UK Music Chart: February 19, 1972 Ft. Nilsson

Harry Nilsson at Number 16

All change at the top of the UK Top 20 this week in 1972 as English pop group Chicory Tip secured the Number 1 spot with their version of Giorgio Moroder's song, Son of My Father.

In doing so, the group created a little piece of pop history by becoming the first band to record a UK Number 1 song which notably featured a synthesizer.

Elsewhere, although there were several records climbing the chart, only two managed to crack the Top 20.

One of them would soon become a pop classic, while the other would become one small element of an ever-growing classic discography.

Chicory Tip at Number 1

The Chart:

01 (02) Chicory Tip - Son of My Father
02 (01) T. Rex - Telegram Sam
03 (05) The Chi-Lites - Have You Seen Her?
04 (09) Slade - Look Wot You Dun
05 (03) Neil Reid - Mother of Mine
06 (15) Don McLean - American Pie
07 (04) The New Seekers - I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing (In Perfect Harmony)
08 (10) Sonny and Cher - All I Ever Need is You
09 (16) The Fortunes - Storm in a Teacup
10 (07) Al Green - Let's Stay Together
11 (06) America - Horse With No Name
12 (14) Greyhound - Moon River
13 (17) Badfinger - Day After Day
14 (08) Melanie - Brand New Key
15 (18) Bread - Baby I'm-A Want You
16 (27) Nilsson - Without You
17 (20) Bee Gees - My World
18 (19) Sly and the Family Stone - Family Affair
19 (12) Donnie Elbert - Where Did Our Love Go?
20 (22) Stevie Wonder - If You Really Love Me

*Previous week in brackets; Climbers denoted in red; New entries in bold
*Intro Image: Harry Nilsson: The Essential Nilsson

16: Nilsson: Without You

Harry Nilsson's return to the UK Top 40 was nothing short of spectacular considering his legendary theme from the movie Midnight Cowboy, Everybody's Talkin', had only managed to climb to a peak of Number 23 in 1969.

Without You, his classic cover of the Badfinger song, was just about to spend four weeks on top of the Billboard Hot 100 in the US and was now rapidly scaling the British chart.

In an eventual twenty-week run, the record would spend five of them at Number 1 and accumulate enough sales by the end of the year to become the fourth biggest selling single of 1972. So popular was the song, in fact, that it returned to the UK Top 50 in both 1976 and 1994.

It also gave Nilsson a Grammy win the following year when he won the Best Male Pop Vocal. Sadly, however, his voice would never grace the UK Top 20 again.

20: Stevie Wonder: If You Really Love Me

Stevie Wonder was in a period of transition at this point in his career. Just 20-years-old, his social attitudes were maturing and these were reflected in the progression of his musical ideas.

He had also just married Syreeta Wright, so it was no surprise that his latest album, Where I'm Coming From, would feature a combination of socially charged tracks, along with the standard themes of love and romance.

If You Really Love Me was an example of the latter, partly showcasing Wonder's ever increasing interest in futuristic production techniques, as well as the voice of the now sadly departed Syreeta.

The track garnered Wonder another Top 10 hit in America, but stalled in the UK at Number 20 for two consecutive weeks.

The UK Number 1 album this week: