Saturday, July 20, 2013

AccuRadio Song Of The Day-Oliver Cheatham

Artist:Oliver Cheatham
Song:Get Down Saturday Night
Album:Get Down Saturday Night





For a song that was a top 40 dance and R & B hit in 1983, Get Down Saturday Night has been very durable especially in England. It's been sampled to death by hip hop guys and appeared in the video game Grand Theft Auto: Vice City. Oliver Cheatham was born in Detroit 1948 and grew up singing in church. His mom sang gospel. He was in groups like The Young Sirs, Mad Dog and the Pups and Gaslight. While leading his own band Oliver, he signed as a solo artist with MCA Records. He recorded with One Way and he wrote Get Down Saturday Night with One Way keyboard player Kevin McCord. It reached #37 on the Billboard R & B Singles chart. It also did well in England and Cheatham has had other hits in England like SOS and Celebrate Our Love. Cheatham moved to Surrey, England. He recorded a couple of songs with Inner City lead singer Jocelyn Brown which is why she is on the cover of this CD from the British label Hallmark. Get Down Saturday Night is on a lot of various artists box sets. The song got a big boost when it was used in the video game Grand Theft Auto: Vice City. And Cheatham sang lead on the British number one hit Make Luv by Room 5. Italian DJ Junior Jack based it on Get Down Saturday Night and asked Cheatham to sing on the record. So for a guy who only had one minor dance hit, Oliver Cheatham has sure had a durable career. That's because he's a pretty good singer. Here's Oliver Cheatham performing Get Down Saturday Night in the 80s. Unfortunately the video cuts off halfway through the performance.

No comments:

Post a Comment