Brother Louie - Stories/Hot Chocolate (197) 4/19/23

Hot Chocolate was a racially integrated British group (known primarily in the US for their song "You Sexy Thing," which we highlighted back on 8/1/22.

In 1972, they released "Brother Louie," a song that was right in their wheelhouse. It was about a black man in love with a white woman--and rejected by his parents because of it.

It made quite a splash across the pond, so to speak, reaching #6 on the UK Chart...but here in the US, it didn't chart at all.

In 1973, the American group Stories released a cover, and this time the reaction was reversed: It went to #1 in the US and Canada...but didn't chart at all in the UK.

Different music styles for different countries most likely was the reason for that chart anomaly, but the message of racial inequality hit home in both versions.

"Brother Louie" by Stories (and Hot Chocolate): a "Great Song of the'70s!

Stories: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C6yLdrkP-Bk