Racey

Racey is a British pop group from Weston-super-Mare, formed in 1976. The band is also known as Alive 'n' Rockin', a name it uses before becoming Racey.

Career and line-up

The group is created by musicians Phil Fursdon and Clive Wilson. It scores hit singles in the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand, and it remains active. Richard Gower is listed among its members.

Recordings and chart success

Racey is best known for its 1979 album Smash and Grab, which sells about 500,000 copies worldwide. The album gives the group its main burst of popularity. Its songs are written and produced by Mike Chapman and Nicky Chinn, the songwriting and production partnership also associated with Sweet.

The band’s first single is “Baby It’s You”, written by Smokie members Chris Norman and Pete Spencer. Its second single, “Lay Your Love on Me”, becomes the group’s first hit single and reaches No. 3. “Some Girls” follows as another single, and it is originally written for Blondie before being recorded by Racey.

Later significance

A Chinn-Chapman song for Racey, “Kitty”, is later reworked by Toni Basil as “Mickey”, which reaches number one in the United States and number two in the UK singles chart. Racey parts company with Chinn and Chapman after Smash and Grab and splits in 1985. Since then, two separate acts use the name Racey: one featuring Richard Gower, and another that originally includes Clive Wilson, Phil Fursdon and Pete Miller.

Members

Original bass player Pete Miller is part of the later split-off line-up and dies of cancer on 6 May 2003.