1 HIT WONDER
GIRLIE
GIRLIE
SOPHIA GEORGE
Jamaican singer Sophia George hit the charts as Christmas approached in 1985 with a gentle reggae singalong about a man with too many female friends. The lyrics were inspired by the estranged partner of producer Sangie Davis after she saw a large number of girls chatting away to him in Kingston. Intending it as an insult, she labelled him “so girlie girlie”, but Davis saw the potential in the phrase and quickly wrote some lyrics. The 21-year-old George, a wannabe singer working as a teacher of deaf children, recorded the song after her manager, a friend of Davis, heard him repeating the chorus over and over. It became an enormous hit in Jamaica and, after entering the Top 40 in the UK at No.39, enjoyed a steady climb through the festive period before it peaked at No.7 in January 1986, staying there for two weeks. A traditional reggae production dominated by steel drums, a quirk of the song was the list of countries around the world that was repeated at high speed by George at the end. Girlie Girlie became