MONTEGO BAY – AMAZULU

Chart performance:

Week	Position	Movement	Comments
01-Mar-87	30	New
15-Mar-87	25	RE
22-Mar-87	16	+9*	Star rater/Peak
29-Mar-87	16	0	Peak
05-Apr-87	20	-4
12-Apr-87	18	+2
19-Apr-87	19	-1
26-Apr-87	21	-2
03-May-87	24	-3
10-May-87	17	+7	Biggest climber/Star rater
17-May-87	21	-4

* This would be the biggest climb any song would see the week after re-entering the charts.

Written by: Bobby Bloom & Jeff Barry
Produced by: Andy Hill
South African record label (unless otherwise stated): Island

Hit number for artist	2
Peak position	16
Weeks	11
Biggest climber awards	1
Star rater climbs	2
Biggest faller awards	0
Top 20 points	20
Overall Top 20 points ranking	=1994
Top 20 points ranking for the artist	1
Top 30 Points	114
Overall Top 30 points ranking	=1733
Top 30 points ranking for the artist	1

Annual ranking:

1987

74

Other chart success:

Canada	6
Ireland	14
UK	16
US	90

Thew song was first recorded by Bobby Bloom, who co-wrote the track with Jeff Barry. Bloom’s version would peak at 5 on our charts. Using a top 30 points basis, Amazulu’s version would rank 13^th out of the 21 which noted Jeff Barry as a song writer. Andy Hill, who produced the song, would also produce Bucks Fizz’s ‘Making Your Mind Up’.

Video:

Artist link: Amazulu

EXCITABLE – AMAZULU

Chart performance:

Week	Position	Movement	Comments
09-Feb-86	29	New
16-Feb-86	30	-1
23-Feb-86	25	+5	Star rater
02-Mar-86	23	+2
09-Mar-86	23	0
16-Mar-86	22	+1	Peak
23-Mar-86	24	-2

Written by: Harry Bogdanovs
Produced by: Christopher Neil
South African record label (unless otherwise stated): Island

Hit number for artist	1
Peak position	22
Weeks	7
Biggest climber awards	0
Star rater climbs	1
Biggest faller awards	0
Top 20 points	N/A
Overall Top 20 points ranking	N/A
Top 20 points ranking for the artist	N/A
Top 30 Points	41
Overall Top 30 points ranking	=2208
Top 30 points ranking for the artist	2

Annual ranking:

1986

=95

Other chart success:

Belgium	18
Ireland	29
Netherlands	41
UK	12

Harry Bogdanovs, who wrote the song, would work with David Knopfler (founding member of Dire Straits and brother of Mark Knopfler) and would write John Farnham’s ‘Pressure Down’ and Toyah’s ‘World In Action’.

Video:

Artist link: Amazulu

AMAZULU (UK)

Amazulu were a UK band fronted by Anne-Marie Ruddock. They took their name from a South Africa play after getting permission from the playwright to use it. There was a further local connection as the band’s guitarist was Margo Sagov who was born in SA. They would manage 9 UK chart hits and 1 US hit. Their best performer in the UK was ‘Too Good To Be Forgotten’ which got to number 5 and their US hit was a cover of ‘Montego Bay’ which made it to number 90 (#16 in the UK). ‘Montego Bay’ was a cover of a 1970 hit for Bobby Bloom and both Amazulu and Bloom’s versions made our charts.

Date of entry	Song	Peak (weeks at 1)	Weeks
09-Feb-1986	Excitable	22	7
01-Mar-1987	Montego Bay	16	11
		Total hits	2
		Total weeks	18

Biggest climber awards	1
Star rater climbs	3
Biggest fallers	0
Weeks with oldest in the charts	0
Longest run in the charts (weeks)	10*
Weeks with more than 1 in the charts	0
Biggest gap between hits (weeks)	48
Top 30 points ranking	=862
Top 20 points ranking	=1061
Top 30 points	155
Top 20 points	20

* While ‘Montego Bay’ managed 11 weeks, it did so in a broken run of 1 week then, after a week’s absence, it returned to the chart for a 10 week run.