Pop hit-makers Stock, Aitken and Waterman get blue plaque
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From the sampled vocals of Mel & Kim to the instantly memorable lyrics of Rick Astley's biggest hits, Stock, Aitken and Waterman's songs ruled the UK charts in the late 1980s. With a blue plaque being installed on the side of the Bermondsey building that housed their "hit factory", the trio spoke to Sky News about spotting Kylie's "spark" and claiming they "invented" AI.
At their peak in 1989, Mike Stock, Matt Aitken and Pete Waterman songs made up a whopping 27% of the UK singles market. It remains one of the most successful partnerships in the history of pop. Waterman admits feeling "knocked out" by the 40 or so crowd that came to watch them receive the honour - including 1980s artists Brother Beyond, former staff who worked on their records, and fans.
"These are some of the kids that every day used to be here after school wanting autographs. Of course, they're all grown up now!" laughs Waterman. The partnership produced countless hits for some of the biggest stars at the time. "We had a method of working, we tried to taper the songs to how we thought the public would perceive the artist and we were quite successful in that regard," says Matt Aitken.
Waterman adds: "If it didn't work, we didn't bother.". In 1988, their success went into overdrive thanks to a collaboration with a young Australian soap actress called Kylie Minogue who they hadn't even heard of at the time. "When she arrived at the studio we were unaware that she was even turning up," Mike Stock explains. "So we had to come up with a song pretty quick.".
