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Tony Wilson, former Hot Chocolate bassist and singer who co-wrote the hit “You Sexy Thing” and had a solo hit with “I Like Your Style,” died on Friday at his home in Trinidad, the BBC reports. A cause of death was not given. He was 89 years old.
“Words cannot do justice to my admiration for him as a person, nor his determination to create an audience for the songs he wrote,” his son Danny wrote on Facebook. “It was only when my mother pulled out old diaries of his from 1970 and 71 that I realized how hard he had to work to make this dream come true.”
Wilson’s legacy lies in the fusion of soul, disco, reggae and funk that formed the foundation of Hot Chocolate’s multicultural hits. The band’s first hit, “Love Is Life”, sounded like reggae, dance music and rock at the same time – a remarkable achievement for 1970. This sound reached its climax with the irresistibly catchy “You Sexy Thing”.
Career in Trinidad and London
Wilson was born in Trinidad and played his way through groups such as the Flames, the Souvenirs and the Corduroys. Hot Chocolate, whose roots lay in both the Caribbean and Britain, formed in London in the late ’60s and found themselves with a reggae-soaked version of John Lennon’s “Give Peace a Chance” – which they sent directly to Lennon. “Surprisingly, a week later I got a call saying John Lennon liked the recording and wanted to sign the band to the Apple label,” Brown told the BBC in 2009. “That’s how we started.”
The song was released in 1969 under the name Hot Chocolate Band on the Beatles’ Apple label. The B-side was “Living Without Tomorrow”, the first joint composition between Jamaican-born singer Errol Brown and Wilson. Wilson was listed as producer for both sides. None of the songs made the charts, but the follow-up single “Love Is Life” from 1970 reached number 6 in the UK. That same year, producer Mickie Most recorded a Brown Wilson song called “Bet Yer Life I Do” with Herman’s Hermits – and then was keen to work with Hot Chocolate.
Within a few years they became one of the first black British bands to have their songs become hits in the US. In 1973, their “Brother Louie”, which had reached the top 10 in England, also became a success in the USA when Stories recorded their own version with singer Ian Lloyd. The debut album “Cicero Park” was released in 1974, and the single “Emma” rose to number eight in the USA. “Disco Queen,” included on the same album, also became a hit the following year.
“You Sexy Thing” and the breakthrough
Her next album, “Hot Chocolate,” was even more successful thanks to “You Sexy Thing,” which Wilson co-wrote with Brown and which hit-maker Mickie Most produced. Featuring a bouncy guitar line, expressive string arrangements and Brown’s smooth voice, the song climbed to number two in the UK and number three in the US, where it was certified gold. Decades later, the song enjoyed second and third careers, appearing on the soundtracks of “Boogie Nights,” “The Full Monty,” and in a Burger King commercial.
Wilson left the group that same year and returned in 1976 with the solo album “I Like Your Style”. Two more albums followed – “Catch One” (1979) and “Walking the Highwire” (1988) – but he never came close to the success with Hot Chocolate, which continued to produce hits without him. A Wilson song, “Everyone Can Rock and Roll,” became the title track of Bill Haley and the Comets’ final album.
Brown told The Independent in 1998 that he believed Wilson had felt resentment over the way producer Most had pushed Brown to the forefront as lead singer, a role Wilson had originally held. “Tony and I lost touch,” he said at the time. “But I will always be grateful to him for planting the seed and helping me find myself. I understand his frustration, and so I can look back with warmth today.” When Brown died in 2015, Wilson publicly paid tribute to him and offered his “sincere condolences” to his family on Facebook.
Wilson’s musical legacy
The songs Wilson co-wrote with Hot Chocolate have been covered by artists from a variety of genres – including the Sisters of Mercy, Roy Ayers and April Wine.
