Nothing But A Heartache

The Flirtations started life as The Gypsies before making a glamorous switch in the mid-60s and trading the US for the UK in search of hits. Everyone in the United States who heard this on the radio in 1968 thought it was a new group whose music was being released by a record company in Detroit, New York, or Chicago. "Nothing But A Heartache" was produced and released by Deram Records of the UK (home of the Moody Blues). The British production and writing team of Bickerton and Waddington went on to create hits for the teenybop group Rubettes in the mid-1970s. Wayne Bickerton and Tony Waddington's second UK single, "Nothing But A Heartache", eventually scored them a hit and the song remains an enduring favorite of the Northern Soul crowd. In 1969, The Flirtations' pop masterpiece "Nothing But A Heartache" was born.

The Flirtations are an all-black American R&B band from South Carolina, but they were really successful in the UK. "Nothing But a Heartache" opens with a vibrant trumpet as the singer boldly declares that she has nothing but daily heart attacks. "Nothing But A Heartache" sold half a million singles that spring. The variety of trumpet sounds, capturing both highs and lows, the band's own excellent timing as well as the lead singer's ability to respond to calls and her chorus is surprising. Bickerton broke the cut's spike with a dramatic chord change, but maintained the excitement by using the bass to parallel the lead singer's lines.

Singer: The Flirtations