You might know this popular song from Latin queen Gloria Estefan, but the original was actually sung by a New York diva called Vicki Sue Robinson. Back in 1976, Robinson topped the disco charts around the world with “Turn the Beat Around” and went on a national tour to perform on stages big and small. And audiences loved her.
Robinson may not have had any more hit singles after this, but she didn’t exactly fade away, either. She went on to score a gig as a backup singer in the wildly popular song “Fame” by the late Irene Cara. What’s more, she spent most of the ’80s working with musicians like Michael Bolton and Cher.
"How Do You Do?" by Mouth & MacNeal
Imagine a Dutch version of ABBA; that's simply the best way to describe the Netherlands-born duo Mouth & MacNeal. The puffy-haired duo released a hit single in 1971 titled "How Do You Do?" and it completely skyrocketed. The song was number 8 on the Billboard Hot 100 for nineteen weeks and number one in the Netherlands, Denmark, New Zealand, Switzerland, and Belgium.
Even though the song was written by Hans van Hemert and Harry van Hoof, two famous Dutch composers, it was the cheery duo that performed it so well. The sing-along tune took the Mouth & MacNeal to the 1974 Eurovision Contest as the Netherlands representatives. Unfortunately, in December of 1974, the duo split up.
"Hooked On A Feeling" by Blue Swede
ABBA wasn't the only Swedish '70s band to have hit songs. Blue Swede topped the charts with their 1974 single "Hooked on a Feeling", and to be honest, it is one of the happiest, funnest songs to listen, sing and dance to. The rock group made their hit tune by mixing two different cover songs - one Swedish and the other American.
Funnily enough, the famous “ooga-chaka” opening line in the song was to become insanely famous many years later because of an entirely different reason. Remember the dancing baby from 'Ally McBeal'? Yeah, that was the song that he was dancing to in one of the world's first viral videos that came out in the 90s.
"All Right Now" by Free
The legendary rock band Free may have been a one-hit wonder in the U.S. with their epic song "All Right Now," but that was certainly not the case in Britain. Free was one of the most famous rock bands in Britain, and even though the band broke up shortly after their record-breaking hit song, they still managed to sell over 20 million albums worldwide. All in all, it's not too shabby.
The young British boys wrote the song at the student union building at Durham University in England. And when we say young, we really mean it. The bass player, Andy Fraser, was only 17 years old when he and his bandmates became rockstars around the world with "All Right Now." Fun trivia: remember Jessa from the famous HBO series 'Girls'? She's the drummer Simon Kirke's daughter!
"Indiana Wants Me" by R. Dean Taylor
Another 1970's gem is the hit song "Indiana Wants Me", written and recorded by one-hit wonder, R. Dean Taylor. A Canadian native, Taylor wrote the song, which tells the story of a man who murdered someone for insulting their wife and is hiding from the Indiana police after watching the famous film 'Bonnie and Clyde'. Taylor even added some actual police officers' sounds to the song.
"Indiana Wants Me' rose to number 5 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1970 and number 2 on the UK Singles Chart in 1971. A perfect mix of a folk-rock musician singing about Indiana on an album produced by Motown Records was just a fusion of styles that could only work back in the 70s. This was Taylor's only smash hit.