1979 in British music explained

This is a summary of 1979 in music in the United Kingdom, including the official charts from that year. 1979 saw the beginning of several trends in British music. Electropop reached number one in both the singles and albums charts in the form of Gary Numan and Tubeway Army, and synthesiser bands began to gather momentum which would come to dominate music in the early 1980s. The first rap hit in the UK came from the Sugar Hill Gang. The 2 Tone movement also emerged, with early work from bands such as The Specials and Madness. Disco music was still the most popular music of the year, although it showed signs of dying out in the year's later months. 1979 remains the year when physical-format singles hit their sales peak in the UK.

Events

• 23 February – Dire Straits begin their first American tour, in Boston.
• 27 March – Eric Clapton marries Patti Boyd, ex-wife of Clapton's friend George Harrison.
• 31 March – In the Eurovision Song Contest, UK representatives Black Lace finish seventh.
• 2 April – Kate Bush begins her first live tour, The Tour of Life. It remains her only tour, and would be her only live shows for 35 years until her Before the Dawn shows at the Hammersmith Apollo in 2014.
• 6 April – Rod Stewart marries Alana Hamilton.
• 1 May – Elton John becomes the first overseas pop music artist to perform in Israel.
• 2 May – The Who perform their first concert following the death of drummer Keith Moon. The band performed with new drummer Kenney Jones.
• 11 August – Led Zeppelin play their last ever British concert at Knebworth in Hertfordshire.
• 21 August – Cliff Richard achieves his tenth UK number-one with "We Don't Talk Anymore", his first chart-topper in over 11 years.
• August – Brotherhood of Man members Martin Lee and Sandra Stevens marry.
• 26 November – Bill Haley & His Comets perform at the Drury Lane Theatre in London in a command performance for the Queen. This was Haley's final recorded performance of "Rock Around the Clock".
• date unknown
  • The Welsh Philharmonia becomes the Orchestra of Welsh National Opera.
  • Richard Rodney Bennett becomes a resident of New York City.^[1]
  • Arthur Oldham founds the Concertgebouw Orchestra Chorus in Amsterdam.^[2]

Charts

Number one singles

Date	Song	Artist
6 January	"Y.M.C.A."
13 January
20 January
27 January	"Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick"
3 February	"Heart of Glass"
10 February
17 February
24 February
3 March	"Tragedy"	Bee Gees
10 March
17 March	"I Will Survive"
24 March
31 March
7 April
14 April	"Bright Eyes"
21 April
28 April
5 May
12 May
19 May
26 May	"Sunday Girl"	Blondie
2 June
9 June
16 June	"Ring My Bell"	Anita Ward
23 June
30 June	"Are 'Friends' Electric?"	Tubeway Army
7 July
14 July
21 July
28 July	"I Don't Like Mondays"	The Boomtown Rats
4 August
11 August
18 August
25 August	"We Don't Talk Anymore"	Cliff Richard
1 September
8 September
15 September
22 September	"Cars"	Gary Numan
29 September	"Message in a Bottle"	The Police
6 October
13 October
20 October	"Video Killed the Radio Star"
27 October	"One Day at a Time"
3 November
10 November
17 November	"When You're in Love with a Beautiful Woman"	Dr. Hook
24 November
1 December
8 December	"Walking on the Moon"
15 December	"Another Brick in the Wall Part II"	Pink Floyd
22 December
29 December

Number one albums

Date	Album	Artist	Weeks
6 January	Greatest Hits	Showaddywaddy	2
13 January
20 January	Don't Walk – Boogie	Various Artists	3
27 January
3 February
10 February	Action Replay	Various Artists	1
17 February	Parallel Lines	Blondie	4
24 February
3 March
10 March
17 March	Spirits Having Flown	Bee Gees	2
24 March
31 March	Barbra Streisand's Greatest Hits Vol. 2	Barbra Streisand	4
7 April
14 April
21 April
28 April	The Very Best of Leo Sayer	Leo Sayer	3
5 May
12 May
19 May	Voulez-Vous	ABBA	4
26 May
2 June
9 June
16 June	Discovery	Electric Light Orchestra	5
23 June
30 June
7 July
14 July
21 July	Replicas	Tubeway Army	1
28 July	The Best Disco Album in the World	Various Artists	6
4 August
11 August
18 August
25 August
1 September
8 September	In Through the Out Door	Led Zeppelin	2
15 September
22 September	The Pleasure Principle	Gary Numan	1
29 September	Oceans of Fantasy	Boney M	1
6 October	The Pleasure Principle	Gary Numan	1
=13 October	Eat to the Beat	Blondie	1
=13 October	Reggatta de Blanc	The Police	4
20 October
27 October
3 November
10 November	Tusk	Fleetwood Mac	1
17 November	Greatest Hits Vol. 2	ABBA	3
24 November
1 December
8 December	Greatest Hits Vol.1	Rod Stewart	4
15 December
22 December
29 December

Year-end charts

1979 appears to be the only year since 1977 for which "full year" year-end charts do not exist. The British Market Research Bureau (BMRB), which compiled the official UK charts from 1969 to 1982, used a cut-off date for the collection of sales data sometime in early December each year, in order for the "end of year" chart to be published in the year's final issue of Music Week and to be broadcast on BBC Radio 1. However, from 1977 to 1982 BMRB produced updated charts a few months later which included the missing final weeks' sales for each year.

No updated chart appears to exist for 1979, so the tables below include only sales between 1 January and 8 December 1979. The two singles most affected by the lack of a full year chart are the records that were at number one and number two for the final three weeks of the year, "Another Brick in the Wall (Part 2)" by Pink Floyd and "I Have a Dream" by ABBA: neither of these records appear in the end of year list for 1979.

Best-selling singles

^[3]

scope=col		scope=col	Title	scope=col	Artist	scope=col	Peak position
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	1	"Bright Eyes"		1
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	2	"Heart of Glass"	Blondie	1
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	3	"We Don't Talk Anymore"		1
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	4	"I Don't Like Mondays"		1
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	5	"When You're in Love with a Beautiful Woman"	Dr. Hook	1
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	6	"I Will Survive"		1
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	7	"Are Friends Electric"	Tubeway Army	1
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	8	"Dance Away"	Roxy Music	2
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	9	"Sunday Girl"	Blondie	1
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	10	"One Day at a Time"		1
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	11	"Message in a Bottle"	The Police	1
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	12	"Pop Muzik"	M	2
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	13	"Hit Me with Your Rhythm Stick"	and the Blockheads	1
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	14	"Oliver's Army"	and the Attractions	2
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	15	"Tragedy"	Bee Gees	1
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	16	"Chiquitita"	ABBA	2
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	17	"Video Killed the Radio Star"		1
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	18	"Cars"		1
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	19	"Every Day Hurts"	Sad Café	3
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	20	"Ring My Bell"		1
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	21	"Some Girls"	Racey	2
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	22	"Boogie Wonderland"	Earth, Wind & Fire with the Emotions	4
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	23	"Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough"		3
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	24	"Woman in Love"		3
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	25	"Crazy Little Thing Called Love"	Queen	2
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	26	"Y.M.C.A."	Village People	1
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	27	"Reunited"	Peaches and Herb	4
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	28	"Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight)"	ABBA	3
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	29	"Lucky Number"		3
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	30	"If I Said You Had a Beautiful Body Would You Hold It Against Me"		3
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	31	"Cool for Cats"	Squeeze	2
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	32	"Something Else"/"Friggin' in the Riggin'"	Sex Pistols	3
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	33	"Silly Games"		2
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	34	"Bang Bang"		2
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	35	"Dreaming"	Blondie	2
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	36	"Wanted"		3
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	37	"Can You Feel the Force?"	The Real Thing	5
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	38	"Knock on Wood"		6
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	39	"Contact"		6
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	40	"I Want Your Love"	Chic	4
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	41	"Hooray! Hooray! It's a Holi-Holiday"	Boney M	3
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	42	"Theme from The Deer Hunter (Cavatina)"		9
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	43	"Does Your Mother Know"	ABBA	4
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	44	"Shake Your Body (Down to the Ground)"		4
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	45	"Since You've Been Gone"	Rainbow	6
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	46	"Up the Junction"	Squeeze	2
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	47	"Love's Gotta Hold on Me"	Dollar	4
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	48	"Still"		4
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	49	"In the Navy"	Village People	2
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	50	"Whatever You Want"	Status Quo	4

Best-selling albums

^[4]

scope=col		scope=col	Title	scope=col	Artist	scope=col	Peak position
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	1	Parallel Lines	Blondie	1
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	2	Discovery	Electric Light Orchestra	1
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	3	The Very Best of Leo Sayer		1
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	4	Breakfast in America	Supertramp	3
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	5	Voulez-Vous	ABBA	1
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	6	Barbra Streisand's Greatest Hits Vol. 2		1
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	7	Spirits Having Flown	Bee Gees	1
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	8	Greatest Hits Vol. 2	ABBA	1
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	9	Reggatta de Blanc		1
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	10	Manilow Magic: The Best of Barry Manilow		3
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	11	Greatest Hits		1
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	12	Last the Whole Night Long		2
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	13	Armed Forces	and the Attractions	2
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	14	Outlandos d'Amour		6
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	15	The Best Disco Album in the World	Various Artists	1
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	16	Replicas	Tubeway Army	1
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	17	I Am	Earth, Wind & Fire	5
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	18	C'est Chic	Chic	2
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	19	Dire Straits	Dire Straits	5
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	20	Manifesto	Roxy Music	7
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	21	Eat to the Beat	Blondie	1
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	22	Jeff Wayne's Musical Version of The War of the Worlds		12
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	23	Bat Out of Hell	Meat Loaf	11
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	24	Do It Yourself	and the Blockheads	2
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	25	Tusk	Fleetwood Mac	1
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	26	Out of the Blue	Electric Light Orchestra	13
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	27	New Boots and Panties!!		5
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	28	20 Golden Greats		2
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	29	Night Owl		9
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	30	Don't Walk – Boogie	Various Artists	1
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	31	Fate for Breakfast		2
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	32	The Best of Earth, Wind & Fire, Vol. 1	Earth, Wind & Fire	6
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	33		Thin Lizzy	2
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	34	The Pleasure Principle		1
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	35	Action Replay	Various Artists	1
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	36	In Through the Out Door	Led Zeppelin	1
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	37	The Great Rock and Roll Swindle	Sex Pistols	7
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	38	String of Hits		4
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	39	Live Killers	Queen	3
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	40	Lodger		4
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	41	A Collection of Their 20 Greatest Hits		8
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	42	Nightflight to Venus	Boney M	1
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	43	Wings Greatest	Wings	5
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	44	Sky	Sky	9
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	45	Off the Wall		5
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	46	Bridges		5
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	47	Lionheart		12
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	48	Blondes Have More Fun		7
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	49	Bob Dylan at Budokan		4
scope=row style="text-align:center;"	50	Country Life	Various Artists	2

Notes:

Classical music: new works

• William Lloyd Webber – Missa Sanctae Mariae Magdalenae
• Malcolm Williamson – Symphony No. 5 – Aquerò

Opera

• Peter Maxwell Davies – The Lighthouse

Film and Incidental music

• Richard Rodney Bennett – Yanks directed by John Schlesinger, starring Richard Gere and Vanessa Redgrave.
• Geoffrey Burgon – Monty Python's Life of Brian.

Musical theatre

• Andrew Lloyd Webber – Tell Me on a Sunday
• Stephen Sondheim & Hugh Wheeler – (premièred on Broadway)^[5]

Musical films

• The Music Machine
• The Who - Quadrophenia

Births

• 5 January
  • Steve Scott-Lee, singer (3SL)
  • Michelle Barber, singer (Girl Thing)
• 19 January – Wiley, record producer and MC
• 20 January – Will Young, singer and winner of Pop Idol (series 1)
• 23 January – Vicky Dowdall, singer (Girls@Play)
• 8 March – Tom Chaplin, singer (Keane)
• 12 March – Pete Doherty, singer and guitarist (The Libertines and Babyshambles)
• 30 March – Simon Webbe, singer (Blue)
• 10 April – Sophie Ellis-Bextor, singer
• 11 April
  • Paul Byrom, Irish tenor
  • Lee Otter, singer (North and South)
• 13 April – Tony Lundon, Irish singer (Liberty X)
  • • 29 April Jo O'Meara, singer (S Club 7)
  • Matt Tong (Bloc Party)
• 3 May – Danny Foster, singer (Hear'Say)
• 23 May – Lisa-Jay White, singer (Girls@Play)
• 31 May – Sarah Class, composer
• 8 June – Adam de la Cour, musician and composer
• 29 June – Abz Love, singer (5ive)
• 4 July – Nikki Stuart, singer (Girl Thing)
• 5 July – Shane Filan, Irish singer (Westlife)
• 19 July – Michelle Heaton, singer (Liberty X)
• 20 July – Charlotte Hatherley, singer-songwriter and guitarist (Ash and Nightnurse)
• 20 August – Jamie Cullum, jazz pianist and singer
• 23 August – Ritchie Neville, singer (5ive)
• 5 September – Garry O'Meara, Irish singer (Reel)
• 8 October – Alexander Shelley, conductor
• 22 November – Scott Robinson, singer (5ive)
• 28 November – Dane Bowers, singer (Another Level, 5th Story)
• 3 December
  • Daniel Bedingfield, New Zealand-born pop singer and songwriter
  • Kerri Ann, Irish singer
• 15 December – Edele and Keavy Lynch, Irish singers (B*Witched)
• date unknown
  • Mark Bowden, Welsh-born composer
  • Emily Howard, composer

Deaths

• 2 February – Sid Vicious, punk rocker, 21 (drug overdose)
• 4 March – Mike Patto, rock vocalist, 36 (throat cancer)^[6]
• 24 May – Sir Ernest Bullock, organist and composer, 88
• 16 July – Alfred Deller, countertenor, 67
• 25 August – Stan Kenton, bandleader, 67
• 4 September – Guy Bolton, librettist, 94
• 6 September – Ronald Binge, composer and arranger, 69
• 9 September – Norrie Paramor, record producer, composer, arranger, and orchestral conductor, 65
• 27 September – Gracie Fields, actress and singer, 81
• 13 October – Rebecca Helferich Clarke, viola player and composer, 93
• 6 November – Hugh Ottaway, music writer, 54^[7]
• 30 November – Joyce Grenfell, actress and musical performer, 69
• December – Terence Judd, pianist, 22 (probable suicide)^[8]
• 21 December – Nansi Richards, harpist, 91

See also

• 1979 in British radio
• 1979 in British television
• 1979 in the United Kingdom
• List of British films of 1979

Notes and References

1. [Zachary Woolfe]
2. https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/arthur-oldham-730288.html The Independent, 13 May 2003
3. Top Singles 1979 . . Spotlight Publications . London, England . 27 . 22 December 1979.
4. Top Albums 1979 . Music Week . Spotlight Publications . London, England . 30 . 22 December 1979.
5. Hampton, Wilborn.Hugh Wheeler obituary, New York Times, July 28, 1987.
6. Web site: Patto . Alexgitlin.com . 1979-03-03 . 2013-06-15.
7. 'Hugh Ottaway', The Musical Times, Vol. 121, No. 1643 (January 1980), p. 48
8. https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=2507&dat=19800125&id=BgI-AAAAIBAJ&sjid=W0kMAAAAIBAJ&pg=1656,4708227 The Glasgow Herald, 25 January 1980