Watusi (album)

Watusi was the fourth studio album released by The Wedding Present.

It was released in 1994 in the U.K on Island Records.

Watusi is to be re-issued by Edsel Records in 2014 and The Wedding Present will play the album in its entirety during their autumn 2014 UK tour.

Track listing

All songs written by Belk/Dorrington/Gedge/Smith, except tracks 1 and 11 written by Belk/Dorrington/Gedge/Gregory/Smith and track 4 written by Dorrington/Gedge/Gregory/Smith.

Personnel

Additional Musicions.

The Watusi

The Watusi /wɑːtuːsi/ is a solo dance that enjoyed brief popularity during the early 1960s. It was the second-most popular dance craze in the 1960s in the United States, after the Twist.

History

The Orlons, a vocal quartet from Philadelphia, had the biggest hit of their career as recording artists with their recording of "The Wah-Watusi" (Cameo 218), which debuted on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart on June 9, 1962 and remained on the Hot 100 for 14 weeks; it peaked at #2 and held the position for two weeks.

This was not the only version of the song to hit the charts. On Jan 18, 1963, Chubby Checker released his single version of "The Wah-Watusi" (B-side of Cameo 221). Later that year, Smokey Robinson and the Miracles also recorded their own version. Popular covers of the song included Annette Funicello, and The Isley Brothers. The Vibrations had previously released an R&B single in 1961 called "The Watusi" (US #25).

Also in 1963, Puerto Rican jazz musician Ray Barretto had his first hit with a song called "El Watusi", and - although he didn't invent the dancing style - he came to be typecast as connected to the style. Barretto's recording, "El Watusi" (Tico 419), debuted on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart on April 27, 1963 and remained on the Hot 100 for 9 weeks; it peaked at #17 for 9 weeks. The Ventures covered Barretto's version on their 1965 album Let's Go!.