1986 in British music cover of the disco song "Don't Leave Me This Way". The band included singer Jimmy Somerville who had previously enjoyed success with Bronski Beat, and later started a solo career. The Christmas number one single was something of a surprise, a re-issue of Jackie Wilson's 1957 single "Reet Petite". Wilson had died in 1984, but the song been re-issued after being used in a television advert for Levi's, with a new video made of a Claymation version of Wilson. Having first been released 29 years earlier, it broke the record for the longest time between a single being released and
Gwen Gordy Fuqua looking for new material. She had a songwriting partnership with her brother Berry Gordy and Roquel "Billy" Davis, a childhood friend who had connections with Chess Records in Chicago. The partners started out with a bang by writing "Jim Dandy Got Married" for LaVern Baker on the Atlantic label and "All I Could Do Was Cry" for Etta James on Argo, a Chess subsidiary label. By far, however, their greatest early success was writing the first big hits for Jackie Wilson. Starting with "Reet Petite", Gwen, Berry and Davis penned five consecutive Jackie Wilson hits. "Lonely Teardrops", "That's Why (I