50 years since 'Sad Sweet Dreamer'
A Manchester music story.
Fifty years ago, and featuring the voice of Marcel King, Manchester’s Sweet Sensation topped the charts with ‘Sad Sweet Dreamer’. The story of the group, and the singer needs to be told...
A smooth ballad and slice of Philly-style soul ,‘Sad Sweet Dreamer’ was the first ever Number One single by a predominantly Black British group, and it was followed by ‘Purely By Coincidence’, which also hit the Top 20.
Sweet Sensation’s moment in the limelight included performances on Top of the Pops, Dutch TV, and on a Granada TV show called 45. You’ll find a small selection of YouTube links to Sweet Sensation on TV at the end of this article.
Their glory days were numbered, however; three years after topping the charts Sweet Sensation were dropped by their record label. Along the way, though, they’d had memorable experiences galore, including supporting the Bay City Rollers at a packed New Century Hall filled with hysterical Rollers fans, and headlining a show at Hammersmith Palais.
Ten years after ‘Sad Sweet Dreamer’, the group’s singer, Marcel King released a solo single on Factory Records, ‘Reach For Love’, which received its TV premiere on Channel 4’s The Tube, the same night Madonna performed at the Haçienda; January 27th 1984.
Twenty-five years ago, in my book Manchester, England, I gave some prominence to ‘Sad Sweet Dreamer’ and I’ve written about Sweet Sensation and Marcel several times since. Other local writers and historians have brought Sweet Sensation and Marcel King to the attention of readers, but despite the support of some cheerleaders in the city, knowledge of their achievements has never shifted the steadfast perception that our city’s music history is exclusively filled with white (male) guitar bands.
Marcel King died of a brain hemorrhage in Manchester on 5th October 1995, aged 38. Just a month earlier, he’d spoken to the Manchester Evening News about a plan to release a modern re-make of ‘Sad Sweet Dreamer’. At the time of his death, his father, George King, revealed that Marcel had suffered severe headaches in the wake of being attacked in the Reno club in Moss Side some seven years earlier, and speculated this may have contributed to his death. When he died, Marcel had three children. One, Zeus, died eighteen months later, aged 19, shot dead in a gang feud in Longsight.
Marcel’s is such a under-acknowledged, even unknown, story; despite being described on the Manchester Digital Music Archive site as “the genius vocalist behind two great British soul records, both happening ten years apart and out of Manchester”. I’d like to redress the balance.
The success of ‘Sad Sweet Dreamer’ came after a performance on a weekly TV talent show called New Faces. On April 13th 1974, six million people were tuned in when Sweet Sensation were featured (New Faces was one of two major talent shows on TV in that era, the other being Opportunity Knocks). At that point, Sweet Sensation had eight members; singers Marcel King, Vincent James, Junior Daye and St Clair Palmer, and musicians Gary Shaughnessy (guitar), Barry Johnson (bass), Roy Flowers (drums) and Leroy Smith (keyboards).
Sweet Sensation topped the vote among the judges, and winning that week’s show led to an appearance in the Gala Final on 6th July 1974. They were resplendent in cream suits. There were eight of them altogether onstage, including four vocalists down the front indulging in some well-rehearsed, snazzy choreography. The youngest, smallest singer, young Marcel King was just 17. His platform shoes were reputed to have an extra inch in them to make him look more grown-up.
After winning New Faces, one of the judges, Tony Hatch, signed them to Pye Records. Hatch was a kind of Cowell character, a judge on prime time TV with a determinedly pop sensibility, who’d always be on the look out for acts to work with (Pye Records was then home to a variety of chart botherers, including Olivia Newton John, Odyssey and Karl Douglas). Hatch knew what he was doing (he’d started out as a songwriter, penning several hits for Petula Clark, including the magnificent song ‘Downtown’). However, Sweet Sensation’s first single, ‘Snow Fire’ failed to make the Top Twenty.
The 1974 footage of Sweet Sensation is very of its time. The top soul vocal acts from America made regular appearances on show like Top of the Pops - the Stylistics, say, or the Jackson 5 wore such flashy and lurid suits that the picture on my family’s newly acquired colour TV would contort and wobble.
Marcel King lived on Palmerston Avenue in Whalley Range, attended Our Lady’s Primary, then St George’s Secondary School. He was a regular at the weekly underage disco at Chorlton Irish club; he’d often be there with his brother Feeny (Phineas). The dancefloor would fill every time the DJ played ‘Shaft’ by Isaac Hayes. His first gig with Sweet Sensation was in 1972, in Barrow-in-Furness, when he was fifteen.
Within a few weeks of the Gala final, Sweet Sensation were on the conveyor belt of mainstream pop; supporting the Bay City Rollers in Manchester, and Mud at Sheffield City Hall. Aside from such high-profile support slots, most of Sweet Sensation’s shows were in cabaret clubs playing cover versions; by the middle of 1974 they’d already been on the circuit for a year or two.
Cabaret club performers booked at weekends at all the various venues were a mix of singers, groups and comedians. The clubs were very much descendants of old style variety and music hall shows but with added kipper ties and wide lapels.
Cabaret club operators the Bailey Organisation owned dozens of venues. Many of these had a cabaret hall, everyone sat at tables and waitresses taking food and drinks to the tables. The Golden Garter in Wythenshawe in 1974 featured the likes of Frank Carson, Peters & Lee, Jim Bowen, and the Drifters. Similar places included the Talk of The North in Eccles, and the Willows in Salford. Venues like this were known as “the chicken-in-a-basket circuit”, although other options were on the menu; notably, scampi.
I recently discussed all this with Donald Johnson the former Factory Records act, A Certain Ratio. He co-produced ‘Reach For Love’, Marcel’s solo record but he also had a strong connection with Sweet Sensation in the 1970s; one of his older brothers, Keith, was in a very early version of the group, then trained-up another brother, Barry, to take his place when he had decided to move on.
“They were the standard gigs for those guys in those days,” says Donald of the cabaret circuit. “There was a lot of work out there. All those guys with grafters. They were glad that they were working and they were just part of that system. They enjoyed the camaraderie, they went out and they entertained.”
In April 2023, A Certain Ratio played at New Century Hall in Manchester. The event brought back vivid memories for Donald Johnson. Being back at New Century Hall reminded him of the one and only time he saw Sweet Sensation perform. It was July 1974, the show supporting Bay City Rollers who were a huge teenybop band at the time.
He watched Sweet Sensation from the side of the stage, appreciating the musicianship, the outfits, their full song and dance thing; “Their moves were a version of the probably what the Jackson Five were doing at the time. Matching outfits, the big flare things, great costumes; all that kind of stuff. You could say they looked and sounded American, when they were actually English.”
On 13th October 1974, buoyed by a Top of the Pop appearance a couple of weeks earlier, Sweet Sensation hit top spot in the charts. The had just one week at Number One, in a Top 20 that included David Essex ‘Gonna Make You A Star’, and ‘Everything I Own’ by Ken Boothe.
It was actually one of the other singers, the more senior St Clair Palmer, who took many of the lead vocals onstage at live shows, including cover versions of ‘Backstabbers’, and ‘Me and Mrs Jones’. There’s an extended eye-witness report of a Sweet Sensation show at Croydon’s Fairfield Halls in the magazine Black Music, written by Tony Cummings, in which it’s clear the attention of the crowd, especially after the success of ‘Sad Sweet Dreamer’, is very much on Marcel, not just for his voice, but some of his solo dance moves; splits and backflips. ‘Sad Sweet Dreamer’ had been written by songwriter Des Parton - who would go on to write most of the songs on the debut album.
Cummings describes how an hour after the performance there are still thirty girls waiting to grab a hello and an autograph from Marcel at the stage door. “The newly established teenybop heart-flutterer, gathers together some press shots, bums a pen from someone and goes outside to reward their patience".
However, they were deep into a pop world that looked for hits rather than longevity. Music business executives like Tony Hatch, piloting young talent, were unsentimental in their decisions. The following three singles after ‘Purely By Coincidence’ all failed to dent the charts. The album in 1975 also sold poorly. The end was inevitable.
Donald counsels against thinking of the band as victims. He says they knew being disposable went with the territory; “They understood how that all works. They understood what it was to be in that game. It's a bit Simon Cowell. Goodbye, OK, next one; you know, that kind of process”.
Marcel later revealed that interest in the cabaret circuit was never great. They were sites of decent pay but limited expectations. Talking to journalist Neil Riley in 1984, he said “I wasn't into cabaret at all. It was OK, at first, but it got to be just the same old things”.
It seems that Marcel’s desire to find ways of expressing himself outside of the formulaic rituals was a source of conflict within the group; “I was a rebel in Sweet Sensation because they were laid back enjoying that kind of thing. I was young and hot-blooded, working men’s clubs and the Bailey's circuit wasn’t what I wanted to do”.
The fading fortunes of Sweet Sensation were linked to changes in the live circuit that was sustaining them. The cabarets were losing their appeal for audiences and artists, especially among the young generation.
Sweet Sensation’s star was fading but their status as pioneers was assured. After ‘Sad Sweet Dreamer’, other Black British soul acts like the Real Thing, and Hot Chocolate had major chart success. However, it’s worth pointing out that, for several reasons these acts had more longevity than Sweet Sensation. The Real Thing transitioned from their first commercial chart hit in July 1976 to writing their own songs, many of which showed great depth and creativity; the year Sweet Sensation were dropped by Pye, the Real Thing released the album 4 From 8 which dealt directly with the reality of live in Toxteth, Liverpool. The Real Thing writing their own songs gave them more control, and a more substantial income stream.
Marcel and Gary wrote just one songs on the Sweet Sensation album. Looking back later, Marcel expressed regret that songwriting hadn’t been a bigger priority for the group; “There was never any talk of we'll go and lay down some new ideas in the studio - there was never any of that kind of inspiration at all.”
Without a label, the members of Sweet Sensation were on to the next chapter in their lives. For example; Vincent James put himself through college, became a TV repair man, then moved on to a job at UMIST in the the Department of Electrical Engineering and Electronics; Barry Johnson went on to play bass in Quando Quango, later joined Aswad, then went into teaching; keyboard player Leroy Smith ran a popular takeaway in Longsight called Chicken George, but, sadly, in 2009 he died of bronchial pneumonia aged 56, alone in his flat above the premises.
Gary Shaughnessy continued to make music, and, according to Donald Johnson, accidentally created a link with the generation who lit up Manchester in the 1980s and beyond; “Gary Shaughnessy sold his guitar to A1 music shop years and years later when he wasn't doing Sweet Sensation, and Johnny Marr bought that. So Johnny Marr owns that guitar, Gary Shaughnessy's guitar, a white Strat.”
After Sweet Sensation, I’ve heard tell that Marcel King was part of a Hulme-based band Isis, who recorded a demo including a song called ‘Strolling’., but I can’t find a trace of the group or the song. But then he made his mark as a solo artist. ‘Reach For Love’ was recorded by Factory Records in 1983, produced at Revolution Studios by New Order’s Bernard Sumner, and Donald Johnson.
Rob Gretton at Factory Records heard a demo of ‘Reach For Love’, written and sung by Marcel and recorded at Waterloo Studios with Tim Oliver engineering. Rob was manager of New Order and a co-director of Factory; although, as we know, Tony Wilson was very much the public face of the label. The two didn’t always get on, for various reasons including musical differences; Rob had much more regard for dance music than Tony, for example.
Tony Wilson was quoted as saying Marcel was homeless and living on the back seat of his car when Rob Gretton pulled him out of all that and put him back in the studio. DJ Greg Wilson and Bernard Sumner from New Order both talk of Marcel having heroin issues around this time. Donald can’t verify any of these stories; “I don't know if that’s right or not, but it’s true that the project came from Rob. It was Rob, that's how it came to me and Bernard. I don't know what his living situation or whatever.”
Donald tells me what he knows for sure though; “We made a brilliant record that still stands up and holds its own to this day, and working with him was easy. He was just waiting, he's couldn't wait to get on the mic and do his thing”. Donald talks about when you heard Marcel’s voice in isolation and up close in the studio; “It was beautiful”.
Donald and Bernard Sumner were working with the rough version of ‘Reach For Love’ that Marcel had made at Waterloo Studios. The two producers programmed the drums, and played various instruments in the final mix; “We just did what good producers do is embellish what was already there”. Marcel had with him Jim Crawford - a social and music companion to Marcel in this era of Marcel’s life - and Jim played percussion on ‘Reach For Love’ during the recording of the single.
In the studio that night, the yearning emotion of Marcel’s vocal was wonderfully captured. Donald; “When he sings ‘When you reach for love / You got to hold on to it / Music is the love / That helps me through’ he really draws you in and you can really feel it. It was awesome, and it’s awesome even to this day.”
Marcel appeared onstage at the Hacienda on New Year’s Eve at the end of 1983, then, again, just over four weeks later on the night the The Tube came to town. For the cameras he performed ‘Reach For Love’ with the breakdance crew Broken Glass on the dancefloor in front of the stage exhibiting their class moves.
This TV airing of ‘Reach For Love’ was a couple of months ahead of release. It wasn’t commercially available until March/April 1984, as a 12-inch double ‘A’ side, ‘Reach For Love’ and ‘Keep On Dancing’. ‘Reach For Love’, remixed by Mark Kamins - who was resident DJ at Danceteria in New York - got good interest on some of the more enlightened New York dancefloors.
A little belatedly, in mid-March 1984, Rob Gretton organised for a press photo of Marcel to be done and distributed to the media. The photographer was Michael Pollard. Michael, in 1984, hoped his future lay as a musician rather than photographer, as music had always been his main thing. But after a chance encounter with Tim Chambers, who worked at IKON and managed the Fall, he got the opportunity to take some Fall photos. On the back of that, Rob Gretton phoned him up and said he’d like some photos doing of Marcel King.
Marcel walked to Salisbury Road, Chorlton, where Michael was living; it was the afternoon of the 19th March, and the photos were taken around the house, and the garden. Looking back, Michael says, “It wasn't a great shoot. We got a few images and I don't think it's what Factory really wanted, but it’s what they got.”
One of the things that strikes me was that although Rob Gretton was obviously particularly fond of this project, Factory, as we know, wasn't a label particularly geared up for marketing anything - and in some ways didn't want to or need to, -but on this occasion they probably should have got organised and worked out a strategy. It’s curious that it took almost six weeks after Marcel’s nationwide TV appearance on The Tube, to finally get round to doing a photo shoot with him.
There was an interview with Marcel in issue #9 of the Manchester listings magazine City Life – made available to me by the British Pop Archive held by the University of Manchester at the John Rylands Library. During the interview – conducted by Neil Riley, probably at the beginning of April 1984 - neither Marcel nor the journalist, knows whether the record had come out. When Neil spoke to the label, even Factory didn’t know for sure whether it was out there, or not.
Michael recalls Marcel at the photo shoot; “I remember him being unassuming. My impression was he'd walked there. He had no airs or graces; he seemed almost grateful that people were interested in him again, you know, and things might be happening for him”.
It’s intriguing that despite being only 17 when he was thrust into the limelight - becoming a teenybop sensation, photographed for magazines, performing on live TV that – at the later point in his life, aged 27, he was far from bullish or even confident in his dealings with the photographer.
At the beginning of the City Life interview, Neil Riley says; “No one was sure where Marcel lived, people said he was elusive, difficult and so on”. After leaving messages with various people, he was given a ring by Marcel, and then met up in person; Marcel was with Jim Crawford.
Once they meet, of course, Neil Riley finds Marcel far from difficult. In the interview, Neil praises “the electro-funk rhythm”, and suggests “If Factory don't get a hit with this, they don’t know what they're doing. It deserves promotion, air play and disco play”.
Sweet Sensation were undoubtedly constrained by Tony Hatch’s preference for classic ballads and slightly schmaltzy presentation. He’d helped them to success, but it was all happening them to a cut throat world of here today, gone tomorrow acts. But, in a discussion about the past, Marcel tells Neil Riley, he kept faith and battled through: “Through it all I can say I've never been disillusioned and I'm still not disillusioned. Whatever's happened, has happened.”
Factory releasing ‘Reach For Love’ was part of the label’s foray into funk and soul and R&B in the first half of the 1980s, which included several singles by 52nd Street, in addition to what since has been dubbed “Disco Not Disco” - Quando Quango, for example. It’s possible that such a departure from Factory’s usual dour post punk releases, though brave, just confused the media and the label’s fans.
When I talked to Donald Johnson about the song’s lack of its commercial success, he told me “It was just a shame, but at the end of the day, ‘Reach For Love’ is cemented pretty much in my mind as one of the greatest tunes that's ever come up on Factory Records.”
A demo recording of a song called 'I Want Our Love To Shine', produced by Tony Henry of 52nd Street, was talked about as a follow-up single to ‘Reach For Love’, but it was never released. Even before first record came out, it’s likely Marcel knew that one single would be the extent of his Factory career. He and Jim began work with Gee Bello of Light of the World; out of which came the second Marcel King solo single, ‘Hollywood Nights’, released by Debut Edge Records.
‘Hollywood Nights’ dates back to 1985. Marcel spent the rest of his life trying to find people who would help him make music. He found allies but his sweet soul voice was never heard on record again.
Marcel once said that it taken nearly twenty years to first get royalties owed to him for his work with Sweet Sensation. Into the 1990s, he was less philosophical than he was when he spoke to City Life. When he died, his mother, told the Manchester Evening News that “he felt let down by the music world”.
In 1988 Marcel found one particular and enthusiastic ally; Jamie Nicholson who ran the Kitchen studios out of Charles Barry Crescent in Hulme. Mark Hoyle remembers him there; in fact, Mark worked on a track with Marcel and Jamie. He recalls his impression of Marcel in the late 1980s; “The way I see it, it was like had been chewed up and spat out by the industry”.
Mark was frontman of a band called Dub Sex, and, later, Dumb, Mark saw a lot of Marcel over a very short period of time but then moved to Longsight and lost contact; “He really burned brightly in my life for that short time,” Mark says.
Mark had a piece of music he’d been carrying around for ages, ready to be finished, ready for lyrics. When he was recording the Dumb album in 1995 he went back to this tune and added lyrics paying tribute to Marcel. It’s a heartfelt song cleverly incorporating words from both ‘Sad Sweet Dreamer’ and ‘Reach For Love’. Mark also writes about Marcel in his recent autobiography Swerve (here https://www.route-online.com/all-books/swerve).
The track that Mark was a part of with Marcel was called ‘Fatal Attraction’. There may well have been other tunes Marcel worked on after Factory, even maybe completed. But if there are tapes capturing his glorious voice, they’re hidden away somewhere.
After the late-1980s, his profile was next to nowhere in the music business, as if Marcel had almost disappeared. There were just a few sightings. For example, he was at the Lloyds pub in Chorlton one night and got on stage with the resident band and sang ‘I Heard It Through the Grapevine’. This was around 1993/4.
There’s so much more of this tale to be told. If anyone wishes to share a story or personal memories of Sweet Sensation and Marcel King feel free to add a comment below or to message me via Facebook https://www.facebook.com/DJDaveHaslam and I’ll perhaps put a second article together. Marcel left such a legacy, a tantalising glimpse of an incredible talent.
Sweet Sensation - New Faces 6th July 1974
Sweet Sensation - Top of the Pops 27th September 27th 1974
Sweet Sensation filmed by Granada TV for a show called 45
Marcel King performing ‘Reach For Love’ on The Tube
Dumb ‘Marcel’ (1996).