Sharp in the 80s is when he teamed up with fellow radio presenter Mick Brown, to form a pop duo. Okay, so Pet Shop Boys were hardly quaking in their boots in terms of the competition, but Pat and Mick did, at least, donate their royalties to charity.
Starting in 1988, the duo released a charity pop single very year until 1993, donating all of the proceeds to Capitol FM's charity Help A London Child. Each song was produced by Stock Aitken & Waterman.
Although they were never going to win an award for "vocalist of the year", they certainly put on an enthusiastic and energetic performance in all of their videos and Top Of The Pops appearances, and you have to admire them for that!
The duo's 1988 debut single "Let's All Chant" was a cover of the 1977 single by the Michael Zager Band, and was released with "On The Night" on the B-side, reaching No.11 in the UK singles chart. In the video above, you can see Pat & Mick performing on Top Of The Pops, and they are introduced by Radio One DJ's Gary Davies and Nicky Campbell - note the latter's chinos and bracers, which I remember were hugely popular in the late 80s.
For their second single, the pair chose to cover the 1977 one hit wonder "I Haven't Stopped Dancing Yet" by the British funk disco band Gonzalez, which originally reached No.15 in the UK. Pat and Mick's version reached No.9 for one week on April 2nd 1989, while Madonna was at No.1 with her controversial single "Like A Prayer".
Odyssey's No.1 hit from 1980 "Use It Up And Wear It Out" was covered for their third single release in 1990, reaching No.22 in the UK Singles Chart".
The duo also released the single "Ole Ole Ole" under the name L. A. Mood which reached was a commercial flop, stalling at No.78 in the UK.
In 1991, the duo released two singles "Gimme Some" which reached No.53 and "The Concrete Megamix", which failed to chart.
For their 1992 single, the DJ's chose to cover the disco hit "Shake Your Groove Thing" by Peaches & Herb, which did not chart.
The final single to be released by the duo was a cover of the 1983 song "Hot Hot Hot" by Arrow, which originally reached No.59. Pat and Mick's cover charted higher, reaching No.47. That song is a firm favourite of mine.
In 1993, a compilation album including all their singles was released, which was entitled Don't Stop Dancing.
This video features the 1990 12" version of "Use It Up and Wear It Out", and for the production, it sounds like they've been heavily influenced by "Pump Up The Jam" by Technotronic. Pat Sharp can't leave the 80s behind, though, and dons double denim for this video.
