Uptown Top Ranking

"Uptown Top Ranking" is a song and single by the Jamaican teenage singers Althea Forrest and Donna Reid, recorded when they were 17 and 18 years old respectively.[1]

"Uptown Top Ranking"
Single by Althea & Donna
B-side"Calico Suit"
Released1977
GenreReggae
Length3:53
LabelLightning
Songwriter(s)Althea & Donna, Errol Thompson
Producer(s)Joe Gibbs

Released in 1977, the song comprises the girls ad-libbing to deejay track "Three Piece Suit" by Trinity. The song was initially recorded as a joke. The record was played by accident by BBC Radio 1 DJ John Peel, resulting in numerous requests for additional plays.[2] With early championing by Peel and a performance on Top of the Pops, it soon became a surprise hit, reaching number 1 in the UK Singles Chart in February 1978.[1][3] The track spent a total of 11 weeks in the charts.[4] It was produced by Joe Gibbs,[1] using a re-recording of the riddim of the 1967 Alton Ellis song "I'm Still in Love", which had already been re-popularised in the 1970s by Marcia Aitken's cover "I'm Still in Love With You Boy", and "Three Piece Suit" by Trinity, to which "Uptown" was an "answer record".[5] The single's UK release was on the Lightning record label.[1]

The lyrics were written by the duo and Errol Thompson.[1][6] Althea & Donna became the youngest female duo to reach the number 1 place of the UK chart.[6]

Covers

The song was sampled in Abs Breen's 2002 UK Top 10 hit single, "What You Got".[7]


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See also

References
  1. Rice, Jo (1982). The Guinness Book of 500 Number One Hits (1st ed.). Enfield, Middlesex: Guinness Superlatives Ltd. p. 188. ISBN 0-85112-250-7.
  2. "One-Hit Wonders at the BBC". ... at the BBC. 17 April 2015. BBC. BBC Four.
  3. "Althia & Donna* / Mighty Two* – Up Town Top Ranking / Calico Suit". www.discogs.com. Retrieved 13 April 2012.
  4. Roberts, David (2006). British Hit Singles & Albums (19th ed.). London: Guinness World Records Limited. p. 349. ISBN 1-904994-10-5.
  5. Colin Larkin (1998) The Virgin Encyclopedia of Reggae, Virgin Books, ISBN 0-7535-0242-9, p.10-11
  6. Roberts, David (2001). British Hit Singles (14th ed.). London: Guinness World Records Limited. p. 47. ISBN 0-85156-156-X.
  7. "Abs — What You Got". www.discogs.com. Retrieved 13 April 2012.
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