Rose Royce

So why is a group represented by a picture of a carwash?


The group was originally formed under the name Total Concept Unlimited by Kenny Copeland (vocals and trumpet) and Henry Garner (drums) while graduating from high school. They were hired as backing band by Edwin Starr They then became involved with ex-Motown producer and songwriter Norman Whitfield and signed with his Whitfield Records label. They was renamed Magic Wand and performed as backing musicians with several different artists such asYvonne Fair, the Undisputed Truth, and the Temptations.


During a tour stop in Miami, Undisputed Truth leader Joe Harris came upon a singer Gwen Dickey, a member of a local group called The Jewels. Dickey was flown to Los Angeles to audition for Whitfield.  He gave her the stage name Rose Norwalt and she was added to Magic Wand who now prepared their debut album.


Film director Michael Schultz offered Whitfield the opportunity to score his next picture Car Wash. Whitfield saw the film as an opportunity to launch his new group and the music for the soundtrack was written as the picture was been filmed. The band's name was also changed to Rose Royce to  reflect the movie's car theme, but also the name of the new singer.


On the back of the release of the film, the single Car Wash made the top 10 in the UK. Since the band were still in the US, the band were represented on the Top of the Pops countdown by the picture above of a car wash.

UK Christmas singles - million sellers

There have been a few Christmas singles that have sold over a million in the UK:
Slade - Merry Christmas Everybody (first released 1973)
Harry Belafonte - Mary's Boy Child (1957)
Band Aid 20 - Do They Know Its Christmas?  (2004)
Wham - Last Christmas  (1984)
Boney M - Mary's Boy Child / Oh My Lord  (1978)
Band Aid - Do They Know Its Christmas?  (1984)


White Christmas by Bing Crosby may or may not have sold a million in the UK depending whether you include sales from reissues.


Wham was never a number one being released the same week as Band Aid and is the biggest selling single never to reach number one in the UK.


Boney M's song is a medley including a version of the Harry Belafonte song.


Ref: everyhit.com UK christmas songs
List of UK million-seller singles.

TOTP 1976 - Why "Legs & Co" ?

The dancers performing to Lalo Schifrin's Theme From Jaws, 28/10/76

So here you are dancing on Top Of The Pops in 1976, the men of Ruby Flipper have been ditched along with the name after less than six months and you are going to have a new name thought up by a member of the public. For three weeks you have been cleverly credited as ??????, there being 6 dancers. There are lots of entries so there has to be at least one good name amongst them. But the name that is chosen is "Legs & Co". It must have been such a disappointment. There are accountancy firms with better names than that. Pans People was a much better name in comparison even if it was a very Sixties name. If that was the best entry what were the other entries like? At least the BBC has managed to wipe the edition were the name was announced. I guess the name reflects the poor taste of the mid-Seventies.

Top Of The Pops dance troupes:
Dec 1964 - May 1968   GoJos
May 1968 - Apr 1976    Pan's People
May 1976 - Oct 1976    Ruby Flipper
Oct 1976 - May 1981    Legs & Co
Nov 1981 - Sep 1983    Zoo

From Pan's People onwards, the choreographer was Flick Colby. The Go-Jos created by Jo Cook and Pan's People formed by Flick Colby existed before appearing on the show but the other troupes were created for the show.

Different Band Names in Different Countries

     Some bands have to change their names for different countries because of existing bands with the same name in those countries. Thus "The Spinners" from America are known as "The Detroit Spinners" in the UK so as not to be confused with "The Spinners" from England. Similarly "The Beat" from the UK are known as "The English Beat" in America because there was an American band with that name. "The Charlatans" from the UK are known as "The Charlatans UK" in America for the same reason.
     It can affect solo artists. Sean Combs has used several different names from Puff Daddy to P.Diddy to Diddy. However he can not use the name Diddy in the UK because there was already another artist using that name, so in the UK he currently uses P. Diddy instead but is Diddy in America. America seems not to have heard of Ken Dodd and his Diddymen.
     Some names are very popular. There are at least 2 American bands called "The Uniques", one from Louisiana and one from Florida. Wikipedia lists 4 bands with the name "Paradox", with one each from Canada, England, Ireland and Thailand.
    Sometimes the band is too obscure to matter. Hence the British bands The Eagles, Nirvana and Hanson were overwhelmed by their later American namesakes and no name changes were necessary. In the case of Blue, a court case decided that the two groups with that name, a boyband formed in 2001 and a scottish rock band formed in 1973, were sufficiently different to avoid any confusion and they could both use the name Blue.

@londonscreen13