Hot Chocolate

Hot Chocolate fused soul, rock, reggae, and disco into a distinctive style that yielded a dozen Top 10 hits across Britain from the 1970s into the early 1980s. Errol Brown and Tony Wilson assembled the interracial ensemble, which first appeared in 1969 as Hot Chocolate Band with a cover of Plastic Ono Band's "Give Peace a Chance" released on the Beatles' Apple Records. The group soon formed a lasting relationship with producer Mickie Most and his RAK label, where Brown and Wilson simultaneously supplied songs for other acts. Seven singles emerged between 1970 and 1973; among them, "Love Is Life" and "I Believe (In Love)" reached the U.K. Top 10, as did "Brother Louie," a stark story of an interracial relationship whose shrewd cover by Stories attained number one in the United States.

Although the band concentrated on singles for several years, eight albums appeared during the mid- to late 1970s and early 1980s. Cicero Park (1974) followed "Brother Louie" and sustained explorations of race and class, widely viewed as the ensemble's most substantial artistic statement. "Emma," which portrays a figure's doomed pursuit of fame ending in suicide, supplied another U.K. Top 10 single and performed equally well in the U.S. The self-titled Hot Chocolate (1975) rode the momentum of the funkier "You Sexy Thing," a further Top 10 entry on both the U.K. and U.S. pop charts. The band finally secured the summit position at home with "So You Win Again," a relaxed and reflective disco track from Every 1's a Winner (1978); Wilson meanwhile balanced a solo career on the Bearsville label.

The original lineup dissolved in 1986, yet a fresh configuration without Brown or Wilson formed early the next decade. Various versions of Hot Chocolate continued to perform and tour through the 2010s. Brown, who issued several major-label solo albums, died of liver cancer in 2015.