RIP, Mike Allen

It has been reported that Mike Allen passed away last night after a long battle with Alzheimers. For those of you that don't know, before Tim Westwood ever uttered a word on UK radio, Mike Allen was one of the pioneers of getting hip-hop played on UK radio (commercial or otherwise) and probably inspired a generation of people to listen or pick up a mic. His legendary show on Capital Radio (back when that station had a soul) was required listening; most of the shows still exist as his legion of fans taped the show every week. And one of those presenters with such a smooth delivery, he could make the weather sound interesting. And it wan't just a case of a DJ being mandated to present a show who only had a passing interest in the subject matter; he chose every track he played and his choices were based on his love of the music. And he was well known to the big America acts of the day, acts that went on to be household names; Public Enemy, LL Cool J, Ice T, Grandmaster Flash, Afrika Bambaata were just some of the acts that mike-checked him in his show's jingles.

For those of us who remember the hip-hop landscape in the UK in the mid-late 1980's, Mike Allen's Captital Rap Show (and later, National Fresh) was the only way to hear real hip hop here in the UK; its fair to say that Allen and Morgan Khan (Streetsounds music) were responsible for a lot of us getting into the music.

He really was the John Peel of Hip-Hop.

RIP, THE BOSS


- FVHK5K

Jingles all the way:

Interview with Public Enemy in 1987:

 

Run DMC giving props to The Boss:

The weekly Frontline chart, this one is from 26th April 1986:

And lastly, a sample from a show in 1985. Thanks to Mike Allen's many fans, a lot of his shows still exist:

The Decks Files: Solid Gold Rock Star Programmable Beat Box (1988)

Whitney Houston - One Moment In Time (1988)

In Loving Memory of Whitney Elizabeth Houston (August 9, 1963 – February 11, 2012)
One Moment in Time is a worldwide hit Emmy Award winning song written by Albert Hammond and John Bettis, produced by Narada Michael Walden and recorded by Whitney Houston for the 1988 Summer Olympics and the 1988 Summer Paralympics held in Seoul, South Korea. The song was Houston's third number one in the UK Singles Chart, and reached number five on the US Billboard Hot 100.
The song's melody was inspired by Elvis Presley, with Hammond imagining it as being sung by Presley at the opening of the Olympics. It appeared on the album 1988 Summer Olympics Album: One Moment in Time, produced in conjunction with NBC Sports' coverage of the Seoul games and which, in addition to Whitney Houston who sang it live at the main ceremony, also featured artists such as The Four Tops, The Bee Gees, Eric Carmen, Taylor Dayne and the film composer John Williams.
One Moment in Time was released by Arista Records in August 1988 and debuted at no. 57 on the Billboard Hot 100; nine weeks later, it peaked at no.5 on the chart, becoming Houston's tenth top 10 hit on the Hot 100, and spent 17 weeks on the chart. It also debuted on the Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart at no.78, and six weeks later reached a peak of 22, her lowest position on the R&B chart at the time. the single peaked at number one on the Billboard Hot Adult Contemporary chart, making it her seventh number-one single on the chart, and stayed on the top for two weeks. Worldwide, it was a big hit. In the UK, the song entered the UK Singles Chart at no.24, and within four weeks of its release reached the top position, a peak it maintained for two weeks, becoming her third UK no.1 single; certifying Silver by the BPI for shipments of 200,000 copies on October 1, 1988. According to The Official Charts Company, the single has sold 400,000 copies in the UK.
The song re-entered the UK Singles Chart for week ending February 18, 2012 following Houston's death.

- Mr Fabulous

Anita Baker - Giving You The Best That I Got (1988)

Anita Baker started her career in the late-1970s with the Funk/Soul band Chapter 8. She released her first solo album The Songstress in 1983, with included her US top 5 R&B/ Soul hit, Angel. In 1986, she rose to stardom following the release of her platinum-selling second album Rapture, which included the Grammy-winning single Sweet Love. She has also won seven other Grammys and has four platinum albums and two gold albums to her credit.

Her follow-up, Giving You the Best That I Got was released in 1988 and immediately became a success, topping the Billboard 200 and selling over five million copies worldwide. This was followed by the albums, Compositions in 1990, with Rhythm of Love following in 1994. after a lengthy break, she released My Everything in 2004, coinciding with her first UK tour in years.

In 2012, Anita Baker released her version of Tyrese's hit in America, Lately. The song made headlines for Baker after the song was played on every single hour of the hour throughout the day on US urban adult contemporary radio, making her the first artist to make this kind of début. Baker has been working on the album featuring the single, Only Forever, since 2010; we are still waiting for the release, but Anita Baker is never an artist to rush perfection.

- The Oakland Stroke