Kylie gets lucky

December 1987: Number 34 in our series of the 50 key events in the history of pop music

Following their No 1 smash with Dead or Alive's You Spin Me Round, the recently conjoined trio of Mike Stock, Matt Aitken and Pete Waterman were able to fit out their own studio, and pop's new producers followed up with huge hits for Bananarama, Rick Astley and Mel and Kim. But the act most associated with SAW was an antipodean soap actress of whom Waterman had never heard when a mate asked if he'd produce her as a favour.

In his own telling of the story, Waterman forgot the appointment, and when told he had to rush to the outfit's HQ in south London because she had a plane to catch, he said to Mike Stock: "She should be so lucky." Quick as a flash came: "Great, that'll do: 'I should be so lucky.' Can we write some lyrics?" Over the next half hour, the duo used their fax machine to swap ideas and then Kylie entered the studio. It was a perfect example of the trio's pop take on Hi-NRG, a knack that led them to being branded "Schlock, Aimless and Waterdown" by the Guardian and that helped them sell 40m records over the next two years.

Contributor

Caspar Llewellyn Smith

The GuardianTramp

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