Chart entered : 13 May 1978
Chart peak : 39
Number of hits : 10
Evelyn is the first artist to feature here who was born in the sixties. She was born in The Bronx in July 1960. Her father was a resident backing vocalist at Harlem's Apollo Theatre. The story goes that she was working as an office cleaner at P.I.R. and a producer, Theodore Life, heard her singing in a washroom. He took her to RCA. The "Champagne" came from her infant nickname of "Bubbles".
This was the first* single from her album "Smooth Talk ". The 17 year old Evelyn sings of embarassment at her teenage lust while the backing boys whip up a disco storm behind her. It's probably best remembered for its still fairly unique chart history. The chart had just been expanded to a Top 75 and this spent 23 weeks in it without getting higher than number 39. What probably accounted for this was the release of a 12inch extended version by disco remixers Al Garrison and David Todd emphasising the handclapped beat. Evelyn's untrained deep voice threatens to drop into a subsonic murmur throughout the track. That and the lack of a strong melodic hook in the chorus meant the 7 inch version didn't really work on radio but in the clubs the groove was all that mattered.
* Some sources state that "Dancin Dancin Dancin" was her first single but as far as I can determine that was only the B-side to this one.
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