Stock, Aitken, Waterman

[shocker]

This was a team of British producers and songwriters who had a lot of European success from about the mid-'80s to the early-'90s; and a good share of hits in America during that time as well. The sound was fresh and upbeat, and was classified as Euro-disco.

Those of us older than 25 will definitely remember some of their biggest hits -
"Never Gonna Give You Up" by Rick Astley
"You Spin Me 'Round" by Dead or Alive
"This Time I Know it's For Real" by Donna Summer
"Together Forever" by Rick Astley
"Total Eclipse of the Heart" by Nicki French

They also wrote & produced many hits for Kylie Minogue and Bananarama.

What happened to Stock, Aitken and Waterman? Are they still around and making hits in Europe, or did they disappear from the face of the earth?

[dth1971]

You didn't mention for Stock Aitken and Waterman:
"That's What Love Can Do" by Boy Krazy

[Chelsea Press 2]

I really liked many of their productions. Most of the Sinitta ones they did, Princess "Say I'm Your Number One", Lonnie Gordon "Happenin' All Over Again", all the Rick Astley ones, most of the Bananarama, and the Donna Summer ones.

shocker said:

What happened to Stock, Aitken and Waterman? Are they still around and making hits in Europe, or did they disappear from the face of the earth?

They recently had a track by these girls named The Sheilas called "(I'm So) Happy Happy (You're Mine)." It was all kinds of horrible.

[shocker]

eros said:

They recently had a track by these girls named The Sheilas called "(I'm So) Happy Happy (You're Mine)." It was all kinds of horrible.

I guess SAW had reached their full hit-potential in the late-'80s. They really seemed to faze out as the '90s progressed.

There's only so much they could do with songs that all seemed to sound alike. I liked many of their productions - especially the songs that Rick Astley did, but even he got tired of their carbon-copy type of Euro-disco. Even a good sound becomes monotonous when it doesn't change much over time.

[620 Soul Train]

They had some impact on the American R&B radio stations as well here is an (incomplete) list:
Princess - Say I'm Your Number One
Princess - After The Love Has Gone
Mel & Kim - Showing Out
Stock Aitken & Waterman - Roadblock (did not chart)
Stock Aitken & Waterman - Jam Packed (did not chart)
Mel & Kim - Showing Out
Sybil - Make It Easy On Me
O'chi Brown - Whenever You Need Somebody
O'chi Brown - 100% Pure Pain
Phil Fearon - I Can Prove It
Phil Fearon - Ain't Nothing But A House Party

[lolhey]

lol they are on my list of all around fav. producers of all time, totally was an important part of the mid 80s-late 80s. Their production style is so obvious yet was so effective, they took a lot of shit singers and made them sound good/current for that time (Mandy Smith comes to mind for a SAW artist who couldn't sing for shit, yet still had decent success due to SAW)

[Chelsea Press 2]

Pete Hammond who had worked on many of the SAW productions and remixes has returned to the music scene and occasionally does remixes in that classic SAW style of current songs. He recently did remixes of songs by Alphabeat, Velvet, Basshunter, Plumb, Wynonna, and Mini Viva.