Song of the Day 5/24: Edison Lighthouse, “Love Grows”

We’re all familiar with the concept of the one-hit wonder, bands or singers who disappear after one popular single. Sometimes even bands with two hits are mistakenly included in such lists; for example, Looking Glass had a second Top 40 single after “Brandy,” but nobody remembers it (“Jimmy Loves Mary Anne,” in case you’re wondering), so they’re often called a one-hit wonder anyway.

But what about a guy who sang on five singles that are considered one-hit wonders? Is he a five-hit wonder?

This is not an academic question. Such a guy exists. His name is Tony Burrows, and he accomplished 80% of this feat in the first four months of 1970.

Burrows’ incredible run actually began in January 1970 when he sang the lead for a vocal group called the Brotherhood of Man on “United We Stand,” which reached the Top 10. Though there was an actual touring Brotherhood of Man that lasted for years, Burrows, who had a busy career as a session singer, wasn’t involved.

Burrows really hit the jackpot when “Love Grows” was released in mid-January and reached No. 1 on the British charts in just two weeks, necessitating the rapid assembly of an actual band to appear on “Top of the Pops,” the source of the video.

In March Burrows hit the charts again, with “My Baby Loves Lovin’.” This time the band was White Plains, a mostly-studio project using members of an actual ’60s band Burrows sang for, the Flower Pot Men — put together, naturally, after a 1967 single called “Let’s Go to San Francisco” reached the UK top 10. On “TOTP,” he let another guy lip-synch his vocals while he posed as a backup singer (he’s on the far left, and stays mostly off-camera), the better to disguise the fact that he also appeared on the show that week singing lead on “Love Grows.” In fact, four times in the first four months of 1970 Burrows appeared on BBC’s “Top of the Pops” singing for two different bands on the same show.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GTcN4Mm4ZDI

In April Burrows reached the charts yet again, this time singing on the novelty hit “Gimme Dat Ding,” credited to the Pipkins. Even Burrows has sounded sheepish about that one. He then went without another hit for four years.

Once again he was singing for hire in a studio-only outfit, The First Class, that had to be assembled for real after “Beach Baby” became Burrows’ fifth and last Top 20 hit. As usual, Burrows wasn’t interested in touring, so the band that was assembled for the chore didn’t include him.

Burrows had a long solo career after that, but only reached the lower levels of the charts once under his own name. Still, he set a record unlikely to be broken.