This week in 1987
1 China In Your Hand T’Pau
2 Got My Mind Set On You George Harrison
3 You Win Again The Bee Gees
4 Whenever You Need Somebody Rick Astley
5 Faith George Michael
6 Never Can Say Goodbye The Communards
7 Love In The First Degree Bananarama
8 Barcelona Freddie Mercury and Montserrat Caballe
9 Little Lies Fleetwood Mac
10 (I’ve Had) The Time of My Life Bill Medley and Jennifer Warnes
Shropshire band T’Pau were originally called Talking America before changing their name to T’Pau, after a Vulcan elder of the same name in the Star Trek series. ‘China In Your Hand’, co-written by the band’s singer Carol Decker and rhythm guitarist Ron Rogers, was the second single from T’Pau, and follow-up to ‘Heart and Soul’ which reached number 4 in both the UK and US charts, and coincidentally, in Ireland as well. ‘China In Your Hand’ was their biggest hit and only number one, reaching the top in the UK, Ireland and a number of other countries. In 2011, when contestant Amelia Lily performed the song in a heat of the X Factor, judge Gary Barlow hit out at Carol Decker’s original vocal, saying it was ‘nice to hear the song being sung in tune for once’. This prompted an outburst on Twitter from Decker who still performs with Rogers as T’Pau. ‘I had to suffer a Take That concert for the sake of my kids this summer,’ she retorted. ‘What’s your f***ing problem. I actually have perfect pitch.’