CLASSIC POP TOP TEN
WEEK ENDING 8 JANUARY 1983
NOVELTY CRUISE FODDER, A NUTTY BOYS CLASSIC, PHIL COLLINS GOES RETRO, SHAKY DOES ELVIS, A GREEN DUCK IN A NAPPY AND BING & BOWIE...
STEVE O’BRIEN
01 (1) SAVE YOUR LOVE RENÉE AND RENATO (HOLLYWOOD)
SAVE YOUR LOVE RENÉE AND RENATO (HOLLYWOOD)
Italian-born and Birmingham-bred Renato Pagliari had been singing most of his 35 years before he made his telly debut on the ITV talent show New Faces in 1975. There, he’d impressed record producer (and creator of Metal Mickey, fact fans) Johnny Edward who gifted him with this cruise-boat favourite. Pairing him with British vocalist Hilary Lester the duo were remonickered Renée And Renato, releasing the Just One Cornetto-like Save Your Love in October 1982. Those watching the video may have been thinking they were seeing the real Renée, except that Lester’s place was taken by a model, Val Penny. The song made Christmas No.1, but would prove to be the only hit for the pair. “I think you have to laugh along with it,” Lester said in the book 1000 UK #1 Hits. “I’ll never be ashamed of it, but at the end of the day it was a novelty record.”