Thursday, January 6, 2022

"I Wanna Have Some Fun" by Samantha Fox

Top 10 Alert!
Gold Record Alert!
Song#:  3718
Date:  11/12/1988
Debut:  89
Peak:  8
Weeks:  23
Genre:  Dance-Pop, Freestyle, House


Pop Bits:  Fox's first two albums both became gold sellers thanks to each sporting a Top 10 hit including the #3 "Naughty Girls (Need Love Too)." Could she make it three in a row? Fox gave it a shot with her third LP I Wanna Have Some Fun. To kick things off, the title track would be released as the first single. The tune got off to a slow start, but it would eventually wind its way up the chart and finally crack the Pop Top 10. It would also reach #2 Dance and #19 R&B. The single would sell well enough to go gold. In turn, the album would reach #37 and eventually go gold. Fox was able to make it three in a row, but unfortunately her luck ended here as this song would be her last to reach the US Top 10.

ReduxReview:  Full Force once again developed a solid track for Fox. It was fun, current, groovy, and highlighted the best of Fox's capable voice and personality. It was a track that moved Fox's sound and career forward. Unfortunately, it would be her last gasp as a hit maker. I'm not sure if anyone placed a big bet on the former Page 3 model becoming a pop star, but she managed to pull it off and along the way was able to toss out some pretty good dance-pop tracks.

ReduxRating:  7/10

Trivia:  Fox had success working with the writing/production team of Full Force on "Naughty Girls (Need Love Too)," so she hooked up with them again for two tracks on her third album including this first single. Full Force wrote the tune, but they did choose to use some samples in their production work. Perhaps the most prominent sample comes from the 1980 #1 Dance hit "Love Sensation" by Loleatta Holloway. That song was written and produced by future pop star Dan Hartman. Fox's track used vocal samples from Holloway's hit. It wasn't the first nor the last time Holloway's vocals from the tune would be sampled. More famously, her vocal was used in the 1991 #1 Pop hit "Good Vibrations" by Marky Mark and the Fresh Bunch. Because the sample was so prominent, Holloway got a featured artist credit on the track and even appeared in the video. Holloway was never able to score a significant mainstream hit during her main recording days of '73 to '84. Her best showing on the Pop chart was 1975's "Cry to Me" (#68). At R&B, she nearly cracked the Top 10 in 1978 with the #11 "Only You" (with Bunny Sigler). However, in that time period she was able to get four songs in the Dance Top 10 including the #1 "Love Sensation." While Marky Mark gave Holloway proper credit for her contribution to their hit, British act Black Box did not. They used Holloway's vocals from "Love Sensation" for their #1 UK hit "Ride on Time" without her permission or that of writer Dan Hartman. For their appearances, Black Box hired a singer to mime Holloway's vocal part, which just made things worse. Legal action was taken that earned Hartman royalties and writing credit and Holloway receiving a payout. Black Box would then rerecord the song with vocalist Heather Small.

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