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Smooth Sailing: Yacht Rock, Daytime Disco & Sunset Soul

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Unsplash Enjoy this new episode of Smooth Sailing ! The title and the content were inspired by the North West Coast, Matt Bird’s weekly show on Radio PVS . You surely have to listen to him each Saturday, if you can.   USA based singer Fonteyn (Suzanne May) spent her formative years pursuing musical theatre and acting in her home country England. Although she played in some movies and lived in L.A. for a while, it wasn’t until she started making music that she felt able to express herself authentically. About her songs she once told in an interview: “Nostalgic, dreamy and theatrical. I have always been captivated by Karen Carpenter’s voice, it makes me cry. I love Todd Rundgren, his Something/Anything? album has influenced me a lot, but also Carole King, Paul McCartney, Burt Bacharach, I could go on!” Next week the two dudes from the Smooth Operators will return! 😊 Tracklist: Rainee Blake – One More Night (2023) Craig Dove – I’ve Got To Tell The Lady (1978) Fonteyn – Jody (2024)

Cashbox Black Contemporary Top 20 – March 8th 1980

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Enjoy the Cashbox Black Contemporary Top 20 that was dated exactly 44 years ago! I love that soulful disco sound of the early 1980s, when electronics did not dominate yet. Nowadays the opening track by Kenny Loggins (number 20) has been classified as “yacht rock” in stead of soul. Tracklist: Kenny Loggins Feat. Michael McDonald – This Is It Donna Summer – On The Radio Ronnie Laws – Every Generation Rufus & Chaka Khan – Do You Love What You Feel Twennynine Feat. Lenny White – Peanut Butter Tavares – Bad Times Slave – Just A Touch Of Love Roberta Flack & Donny Hathaway – You Are My Heaven Patrice Rushen – Haven’t You Heard Michael Jackson – Rock With You Vaughan Mason And Crew – Bounce, Rock, Skate, Roll Parliament – Theme From The Black Hole Sister Sledge – Got To Love Somebody Brothers Johnson – Stomp! Narada Michael Walden – I Shoulda Loved Ya Spinners – Working My Way Back To You/Forgive Me Girl Shalamar – The Second Time Around Kool & The Gang – Too Hot

Sunshine Radio Celebrates 3 Million Plays On Mixcloud!

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Unsplash The numbers went through the roof the last couple of months, so let’s celebrate 3 million plays on Mixcloud by playing some of my all-time favourites on Sunshine Radio ! 😊 One of the songs is Sundown . the classic from Gordon Lightfoot. And one of the comments on YouTube was this one: "Think of all the great songs we'd never have if Gordon's first wife hadn't been such a bitch!" Gordon Lightfoot also wrote the wonderful If You Could Read My Mind that became a disco hit for Viola Wills in 1980. The track by Dutch duo Lion is from the soundtrack to the incredibly good Netflix series One Day , especially when it comes to the music. The protagonists are Emma Morley (Ambika Mod) and Dexter Mayhew (Leo Woodall), who first cross paths on the night of their graduation from Edinburgh University. It’s an encounter which has consequences for the rest of their lives. The story shows us their wellbeing on every 15th of July for the next 15 years. Emma and Dexter sea

Sweet & Refreshing Eighties Soda Pop

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Unsplash Enjoy music mostly from and otherwise inspired by the 1980s! The majority of the tracks can be categorized as “sophisti-pop”. Many popular artists of the genre incorporated sweet pop-soul into their sound, which made it fit smooth jazz radio formats. The synthesized sound of sophisti-pop made it a typical product of the 1980s and by the beginning of the next decade, it had largely faded out, leaving us with quite a few really enjoyable songs. Electro pop band The Human League were very successful during the first part of the 1980s, but they seemed to have taken a dead end street in the mid-eighties. To get a fresh sound the record company hired R&B producers Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis who had just finished Janet Jackson’s album Control . The collaboration did not go well, because Jam & Lewis mainly used their own musicians and replaced vocalists Joanne Catherall and Susan Ann Sulley in favour of their studio singer Lisa Keith. The album Crash was based on two ideas t

Soul For Sunny Days by The Smooth Operators

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Unsplash 22 modern tracks inspired by the sound of classic soul music. Modern soul that gives you retro feels. Tracklist: The Sextones – Beck & Call (2023) Junior Scaife – When My Heart Beats (2023) Bobby Oroza Ft. Cold Diamond & Mink – The Otherside (2022) Adi Oasis – Red To Violet (2023) Thee Sacred Souls – Love Is The Way (2022) The Charities – Bring Your Love (2023) Object Heavy – For The Better (2023) Jalen N’Gonda – If You Don’t Want My Love (2023) Alanna Royale – Fall In Love Again (2023) Angels of Libra – Curtis (Do You Wanna Be A Star?) (2022) The Regime & Pro Uno – Sunny Day (2023) Les Imprimes – If I (2023) Jonny Benavidez – My Echo, Shadow And Me (2023) Aaron Frazer – Bad News (2021) Thee Marloes Rhythm – Love Potion (2021) Skinshape Ft. Andy Platts – The Longest Shadow (2023) Lexsoul Dancemachine – Lazy Breeze (2022) José James – 38th & Chicago (2024) Glam Sam & His Combo – Lost In The Art World (2023) Sunset Rollercoaster – Coffee’s On

The Smooth Operators Present Classic Yacht Rock

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Unsplash The Smooth Operators (Martijn Soetens and I) introduce you to yacht rock songs that you must have heard at least once in your life! We present some real yacht rock classics and yacht rock songs that we think should have been classics. Harden My Heart by American pop/rock group Quarterflash was written by guitarist Marv Ross and included on the band's debut album, Quarterflash (1981). The song was originally released as a single in early 1980 by Seafood Mama, Quarterflash's predecessor band. Quarterflash's version became a top-10 hit in the United States, peaking at number 3 on the Billboard Hot 100 in February 1982. Guitarist and songwriter Marv Ross remembered that a friend of his had given him the title and that he came up with the lyrics very quickly. Last Monday Michael McDonald, front man of the Doobie Brothers, celebrated his 72th birthday: "Emerging from the laid-back California rock scene of the '70s, McDonald found his niche in a unique blend of

Billboard Hot Soul Singles – February 11th 1978

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Enjoy the Billboard Hot Soul Singles chart of this weekend in 1978, ranked from number 30 to 1! At the group's start Stargard's members were Rochelle Runnells, Debra Anderson and Janice Williams. The vocal trio recorded the theme song to the soundtrack of the Richard Pryor movie Which Way Is Up in 1977. Motown's former sound wizzard Norman Whitfield produced the track, which also came upon Stargard's self-titled debut album. The song spent two weeks at number one on the Billboard Hot Soul Singles chart. Which Way Is Up also peaked at number 21 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart and number 12 on the Disco chart. Their other two hit singles were What You Waitin' For and Wear It Out . Debra Anderson left Stargard in 1980, when their success was diminishing. They released their final album as a duo in 1982. Next week The Smooth Operators will return! Tracklist: Rose Royce – Ooh Boy Donna Summer – I Love You Peabo Bryson – Reaching For The Sky Pockets – Com