Responsible for over 100 Top 40 hits in the UK alone, STOCK AITKEN WATERMAN ruled the pop charts in the 1980s and provided the soundtrack to a generation...
Mike Stock, Matt Aitken and Pete Waterman – better known collectively as Stock Aitken Waterman – are amongst the most successful songwriters, arrangers and producers in the history of pop music.
Stock Aitken Waterman wrote and/or produced well over 100 UK Top 40 singles (many of which were also worldwide hits), and contributed to over 50 hit albums. They worked with a variety of different artists, including Kylie Minogue, Jason Donovan, Rick Astley, Bananarama, Dead or Alive, Mel and Kim, Princess, Hazell Dean, Donna Summer, Cliff Richard, Debbie Harry, Divine, Edwin Starr, Errol Brown, Georgie Fame, Judas Priest, La Toya Jackson, Laura Branigan, Samantha Fox, Sigue Sigue Sputnik, Sinitta, The Three Degrees and Sir Paul McCartney.
Their amazing success resulted in Stock Aitken Waterman becoming as famous as their artists, due to numerous TV and radio appearances, press interviews and their own compilation album series, The Hit Factory.
Mike, Matt and Pete received accolades from their peers, picking up a Brit Award for Best British Producer in 1987, and an amazing nine prestigious Ivor Novello Awards between 1988 and 1990; they won Songwriters of the Year three years in a row, Best Selling A Side twice, Most Performed Work three times, and International Hit of the Year once.
The trio enjoyed 13 UK number one hit singles; 7 of these in 1989 alone, and of those, 3 were consecutive number ones.
Stock Aitken Waterman also enjoyed a record-breaking run of having at least one record in the UK Top 100 Singles Chart every week between March 1986 and October 1990.
Stock Aitken Waterman's influence remains in place to this day; they pioneered the “producer as artist” ethos, paved the way for future hit production teams such as Cheiron and Xenomania, and revolutionised the use of technology in the creation of mainstream pop music.
