‘Take That asked for our autographs!’ How Cola Boy made 7 Ways to Love

8 days ago

St Etienne did a club tour in early 1991 and we were hearing all these dance hits like DJ H featuring Stefy’s I Like It and (I Wanna Give You) Devotion by Nomad.We thought: “Let’s go home and write something that will work in a club.” We made the song as basic as possible, with a memorable hook.Sarah Cracknell sang on the original demo and Pete Wiggs and I pressed up the white label promo records ourselves and drove around London dropping them off in various shops: City Sounds at Holborn, Black Market Records in Soho and Zoom in Camden.We were stupidly confident about it.

We thought it’d be a big hit.That’s about the only time I’ve ever thought that about a record.We’d just pressed a second batch when the track was picked up by Arista, who wanted to sign us, but we couldn’t because we were already on Heavenly and were about to release our first album as St Etienne, Foxbase Alpha.We had to re-record the song and the vocals because Sarah was under contract too, so she suggested her friend, Janey Lee Grace, could sing on it.We came up with the alias Cola Boy, but when the song took off we realised we’d have to do personal appearances in clubs to promote it.

So I got my mate Andrew Midgley, who I’d met when I was working in Virgin Records in Peterborough, to be Cola Boy.I remember it was released the same time as Gypsy Woman (La Da Dee) by Crystal Waters.Mixmag tipped us both as the hot singles of the week.When Cola Boy went on Top of the Pops, Pete and I just assumed we’d be able to stroll in, but they wouldn’t let us into the studio.So we had to watch it at home.

It was really odd seeing one of my best mates on TOTP.Me and Pete were both huge fans of the Brill Building pop era so to do something together, involve our friends and get on TOTP was really exciting.It was like our own hit factory – and far less frightening than having to see yourself on TV.I started my career as a backing singer for Wham! and Mari Wilson, but I was fired from being a “Wilsation” because I wouldn’t cut my hair short and dye it bright yellow.At that time I was trying to do my own stuff.

I’d done a cover of Love to Love You Baby with Paul Oakenfold, which got to the very bottom of the dance chart,After Bob Stanley and Pete Wiggs of St Etienne called, it took me two hours to get to the session and two hours to get back – and I was only in there for 50 minutes! They just said, “Can you sing, ‘7 Ways to Love’?” then, “Can you ad-lib?” and then, “You’re done,” I was saying: “What about the verse? And the chorus?” But that was it,Andrew and I went straight into doing PAs in the clubs,I know how lucky I was that I got to go to all the raves without being the person driving up and down the country.

I’d swan in to all these places, including Ministry of Sound and Heaven, only have to stay for an hour and then I’d get paid.Take That supported us on our first few PAs.They were lovely and asked us for our autographs.When we did a photoshoot for Smash Hits, I told the stylist I liked 60s stuff: feather boas and glamour.So she promised to find me something fabulous.

We got to the shoot and she’d brought a worryingly small suitcase containing a mustard rollneck jumper and a below-the-knee tartan kilt,I ended up wearing the photographer’s biker jacket for the photos and the hairdresser pinned up and backcombed my hair as a distraction,That 60s beehive became my look,When we did Top of the Pops, I needed a new outfit because I only had one and I’d already worn it on our first TV appearance on The Hitman and Her,My manager and I jumped in a cab to a vintage shop in the East End where I found the perfect dress – except it was too tight.

I couldn’t really move in it, which is why I’m standing so still and only waving my arms on TV,I had to bin my choreography – because if I’d moved, everyone would have had an eyeful,From Wham! to Woo: A Life on the Mic by Janey Lee Grace is out now,St Etienne’s latest album, The Night, is out now,

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