Stock Aitken Waterman

Stock Aitken Waterman (abbreviated as SAW and also known as the Hit Factory) are an English songwriting and record production trio consisting of Mike Stock, Matt Aitken and Pete Waterman. The trio had great success from the mid-1980s through to the early-1990s. SAW is considered one of the most successful songwriting and producing partnerships of all time by the Guinness World Records, scoring more than 100 UK Top 40 hits (many of which were also worldwide successes) and earning an estimated £60 million in royalties. The trio had thirteen UK No. 1 singles including three consecutive UK No. 1s and three US No. 1 singles. They also had at least one record in the UK Top 100 Singles Chart every week between March 1986 and October 1990.

The group have sold 500 million units globally, and they also received a Brit Award for Best British Producer in 1987 along with nine Ivor Novello Awards between 1988 and 1990. In 1990 SAW picked up three Ivor Novello Awards for Songwriter of the Year, Most Performed Work for Donna Summer's "This Time I Know It's for Real" and Best Selling A-Side for Jason Donovan's "Too Many Broken Hearts".

SAW started producing underground club hits, but earned worldwide success with a mixture of hi-NRG-influenced sound, romantic Motown lyrics and Italo disco melodies with singles from Rick Astley, Bananarama, Mel and Kim, Donna Summer, Sinitta, Dead or Alive, Jason Donovan and Kylie Minogue. During 1984–1989, their musical style was labelled Eurobeat. They also put swing shuffle elements into their songs. The producers' legacy has been increasingly positively reassessed, with contemporary analysts praising the quality and enduring impact of their music.

Musician Mike Stock had briefly worked with DJ Pete Waterman in 1980 when John Milton, Mark Stock and Mike wrote a song – "One Nine for a Lady Breaker" – for a CB radio club. A version of the track found its way to Waterman who managed Peter Collins, then a successful producer with acts like Musical Youth and Nik Kershaw. The track was re-recorded and produced by Collins; Stock sang on the track under the alias Chris Britton. In January 1984, Stock and songwriter Matt Aitken arranged to meet Waterman at his office in the Stiff Records building, Camden Town. Waterman was seeking a new partnership and in February they went into the Marquee Studio in Wardour Street Soho to record the song "The Upstroke" for Agents Aren't Aeroplanes – a front for their concept of a female Frankie Goes To Hollywood. The record was released on Proto Records run by Barry Evangeli and Nick East and distributed by RCA and was championed by Radio 1's John Peel. It achieved popularity in the gay clubs and discos where many new records were promoted into the mainstream as Hi-NRG.

In 1983, Stock had been approached by Andy Paul, a Greek Cypriot, to write a song for Cyprus in the Eurovision Song Contest. "Anna Maria Lena" was voted by the Cypriot public to represent their country in the competition and the re-recorded version would be Stock and Aitken's second collaboration with Waterman. The team were then asked to produce a song for drag performer Divine and they recorded "You Think You're a Man" at the Marquee Studio, which was released by Proto Records in July 1984. The song reached No. 16 on the UK Singles Chart. Soon after, the team recorded Hazell Dean's "Whatever I Do, (Wherever I Go)". The song became Stock Aitken Waterman's first Top 10 hit, reaching No. 4 in the UK. This period saw a rapid refining of the core production team and their roles, with a fourth collaborator, Pete Ware, who was co-credited on the team's earliest records, leaving after Stock and Aitken objected to him taking a job touring with Dean.

In September 1984, SAW were approached by Dead or Alive frontman Pete Burns to produce the song "You Spin Me Round (Like a Record)", which became SAW's first UK No. 1 in March 1985. Although a massive commercial success, the trio were still in dire financial straits and the record set the scene for SAW's often fractious creative relationship with those bands and artists who demanded creative involvement in their records. Engineer Phil Harding, who mixed the track, said tensions were running so high between the band members and producers Stock and Aitken during mixing, that it almost escalated to violence. Stock has disputed the seriousness of studio tensions, alleging that Burns, Harding and Waterman have all "exaggerated" what happened in their recounting of events.

In 1985, the trio built a new studio at The Vineyard recording studio complex, The Borough, which would later be dubbed "The Hit Factory". Whilst working with the band Brilliant, Stock wrote a song for their backing singer Desiree Heslop called "Say I'm Your Number One", which peaked at No. 7 on the UK Singles Chart. These chart successes and the trio's sound attracted the attention of girl group Bananarama towards the end of 1985. Group member Siobhan Fahey wanted to record a cover version of Shocking Blue's hit song "Venus". The result was a pop/hi-NRG reworking which became a worldwide chart hit, reaching No. 1 on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart in July 1986 and reaching the Top 10 in the UK and many other countries.

Bananarama went on to make Stock, Aitken and Waterman their main producers, and would collaborate with them on some of their biggest hits, including "Love in the First Degree" (UK No. 3), "I Can't Help It" (UK No. 20), and "I Heard a Rumour" (UK No. 14). The act were one of only a few who were given co-writing credits with the producers, with Stock describing the creative relationship as challenging; explaining he was obliged to collaborate with them due to a deal with their management. "It's very difficult to be creative if someone's just going to mock you, or laugh at you," he said. "With Bananarama it was just awkward, all the time very awkward, and I didn't feel comfortable writing with them." In 1986, Mel and Kim's first single "Showing Out (Get Fresh at the Weekend)" went to No. 3 on the UK charts and their follow-up "Respectable" reached No. 1.