Uptown Top Ranking

"Uptown Top Ranking"
Single by Althea & Donna
B-side"Calico Suit"
Released1977
Genre
Length3:53
LabelLightning
Songwriter(s)
Producer(s)Joe Gibbs
Althea & Donna singles chronology
"Uptown Top Ranking"
(1977) 		"Puppy Dog Song"
(1978)
Official audio
"Uptown Top Ranking" on YouTube

"Uptown Top Ranking" is a song by Jamaican teenage singers Althea Forrest and Donna Reid, recorded when they were 17 and 18 years old respectively.[2] Released in 1977, the song comprises the girls ad-libbing to deejay track "Three Piece Suit" by Trinity. The lyrics were written by the duo and Errol Thompson.[2][3] It was produced by Joe Gibbs,[2] using a re-recording of the riddim of the 1967 Alton Ellis song "I'm Still in Love", which had already been re-popularised in the 1970s by Marcia Aitken's cover "I'm Still in Love With You Boy", and "Three Piece Suit" by Trinity, to which "Uptown" was an "answer record".[4]

The record was initially recorded as a joke. It was accidentally played by BBC Radio 1 DJ John Peel resulting in numerous requests for additional plays.[5] With early championing by Peel and a performance on Top of the Pops, it soon became a surprise hit, reaching number one on the UK Singles Chart in February 1978.[2] The track spent a total of 11 weeks in the charts. Althea & Donna became the youngest female duo to reach the number-one spot on the UK chart.[3]

  1. ^ a b Bradley, Larry (November 4, 2014). "The 1970s: Althea & Donna - "Uptown Top Ranking". The Alternative Jukebox. Cassell. p. 94. ISBN 978-1-84403-789-6.
  2. ^ a b c d Rice, Jo (1982). The Guinness Book of 500 Number One Hits (1st ed.). Enfield, Middlesex: Guinness Superlatives Ltd. p. 188. ISBN 0-85112-250-7.
  3. ^ a b Roberts, David (2001). British Hit Singles (14th ed.). London: Guinness World Records Limited. p. 47. ISBN 0-85156-156-X.
  4. ^ Colin Larkin (1998) The Virgin Encyclopedia of Reggae, Virgin Books, ISBN 0-7535-0242-9, p.10-11
  5. ^ "One-Hit Wonders at the BBC". ... at the BBC. 17 April 2015. BBC. BBC Four.