My Coo Ca Choo

Album: The Untouchable (1973)
Charted: 2
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Songfacts®:

  • The producer Peter Shelley wrote and recorded this song, releasing it under the name "Alvin Stardust." Shelley, though, had no interest in performing the song, so he enlisted the Londoner Bernard Jewry to take the form of Alvin Stardust for promotional appearances, including Top Of The Pops. When the song took off, Jewry continued on as Alvin Stardust, but he recorded his own material, becoming a very popular artist in the UK.
  • This was the first release on the independent Magnet record label - it had the catalogue number MAG 1. It was kept from the top of the UK charts by Gary Glitter's "I Love You Love Me Love."
  • Alvin Stardust (Bernard Jewry) first saw chart action in the UK in 1961 as Shane Fenton. Although Jewry was the vocalist with Shane Fenton and the Fentones, he was in fact the second singer to bear that name, the first having died suddenly before the group's success. After their final and biggest hit "Cindy's Birthday" reached UK #19 in 1962, Jewry went into management, but returned in 1973 as leather-clad Alvin Stardust.

    "My Coo Ca Choo" was his first hit under his new name and it became his most well known recording despite the fact it peaked at #2 and its follow-up, "Jealous Mind," topped the UK chart. As Alvin Stardust, Jewry went on to achieve seven Top 10 British hits between 1973 and 1984, including four altogether written by Shelley. Peter Shelley himself had two Top 5 hits in the UK: "Gee Baby" and "Love Me Love My Dog."
  • "My Coo Ca Choo" spent seven weeks at the top of the Austrian singles chart. It was the top-selling single in Australia in 1974.

Comments: 2

  • Mark from MoleseyBernard Jewry did not sing the vocals on My Co CA Choo. Peter Shelley already recorded it himself before deciding he didn't want to be a performer so Jewry became Alvin Stardust and lip synced to Shelley's vocals on TOTP. All other Alvin songs were sung by Jewry but not that one.
  • Pete from Nowra, AustraliaAlvin was at one stage married to the girl who played "Clancy" in The Tv Series Skippy
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