1-HIT WONDER
ANEKA JAPANESE BOY
Japanese Boy was a hit pretty much everywhere except, oddly enough, Japan.
According to singer Mary Sandeman, it was because the melody sounded too Chinese.
No matter, as elsewhere, this throbbing electronic track about a woman pining for a scarpered lover was massive. The chap’s ethnicity is only revealed in the chorus, so an obvious gimmick to raise the song to a higher status was needed.
It meant that Sandeman, a 33-year-old folk singer from Edinburgh, needed a new name and image, especially when producer Neil Ross put the Oriental riff on the intro.
And so she transformed into Aneka – a name she found in the phone book – and acquired a kimono to become a geisha girl for the sleeve and the TV. A month after entering the charts at No.60 in August 1981, Aneka was replacing Shakin’ Stevens – soon to be a regular client of Japanese Boy songwriter Bobby Heatlie – at No.1, staying there for one week.
She topped the chart in six countries in total, and while her next best effort in the UK was a follow-up called Little Lady that reached No.50, she managed more Top 10 hits on the continent.
Her album, Aneka, only charted in Switzerland and Finland. In 1984, she dropped the Aneka moniker, reverting to folk singing in Scotland under her real name. She retired from music in the 90s.
Matthew Rudd is the host of Forgotten 80s on Absolute 80s
© Phil Sharp
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