Diary of a Teenage KC and the Sunshine Band Fan.
I kept a diary in 1976 and 1977 when I was 16/17 years old. KC was my heart-throb from about Oct 1974 until my first real relationship which started in late Sept 1977. KC was quite a big heart-throb in the USA, but sadly mine was a minority interest in the UK. I still made a blooming good effort to find each and every music paper or magazine article I could though. I used to have "Record Mirror" and "Black Echoes" delivered to the house every week, and buy "Blues and Soul" and Black Music" and my friend Julie used to look out for stuff in "NME" and "Melody Maker" for me too.
These are all the entries about KC which I could find in my 1976 and 1977 diaries.
Some notes about abbreviations:-
Luxy is Radio Luxembourg, which used to broadcast in the evenings. They used to have a soul night every Friday "Black Friday". After "lights out" time I used to carry on listening until I fell asleep, with the radio under the covers and an earplug.
R1 is Radio One, the BBC's national pop music station. DLT was a DJ on Radio 1- his name is Dave Lee Travis but he was always known as DLT.
TOTP is Top of the Pops, the long running (and still going) BBC1 weekly chart show.
These are all unedited so if they make you cringe... I was only in my teens!!
(Anything in brackets and italics is a note added for explanation or just a comment with the wisdom of age!)
1976
(The title page of my diary has "Harry Casey 4 Ever" written across the top in green ink. Notes page has KC 4 Ever written on it)
January 1976
Fri 2nd Jan. Had a late Christmas card, my second. (The other was from KC's fan club). There was a pic of KC in NME.
Sat 3rd Jan. Cut out all reviews of KC's records from Black Music and Blues and Soul.
Sun 4th Jan. Went through Record Mirrors cutting out KC's record reviews. Put all my large pictures and interviews in a box. Wrote out a list of facts about him.
Mon 5th Jan. Decided to put an ad. in Record Mirror for pictures of KC.
Sat 10th Jan. Made a birthday card for KC. It was pink outside, white inside, with yellow round the outside and a green ribbon across it.
Mon 12th Jan. Today is the last day of the holidays worst luck (typical schoolgirl comment!)I stayed in bed until 12 covering pics of KC with cellophane (big ones only)
Sun 18th Jan. Heard George McCrae's new single "Honey I" written by KC of course.
Mon 19th Jan. Julie gave me a bit from NME about KC- what he is doing at the moment (sadly as I no longer have it, I don't know what he was doing!!)
Fri 23rd Jan. Record Mirror came out and contained a smaller copy of Picture No. 13 (I numbered all my pics of KC and used to keep a list of them. I have no idea which picture was No . 13!) KC has been nominated for 5 Grammy awards. Stop press. I have now got a copy of this small article, scan to follow and the id of pic. No 13 to be revealed!
It's here, see Picture No. 13
Mon 26 Jan. A copy of "Blues and Soul" I ordered came this morning. It had 3 pics of KC in it (sigh).
Wed 28th Jan. Covered picture no. 18 with cellophane and sellotape (I used to stick my pictures on cardboard, then cover them with the stiff cellophane used to cover books, and secure it round the edges with sellotape. That protected them without damaging them).
Sat 31st Jan. Written at top of page- KC's birthday. Today was KC's birthday. To celebrate the fact, I wrote a letter to the British HQ of the fan club querying an advert in Record Mirror about it- it implied that there was a British fan club- so I wrote to ask and also asked if they had any of the t-shirts with "KC and the Sunshine Band" on them.
February 1976
Sun 15th Feb. Started saving for when KC next comes to Britain. I've a feeling it could be soon, maybe April even.
Sun 22nd Feb. (I had been invited on holiday for a week with my best friend Ann and her parents) Wrote a letter to the fan club to find out when KC might next tour here.
March 1976
Mon 8th Mar. Got a newsletter from KC's fan club this morning. It
named me as one of their most dedicated fans in a list of 17 and there was a
form to fill in for a free t-shirt.
If anyone has a copy of this,
the
first ever newsletter from the fan club which they would be willing to
either scan in, or send a photocopy of, please get in touch. I can't
believe I didn't keep it and I would LOVE to have a copy. I was
flabbergasted to find my name in that list!
Mon 22 Mar. Ann recorded some of KC's songs on a cassette to take on holiday. (Pre Walkman days!)
April 1976
Wed 7th Apr. (I was on holiday in Wales with my friend Ann and her family and I climbed my first ever mountain, Yr Arran in the Snowdonia range). I must be the first person to kiss a picture of Harry Casey on top of a mountain.
Tue 20th Apr. The second newsletter arrived from KC's fan club today.
Thur 22 Apr. Got Blues and Soul & found out that KC will be here in July again. He'll be in Dunstable when I am in Cardiff * so Bracknell is the most probable place at the moment. I'm so glad I saved for it, I have £7.00 saved at the moment. Went to Ann's and she agreed to come with me. (*- Cardiff refers to an event I was due to go to with the Sealed Knot an English civil War re-enanactment society I belonged to, and Dunstable is where I saw KC in concert in 1975)
May 1976
Thur 13 May. Got Blues and Soul, nothing about KC's tour.
June 1976
(Long gap between entries here because I had a crush on someone called Graham in my re-enactment society so I cooled down over KC for a bit- till I realised I had no chance with Graham. See Bert Tearles Odd odes for a poem about this)
Sat 26 Jun. Got Blues and Soul. There was nothing about KC's tour in it and nothing in the music papers, so I think the tour must have been cancelled. (He was due to start the tour on Friday. (I think the dates when they were released must have been provisional only, and it never got confirmed. As far as I know, KC didn't tour again here until 1983)
July 1976
My interest seemed to have revived a bit here!
Tue 6th Jul. DLT had a nice surprise in store- KC's new single "Shake your Booty"- brilliant of course.
Wed 7th Jul. Went down town to get Blues and Soul. KC's new single was not reviewed as there was no singles review page!
Fri 9th Jul. Listened to Rosko's Round Table (Friday night new singles release review show on Radio 1). Heard KC's new single again. There was a picture of KC and a review of their new record in Black Echoes.
Sun 11th Jul. Heard KC's new single.
Tue 13th Jul. Listened to radio all morning. Heard "Shake your Booty" at 8.30 and 1.30. Listened to DLT and his first record at 4.30 was SYB.
Thur 15th Jul. There was a review of KC's new single (which I heard twice today) in Black Echoes, and in the disco section of Record Mirror.
Fri 16th Jul. KC's new single was reviewed in Blues and Soul. The Bee Gee's new single "You Should be Dancing" and Andrea Trues new single "Party Line" were described as rip-offs of the KC sound.
Thur 22nd Jul. TOTP played out with Shake Your Booty.
Sat 24th Jul. Rosko played Shake Your Booty at 11.20
Tue 27th Jul. Shake Your Booty No. 27 in chart (No. 21 on Luxy). (Luxy had their own chart)
Thur 29th Jul. KC wasn't on TOTP- sob sob. If I had been the producer, they would have been!!
Fri 30th Jul. There was an interview with KC in Record Mirror. (I have managed to get a copy of this issue- scan hopefully to follow)
August 1976
Tue 3rd Aug. Shake Your Booty @ no 22 (15 on Luxy)
Wed 4th Aug. Smaller copy of pic 13 in Blues and Soul.(I do now know which was pic. no. 13- a group shot with KC wearing a check shirt- it was actually the one given out as a promo photo at concerts on the 75 tour)
Thur 5th Aug. Ruby Flipper (TOTP dance troupe) danced to Shake YOur Booty on TOTP.
Fri 6th Aug. Copy of pic no. 27 in Blues and Soul.
Tue 10th Aug. Shake Your Booty no. 26
Sat 14th Aug. Got a newsletter from KC's fan club this morning- at
last- and it included pictures and a birthday mention for me.
(Again
if
anyone has a copy of this they would be willing to photocopy or send as a
scan please get in touch)
Tue 17 Aug. Shake Your Booty no. 24
September 1976
Sat 4th Sep. Got a parcel this morning which turned out to be the t-shirt from KC's fan club. It is bright yellow with "KC and the Sunshine Band" across the front.
Sun 5th Sep. Superstars 76 on Luxy featured KC and the Sunshine Band. (They played Sound your Funky Horn, Queen of Clubs, Blow your Whistle) plus Hot Chocolate and Donna Summer.
October 1976
Thur 14th Oct. According to Record Mirror, KC has a new album out tomorrow called Part 3 (originally due for release in August).
Fri 22nd Oct. According to Black Echoes, KC's new LP is on RCA which means they have changed record labels (they are usually on jayboy) Chris Carey on Luxy in "Black rock artists" played Do It Good and Sound Your Funky Horn.
Sat 23rd Oct. Went downtown to get KC's new LP Part 3 from Russell
Acotts (the only shop to have it). It cost £3.49. Fave track on first play-
Keep it Comin' Love.
My original copy was on Jayboy which was KC's
record label in the UK until 1977. I remember that the fanclub newsletter
had said that the album would have a gatefold sleeve with pictures, and
the Jayboy release didn't have that. I think that was my only
disappointment and Part 3 is still my favourite KC and the Sunshine Band
album. It was reissued on TK in 1977 so I got another copy complete with
gatefold sleeve and pictures which is the one I still have
Sun 24th Oct. Listened to records in the afternoon including Part 3. Listened to it again while getting ready to go out.
Mon 25th Oct. Listened to Part 3 twice, this morning and this evening.
Tue 26th Oct. Listened to Part 3 twice, morning and evening.
Wed 27th Oct. Listened to Part 3 before getting up (nb this week was half term week)
Thur 28th Oct. Listened to Part 3 before getting up.
Fri 29th Oct. (guess what I did before I got up???). Listened to Part 3 before getting up.
(Of course as a typical teenager, getting up during school hols meant 10.30ish at the very earliest!)
Sat 30th Oct. Listened to Part 3 3 times- twice in the afternoon and once while getting ready to go out. Went to Fingals with Kay- they played Get Down Tonight and Shake your Booty. (Fingals was a nightclub in a place called Wheatley and was our regular Saturday night venue for a couple of years).
Sun 31st Oct. Tonight was my anniversary. 2 years ago KC was on TOTP singing Sound your Funky Horn. (They had just arrived in Britain for their first tour following their first hit, Queen of Clubs & Funky Horn had just been re-issued). I got a crush on him.
November 1976
Mon 1st Nov. Worked out that KC was born on a Wednesday.
Thur 11th Nov. Went to the Stadium disco. Last record they played was Shake your Booty. (We used to go to discos at Oxford Stadium on a Thursday quite regularly as well). DLT played Keep it Comin' Love and said it was their new single. This was confirmed by Record Mirror where it was also reviewed on their disco page.
Sat 13th Nov. Covered my big pic of KC with cellophane, also the 2 pics from the fan club, my membership card and 2 other pics I already had.
Mon 15th Nov. Traced a cartoon of KC which was in one of the newsletters and stuck it on my rough book.
Sun 21st Nov. Today was the second anniversary of me getting my first picture of KC.
December 1976
Fri 3rd Dec. There were 3 reviews of KC's single in Blues and Soul which came this morning- two of Keep it Comin' Love, the new British single, and one of I Like to Do It, the new US single which is not nearly as good- I consider it one of the weakest tracks on the album. (Wow, I was able to be a bit critical!!). Stuart Henry played Let it Go Pt 1 at about 11.5pm.
Sun 5th Dec. Recovered my fave pic of KC with sticky tape in the afternoon.
Mon 6th Dec. Keep it Comin' Love is Stuart Henry's Hot Shot on Luxy- heard it twice.
Wed 22nd Dec. Got a Christmas card from KC's fan club.
(No entries about KC over Christmas so I guess no-one got him for me for Christmas!)
Wed 29th Dec. Paul Burnett on Radio One tried to play Keep It Comin' Love but it went wonky. He was joking and saying it sounded as if KC was drunk and giving him some black BBC coffee to sober him up.