One of the hottest boy groups of the 1990s Take That, is back on top of the UK charts. The four-man outfit best known for the hits Back For Good (popularised in Jamaica by Singing Melody as Want You Back), Shine and remakes of How Deep Is Your Love, It Only Takes a Minute and Relight My Fire, has knocked Beyonce’s If I Were A Boy from the top of the UK Singles chart with their latest hit, Greatest Day.

The song, written by Mark Owen, Jason Orange, Howard Donald and Gary Barlow and produced by John Shanks, is the group’s 11th number one hit in the UK, and their 20th Top 40 hit.

But while Take That has been a huge phenomenon in the UK and Europe, the group is regarded as a one-hit wonder stateside, having reached number seven in 1995 with Back for Good.

Worldwide the group has sold more than 30 million records.

Originally a five-member outfit, Take That was formed in 1990. The group broke up in 1996. Group members Gary Barlow and Robbie Williams later pursued solo careers and charted several singles in Europe and on the UK singles charts.

The original members of Take That, minus Robbie Williams, reunited in 2006 following a BBC documentary on the group. Their latest album, Circus, which contains the current number one single, was released in the UK and Europe on December 1.

LUST shoot video for You’re The Inspiration

LUST recently wrapped up the video shoot for their latest single You’re The Inspiration. It was directed by Garcia Campbell, and it was shot at various locations including Liguanea, Port Royal, Norman Manley Airport and St Joseph’s Hospital.

LUST topped the charts earlier this year with their updating of Air Supply’s Just As I Am.

BITS AND PIECES

. Kanye West’s new album 808’s and Heartbreak debuts in the number one spot on the Billboard 200 album chart, selling 450,000 copies. Kanye’s first album, The College Dropout, sold 441,000 copies in its first week in 2004. His sophomore album Late Registration skipped 860,000 copies in 2005, while his last studio album Graduation started with 957,000 copies in 2007.

. Songwriter and artiste Tina Nunezz has been in the studios working on various projects over the past few months. She is also gearing up for a bigger year careerwise in 2009. She recently did the song Like This featuring Mad Cobra on the Sandfly rhythm, which was produced by Craig Parkes. She also has a collaboration with Gyptian called Weak in the Knees, produced by Kemar Flava McGregor.

. Soul singer Cezar and his girlfriend Nadia recently became the proud parents of a baby girl named Josephine Marie. She was born on November 28 at the Nuttall Hospital in Kingston. RETV would like to extend congratulations to both Cezar and Nadia.

. Trinidadian soca group KES the Band has released the first single, This Feeling, from its upcoming album. The track was written by Junior Ibo Joseph in tribute to the old masters of calypso and soca music. January 2009 is the release date for their upcoming new album.

. The video for Mavado’s Billboard charting single I’m So Special was directed by Ras Kassa last Wednesday. It was shot in sections of Kingston including the very trendy new nightclub which is situated in the Market Place, off Constant Spring Road.

MUSIC FACTS

Did you know that the song All the Man That I Need which was a number one hit for Whitney Houston in 1991 wasn’t an original recording? It was written by Dean Pitchford and Michael Gore. All the Man That I Need was the second single from Whitney Houston’s third album I’m Your Baby Tonight.

In the early 1980s, disco singer Linda Clifford released a version of the song and girl group Sister Sledge also had a minor R&B hit with the song in 1982.

By 1991 Whitney had achieved eight number one hits in the US in only four years. All The Man That I Need continued this success and became her ninth number one on the Billboard Hot 100. It also reached gold certification. Internationally, however, the song was only moderately successful, except in the UK, where it reached #13. It reached 28 in both France and Switzerland, and number 37 in Germany. It was also a number one hit here in Jamaica.

MUSIC TRIVIA

Israelites by Desmond Dekker and the Aces was one of the first reggae songs to become an international hit. In 1969, it reached the Top Ten in the United States, peaking at #9 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart. It hit number one in the United Kingdom, Netherlands, Jamaica, South Africa,

Canada, Sweden and West Germany. The song came almost two years after Dekker first made his mark with the song, 007 (Shanty Town).