Tony Wilson, the former Hot Chocolate bassist and vocalist who co-wrote the hit “You Sexy Thing” and had a solo hit with “I Like You Style,” died Friday at his home in Trinidad, according to the BBC. A cause of death was not reported. He was 89.
“Words don’t do justice to the admiration I have for him as a human being or for his dedication to make his dream of getting the songs he wrote be heard,” his son, Danny, wrote on Facebook. “It wasn’t until my mum dug out some old diaries of his from 1970 and ’71 that I realised just how hard he had to work to achieve this dream.”
Wilson’s legacy lies in the fusion of soul, disco, reggae, and funk that formed the bedrock of Hot Chocolate’s multicultural hits. Hot Chocolate’s first hit, “Love Is Life,” felt like reggae, dance music, and rock all at once, a feat for 1970. The sound reached its apex with the infectiously catchy “You Sexy Thing.”
Born in Trinidad, Wilson cut his teeth in groups like the Flames, the Souvenirs, and the Corduroys. Hot Chocolate, whose roots were both Caribbean and British, formed in London in the late Sixties and found its footing with a reggae-inflected cover of John Lennon’s “Give Peace a Chance,” which they sent to Lennon. “Amazingly, a week later I got a call to say John Lennon approved it and wanted to sign the band to the Apple record label,” Brown told the BBC in 2009. “And that’s how we began.”
The song came out credited to Hot Chocolate Band via the Beatles’ Apple label in 1969. The B side was “Living Without Tomorrow,” the first songwriting collaboration between singer Errol Brown, who was born in Jamaica, and Wilson. Wilson was credited as producer for both sides. Neither song charted but a 1970 follow up single, “Love Is Life,” made it up to Number 6 in the U.K. That same year, producer Mickie Most recorded a Brown-Wilson song, “Bet Yer Life I Do,” with Herman’s Hermits, leading him to want to work with Hot Chocolate.
Within a few years, they became one of the first Black British groups whose songs would become hits in the United States. In 1973, their “Brother Louie,” which was a Top 10 hit in England, became a hit in the U.S. when Stories, featuring singer Ian Lloyd, recorded it. They released their debut album, Cicero Park, in 1974 and the album’s single, “Emma,” became a Number Eight hit in the U.S. The album’s “Disco Queen” would also become a hit the following year.
Their next album, Hot Chocolate, was an even bigger success thanks to “You Sexy Thing,” which Wilson wrote with Brown and hit maker Mickie Most produced. With a buoyant guitar line, expressive orchestral strings, and Brown’s smooth vocals, it made it up to Number Two in the U.K. and Number Three in the U.S., where it was certified gold. Decades later, the song would get second and third lives thanks to its inclusion on the soundtracks for Boogie Nights, The Full Monty, and a Burger King commercial.
Wilson left the group that year and returned with a solo album, I Like Your Style, in 1976. He released two more albums, Catch One (1979) and Walking the Highwire (1988), but never equaled the success he achieved in Hot Chocolate, who continued on without him making hits. A Wilson song, “Everyone Can Rock and Roll,” became the title track of Bill Haley and the Comets’ final album.
Brown told The Independent in 1998 that he believed Wilson felt resentment about the way producer Most had positioned Brown as the lead singer when that was originally Wilson’s role in the group. “Tony and I have lost touch,” he said then. “However, I will always be grateful to him for planting the seed and helping me find myself. I understand his frustration so I can now look back with fondness.” Wilson paid tribute to Brown in 2015 when he died, offering his family “heartfelt condolences” on Facebook.
The songs Wilson co-wrote with Hot Chocolate have been covered by artists from a wide variety of genres, including the Sisters of Mercy, Roy Ayers, and April Wine.
Eric Rojas*
