A few Tina Charles Fun Facts from the press release:

1. Not only did TC sing on an earlier Number One (”Make Me Smile”), but she also sang on a 1979 Number One with a very close connection to her bass player.

2. “Blame It On The Boogie” was offered to TC in 1976, two years before The Jacksons had a hit with it.

3. That Sanny X remix of “I Love To Love” that I mentioned? It got to #2 in France in 1989, and stayed there for eight weeks.

4. Elton John sang backing vocals on one of TC’s early singles (”Good To Be Alive”).

5. TC provided the vocals for “Slave To The Rhythm” for The Producers (Trevor Horn, Lol Creme et al) on their 2007 tour.

6. In 2006, TC went Top Five in the Billboard Hot Dance chart, providing lead vocals on “Higher” by Sanny X (yes, him again).

Let’s hear it for the Little Lady with the Big Voice!

(and Dancing On Ice was on a Sunday this year so that’s my excuse…)

Sorry, who is Zarrah Abrahams? - for those of us who steer well clear of that sort of thing on a Saturday night.

Dizzee - momentary beneficiary of fashion craze for a brand of music which was never really going to cross over (it’s our loss since The Bugsy Malone One at the very least should have been part of Popular) or, conversely, did cross over before going underground.

Beverley Knight I think is a long-term victim of the Zarrah Abrahams syndrome.

I’m afraid you may have a point with the incipient racism in the public vote for these types of programmes; note for instance how the judges on the last series of Dancing On Ice were always adamant about keeping Zarrah Abrahams in the contest despite her regularly having to appear in the “dance-off” even though she was clearly one of the best dancers/skaters on the show (Alecia Dixon is perhaps the other exception that proves the rule here) and this was also very evident in the last X-Factor series where the only qualification for victory now seems to be that you cry a lot and love your mum and two immensely superior black female singers got the early bath (and ageism is also an issue here).

Don’t know about the existence of “soulful and authentic proper music” which to my mind has become as artificial a marketing device as any other in recent years, i.e. Adele and Duffy are “soulful” and “authentic” whereas Estelle has the temerity to be (a) pop and (b) black.

it could well be that michelle mcmanus was good on r4 though - as the oliver programme is proving with terrible precision, there’s a big difference between having a good voice/being a good singer and being able to sing pop songs well. or perhaps living through the terrible experiences of the last few years has given her access to the well of the pain and oppression the lies at the heart of soulful and authentic proper music…

Mind you I think it was Sounds which reported that a reverend in the US objected to “Love To Love You Baby” on the grounds that “there are 22 orgasms in it”. Sounds gleefully asked: “Who’s counting, Rev?”

ILTL, meanwhile, was certainly an above average pop song and Tina’s own performance was strong and first rate (very Lyn Paul). She could actually belt out a number as powerfully as any female I can think of, despite some rather odd antecedents. Having much earlier failed to capitalize following a season with The Two Ronnies (it wasn’t always Barbara bloody Dixon) when she was very young indeed, Tina settled down as a backing singer, notably for Steve Harley, before being handed this chance, which was gratefully snapped up. What stands out even more was the presence at number one of a single female British artist, the first of only four to do this in the entire decade, which is remarkable.

DJ Punctum #2 - I rather fear that you’re one number one too late to talk about Geoff Love’s phantom chart topper, as from personal memory (I invite you to see my contribution) it affected The Four Seasons and not Tina Charles.