REAL THING

Original vocalists, Chris Amoo and Dave Smith, who had three million selling hit singles in the 70s, “You To Me Are Everything”, “Can’t Get By Without You” and “Feel The Force”, plus other top ten successes, such as “You’ll Never Know What You’re Missing” and “Whenever You Want My Love”.  

In 1986 “You To Me Are Everything”, “Can’t Get By Without You” and “Can You Feel The Force” were all remixed and became huge hits again, thanks to their huge club following. “Children Of The Ghetto”, another classic Amoo brothers’ composition, has been covered worldwide by artistes as diverse as Phillip Bailey (of Earth, Wind and Fire) on the Chinese Wall album, Courtney Pine on his Journey To The Urge Within album and The Swingle Singers Live At Ronnie Scott’s.  The song was also featured in the Spike Lee movie ‘Clockers’.

To quote from the Guinness Book of Hit Records “they were the UKs best selling black group of the late 1970s and only fellow Liverpudlians, The Beatles and Frankie Goes To Hollywood, have had more singles in the all time top 100”. Still going strong in the 21st Century,  The Real Thing have definitely earned their reputation as the UKs No. 1 soul band.  Eight on stage, performance includes all their top ten hits, plus a medley of classic covers from Kool & The Gang “Ladies Night” and “Celebration”, “Good Times” by Chic and from McFadden & Whitehead “Ain’t No Stopping Us Now”.

ODYSSEY

THE GLORY DAYS of top vocal group Odyssey, one of the most successful soul/disco acts of their era, culminated in the early 1980’s when they topped the charts with “Use It Up and Wear It Out”, scoring several other Top Ten hits in Britain and throughout the world.

The group started out being billed as “The Lopez Sisters” when there were three of them – Lillian, Louise, and Carmen.  An agent spotted them at a concert and booked them for a five month European tour.  When they returned to the States, Carmen left the trio to marry, but Lillian and Louise resolved to continue, and so recruited Tony Reynolds as a replacement.          

From their debut album emerged their first smash single - “Native New Yorker”, an international hit late in 1977. Lillian’s eldest son, Steven Collazo had become part of Odyssey behind the scenes from its inception, recording as a background vocalist, journeyman session musician and musical director for their live performances and tours.  A couple of years later, the group cut their “Hang Together” album.  It contained “Use It Up and Wear It Out”, while the flipside, “Don’t Tell Me, Tell Her” received major airplay on US Black Radio. In the UK, “Use It Up” shot to the top ten and number one chart hit, followed by “If You’re Looking For A Way Out”, “Inside Out”, and the Lamont Dozier classic “Going Back To My Roots”, among others.

Performing around the UK, Europe and The Middle East throughout the 80’s and into the 90’s, the journey continued. In 1994, Steven moved up to co-front the group and produce new versions of the Odyssey classics while appearing with Lillian on television, touring arenas, top hotels, clubs, major holiday resorts and festivals throughout the UK and Europe.

The founder and first voice of Odyssey, Lillian Lopez-Collazo Jackson, died of cancer in September of 2012.  Louise Lopez passed away from natural causes in January 2015.

Steven Collazo continues the family legacy, taking their “odyssey” upwards and upward as a brand, performing, recording and producing new music with an amazing array of talented singers, musicians, DJs, producers and remixers.

It's said that "old school" is today's "new school" and Steve's been working to combine the best of both worlds into today's Odyssey, introducing the brand to a whole new generation of enthusiasts who grew up with their music while remaining faithful to the group's more mature, core audience. With remixes in the works from superstar DJs such as Dimitri from Paris, Louie Vega, John Morales (who, with his partner Sergio Munzibai of M&M Music produced the first ever remix of the venerable and anthemic Native New Yorker) and many others, the journey continues into the 21^st century while keeping an eye towards the classic sound which made ODYSSEY famous.