20 One-Hit Wonders From the 1970s You Still Know Every Word To

Legendary Carol Burnett Show actress and comedian Vicki Lawrence scored perhaps one of the most unlikely chart hits of the 1970s when her cover of country star Bobby Russell’s murder ballad “The Night the Lights Went Out in Georgia” topped the charts in both the U.S. and Canada in 1973. (Lawrence was later presented with a gold record for one million sales by Carol Burnett in the season finale of her show later that year.) Lawrence released a number of other singles throughout the 1970s, but none could match the success of her earlier hit and so her sole chart-topper makes her something of a one-hit wonder. And in a decade of disco, prog rock, and novelty acts, she was by no means alone. “AFTERNOON DELIGHT” // STARLAND VOCAL BANDFounded by husband and wife duo Bill Danoff and Taffy Nivert in Washington, DC, in the late 1960s, Starland Vocal Band released their debut hit “Afternoon Delight” in 1976, quickly becoming one of the most-talked about bands of the year. The track earned them two Grammy Awards from four nominations, and a Number 1 hit in both the U.S. and Canada. Unable to match their earlier success, however, the band broke up in 1981 and this remains their only major chart hit.“ALL RIGHT NOW” // FREEEnglish rock band Free had a global hit in 1970 with “All Right Now,” taken from the band’s third album, Fire and Water. The band continued to produce music in the years that followed, releasing a further three albums in as many years before going their separate ways in 1973. Although they managed to follow up the success of “All Right Now” in their native UK, the band failed to do so on the other side of the Atlantic, making this their only major U.S. hit. “BEACH BABY” // THE FIRST CLASSBritish pop group The First Class had a smash hit on their hands when they released their debut single “Beach Baby” in 1974. The song reached the Top 20 in the UK and U.S., and topped the charts in Canada. Later hits struggled to match the band’s debut success, however, making this their singular U.S. hit, and the band effectively split up in the 1980s. “DANCING IN THE MOONLIGHT” // KING HARVESTKing Harvest was formed in New York in 1969 and broke onto the music scene three years later with “Dancing in the Moonlight.” The track was written by band member Sherman Kelly, and despite its jaunty, feel-good sound, it had a brutal beginning: Kelly wrote the song after he and his girlfriend were assaulted by a gang while working in the Virgin Islands, using the song’s lyrics to imagine an idyllic alternate reality while he recovered from his injuries. The song went on to be a smash hit on its release in 1972 (and an even bigger hit 28 years later when it was covered by English band Toploader in 2000), but the band split in 1976. “GOT TO BE REAL” // CHERYL LYNNAn appearance on daytime TV favorite The Gong Show kickstarted the long career of singer, songwriter, and actress Cheryl Lynn back in 1976. After signing with Columbia Records, Lynn had a smash hit with her million-selling debut single “Got to Be Real” just two years later, reaching Number 12 on the Hot 100 and topping the R&B chart. A string of hits followed in the late ‘70s and early ‘80s, and Lynn has continued to record well into the late ‘90s, but has never matched the success of her debut signature hit. “THE HUSTLE” // VAN MCCOY & THE SOUL CITY SYMPHONYCalling legendary Grammy Award-winning singer-songwriter and producer Van McCoy a one-hit wonder is something of a misnomer, considering he worked behind the scenes on some 700 songs for some of the biggest artists of the 1970s. His own chart record as a named artist, however, tells a different story; despite steadily releasing tracks since the early ‘60s, it wasn’t until the summer of 1975 that McCoy finally had a hit, reaching Number 1 around the world with “The Hustle.” Credited to Van McCoy & the Soul City Symphony, the song remains both McCoy and the ensemble’s biggest and best known chart hit, selling more than one million copies and winning the Best Pop Instrumental Grammy the following year. “I’D LIKE TO TEACH THE WORLD TO SING (IN PERFECT HARMONY)” // THE HILLSIDE SINGERS In 1971, the Coca-Cola Company approached songwriter and producer Billy Davis with a request to retool a pop song—“True Love and Apple Pie” by British songwriters Roger Cook and Roger Greenaway—as a short jingle for their upcoming “Hilltop” television commercial. The result was “I’d Like to Teach the World to Sing,” with the ad version recorded by British pop group The New Seekers. The success of the jingle, however, led to a deluge of calls to radio stations requesting the full song be played, forcing Davis to promptly rewrite the song again, cutting all commercial references to Coke and adding a trio of new verses. With The New Seekers initially unenthusiastic about recording a full version, Davis instead hired a studio of session singers, who recorded it under the name The Hillside Singers and immediately scored a Top 20 hit. The success led to the Singers recording a spinoff album, but the group was understandably short-lived. The New Seekers, meanwhile, later reneged on their original snub of the song, and took their own version of “I’d Like to Teach the World to Sing” to the Top 10 the following December. “IN THE SUMMERTIME” // MUNGO JERRYBritish rock band Mungo Jerry scored a global smash hit with their debut hit “In the Summertime” in 1970, which topped the charts all over the world, and climbed to Number 3 on the Hot 100 in the U.S. While elsewhere the band continued to build on that overnight success with a string of follow-up singles (and more than a dozen more studio albums), they never hit the Billboard charts again, making this their sole U.S. hit. “KUNG FU FIGHTING” // CARL DOUGLASJamaica-born British singer-songwriter Carl Douglas had been in the music business over a decade when he scored a worldwide smash hit with “Kung Fu Fighting” in 1974. The track—which reached Number 1 in more than a dozen countries—went on to sell 11 million copies and became Douglas’s only major U.S. hit. “LOVE GROWS (WHERE MY ROSEMARY GROWS)” // EDISON LIGHTHOUSEEnglish pop band Edison Lighthouse topped the charts in the UK and reached Number 5 in the U.S. with their million-selling debut hit “Love Grows (Where My Rosemary Grows)” in January 1970. After the follow-up “She Works in a Woman’s Way” failed to chart, however, the band began to break apart and eventually went their separate ways two just years later. More than five decades later, the song went unexpectedly viral on TikTok in 2022. “MY SHARONA” // THE KNACK Voted one of the greatest one-hit wonders of all time, The Knack’s 1979 hit “My Sharona” was written about a real girl—17-year-old Sharona Alperin—whom the band’s lead singer and songwriter Doug Fieger fell in love when he was 25. The pair eventually ended in a relationship for over four years, during which time Fieger wrote this, the band’s debut hit. (Reportedly, he completed the song in just 15 minutes.) The track became the fastest gold-selling record in the United States since the Beatles’ “I Want To Hold Your Hand” 15 years earlier, and to date has sold an estimated 10 million copies worldwide. The band followed thee song with several more releases, and several more albums in the ‘80s, ‘90s, and 2000s, before Fieger’s death in 2010. “NATIVE NEW YORKER” // ODYSSEY Originally recorded by Frankie Valli, New York-based disco trio Odyssey scored a worldwide hit in 1977 with their debut single “Native New Yorker,” which reached the top 5 in the UK and peaked at 21 in the U.S. Although the band went on to score a number of hits elsewhere after this (especially in the UK, where 1980’s “Use It Up and Wear It Out” reached Number 1), “Native New Yorker” remains by far the band’s biggest hit in the U.S. “PLAY THAT FUNKY MUSIC” // WILD CHERRYAmerican funk rock outfit Wild Cherry formed in 1970. Despite releasing a string of singles in the first half of the decade, they didn’t chart until 1976 when their breakout hit “Play That Funky Music” topped the Billboard charts and sold over two million copies worldwide. The band never matched their breakout hit’s success, however, and eventually split in 1979, leaving their sole chart-topper as one of the decade’s best remembered and most popular lone hits. “POP MUZIK” // MLondon-based synth-pop outfit M was founded by singer, musician and music producer Robin Scott in 1978. The band was more a pet project of Scott’s, and over the years featured a revolving series of guest artists and session players, including contributions by the likes of David Bowie, Tony Levin and Gang of Four guitarist Andy Gill. M scored its biggest and best-known hit (and its only chart hit in the US) with Pop Muzik in 1979, before Scott wound the project up in the mid 1980s. “REFLECTIONS OF MY LIFE” // MARMALADE In their native UK, Scottish pop-rock band Marmalade enjoyed a string of Top 10 hits in the late 1960s and early ‘70s (and are still going strong today). In the U.S., however, the band will forever be known for their hit “Reflections of My Life,” which reached Number 10 on the Billboard chart in 1970. “RING MY BELL” // ANITA WARD Alabama-born music impresario Frederick Knight initially wrote this classic track for teenybopper star Stacy Lattisaw, envisioning it as a jokey song about kids chatting on the phone. But when she signed to a different label, Knight reworked the track and turned it into a worldwide disco hit for singer Anita Ward in May 1979. Ward released a follow-up track, “Don’t Drop My Love,” the following November, but never matched her debut’s success. “SEASONS IN THE SUN” // TERRY JACKSIn his native Canada, singer-songwriter Terry Jacks enjoyed a string of solo hits in the 1970s and ‘80s, as well as writing and producing for several other acts (and enjoying considerable success in the late ‘60s and early ‘70s with psychedelic pop group The Poppy Family). Elsewhere, however, Jacks remains best known for his 1974 smash hit Seasons in the Sun—a retooled English version of a 1961 song “Le Moribond” by Belgian composer Jacques Brel—which sold a staggering 14 million copies world. Jacks only charted twice more in the U.S., and never matched his breakout song’s runaway success. “SPIRIT IN THE SKY” // NORMAN GREENBAUM Although released in December 1969, singer and guitarist Norman Greenbaum’s classic hit “Spirit in the Sky” became the biggest selling hit of the following year, spending 15 weeks on the Hot 100 and selling a staggering two million copies. (Even John Lennon confessed to being a fan in an interview with Rolling Stone in 1970.)“VENUS” // SHOCKING BLUEDutch rock band Shocking Blue was a hugely popular chart act in their native Netherlands in the late ‘60s and ‘70s, but elsewhere remain best known for their biggest hit, “Venus,” which topped the charts in nine countries—including the U.S. in February 1970. (And, yes, that’s the same guitar riff from The Who’s “Pinball Wizard.”) “WEREWOLVES OF LONDON” // WARREN ZEVONAmerican rock singer-songwriter Warren Zevon’s career spanned four decades, but despite releasing more than a dozen albums and multiple singles, he is by far best remembered for his 1978 hit “Werewolves of London.” Zevon wrote the song in 1975 while working with Phil Everly, of the Everly Brothers. According to Zevon, Everly joked that he should retool the title of film he had just watched, Werewolf of London, as a novelty song. Despite its light-hearted beginnings (and equally light-hearted lyrics), the song features rock music royalty among its credits: that’s Mick Fleetwood on drums, and John McVie on guitar that you can hear.