Smokie

Smokie (originally spelt Smokey) are an English rock band from Bradford, Yorkshire. The band found success at home and abroad after teaming up with Mike Chapman and Nicky Chinn. They have had a number of line-up changes and were still actively touring in 2018…

Known both for his solo hits in the '80s as well as his hits with the band Smokie in the '70s, Chris Norman is a British soft rock singer with an international following whose career spans several decades. A few years after the success of his 1978 Suzi Quatro duet, "Stumblin' In," he parted ways with Smokie and found solo success with his second album, 1986's Some Hearts Are Diamonds. In the decades that followed, Norman proved himself to be surprisingly prolific, delivering a new studio album every two or three years and maintaining a large fan base in Germany, where his chart success continued into the 2000s. Following a 2004 resurgence and Top Ten German hit with "Amazing," he continued releasing new material as well as career-spanning collections like Definitive Collection: Smokie And Solo Years.

"Solid Ground" is Smokie's second album without their producers and hit songwriters Chinn & Chapman. Some say it is a return to their rock and blues roots… but unfortunately this is not really true…

On their fourth album, Smokie attempt to broaden their country-flavored pop with a few stylistic experiments. The resulting album is successful for the most part. For instance, their European hit "It's Your Life" effectively marries the group's sweet harmonies to a reggae-styled pop melody, and further spices things up by throwing in a surprising Beatles-styled midsection. Another song with a Beatlesque feel is "Sunshine Avenue," a full-on tribute to the Fab Four's psychedelic era that mimics the group's sonic affections from that time (electronically filtered vocals, stately horns, and a rollicking pop melody) and even name-checks Sgt.

Originally formed in Yorkshire, England, in 1966, Smokie hit the British pop charts several times during the late '70s with updated psychedelic pop, influenced by the band's stay on Mickie Most's Rak Records as well as the writers of most of the band's hit material, Rak's Nicky Chinn and Mike Chapman. Vocalist Chris Norman, bassist Terry Utley, guitarist Alan Silson, and drummer Ron Kelly had played in the Elizabethans, but formed the band Kindness in 1970. The quartet recorded many singles during the late '60s and early '70s, but failed to show any chart activity. By 1973, Kelly had left the band and was replaced by Pete Spencer.