B-side Calico Suit Genre Reggae Label Lightning | Released 1977 Length 3:53 | |
Writer(s) Althea & Donna, Errol Thompson | ||
"Uptown Top Ranking" is a song and single by the Jamaican teenage singers Althea Forrest and Donna Reid, recorded when they were 17 and 18 years old respectively.
Released in 1977, the song comprises the girls adlibbing to deejay track, "Three Piece Suit" by Trinity. The song was initially recorded as a joke. The record was played by accident by BBC Radio 1 DJ John Peel, resulting in him being inundated with requests for it to be played. As a result, it was a surprise hit reaching number 1 in the UK Singles Chart in February 1978, after early championing by Peel and a performance on Top Of The Pops, but had only one week at the chart summit, despite spending 11 weeks in the charts. It was produced by Joe Gibbs, 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'. The single's UK release was on the Lightning record label.
The lyrics were written by the duo and Errol Thompson. Althea & Donna became the youngest female duo to reach the number 1 place of the UK chart.
Covers
"Uptown Top Ranking" has been covered by Ali & Frazier, who released it as a single in 1993, and Black Box Recorder, who included a version on their 1998 album England Made Me. Zoë released a version featuring Prezident Brown in 2003 on her Zoeciety EP, and Scout Niblett released her version as a single in 2004. The song was sampled for Abs Breen's 2002 UK Top 10 hit single, "What You Got". and also for Sean Paul's UK Top 10 2003 single featuring Sasha "I'm Still in Love with You". The song was also covered (with changed lyrics) and recorded as "Strictly Rude" for Big D and the Kids Table's album "Strictly Rude".