Mike Chapman - Chapman and Chinn

Chapman and Chinn

From 1970 until 1978 Chapman and Chinn scored a run of hit singles, with just the Chapman/Chinn writing or production credit seemingly enough to propel a song on to the airwaves and up the charts. From 1973 to 1974 alone the pair had 19 hits in the Top 40 of the UK Singles Chart, including five number ones. The pair’s dominance of the charts in Britain, Germany, Scandinavia, Australia and New Zealand outlasted the decline of Glam rock, and waned in line with the fading fortunes of Smokie and Suzi Quatro. The success of the Chinn-Chapman production partnership was challenged in the late 1980s by the Stock Aitken Waterman team.

Interviews with bands suggest Chapman was the more energetic and creative of the pair and the more flamboyant and outspoken. He exerted a tight grip on the output of the bands whose works he produced, determining the content of all albums. Some resented the level of control: The Sweet, whose interests lay in heavy rock, chafed at the teenybopper material Chapman gave them to perform, finally balking at some songs which did not fit in with their new direction and seeking success on their own; Chapman would later make the curious decision of offering "Some Girls" to Blondie; the song was eventually given to Racey instead. Deborah Harry has referred to Chapman as a dictator, and for the photo shoot for one magazine interview he insisted on dressing up as US wartime General George S. Patton, Jr.

The pair continued to write hits, including Exile’s "Kiss You All Over" (1978) and Toni Basil’s "Mickey" (1981, a reworked version of "Kitty", a song they had written for Racey in 1980). They formed the Dreamland record label in 1979. Chapman later said that the label was an attempt to keep some of the partnership together. " I wanted Nicky Chinn to show me what he could do without me. So we started the label and put him in charge.The company folded after just 18 months.' Chapman was free to go it alone without the burden of the partnership." Those were difficult years, 1973 to 1978, I really didn't need a partnership and tried desperately to get away from it." It's a long story.