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MUSIC WEEK, 23 OCTOBER 1993
Hitmakers: is it over?
The future is one of the UK's most prolific songwriting and production
teams is in doubt following reports that Mike Stock wants to end his 11-year
partnership with PWL chairman Pete Waterman.
Together the pair have helped create more than 90 Top 40 hits, including
13 number ones, as part of the hugely successful Stock, Aitken and
Waterman partnership, SAW. Since Matt Aitken left the team for personal
reasons in August 1991, Stock and Waterman have continued to work
together.
PWL last week refused to confirm or deny reports that Stock and Waterman
are to split. PWL managing director David Howells declines to comment,
while Waterman himself was said to be in meetings all week and Stock was
also unavailable.
A spokesperson for Sharp End Promotions, which handles PWL acts such as
2 Unlimited, reported that the official PWL line was "no comment".
If the rumours are true, the separation would mean the end of one of the
most successful partnerships in UK pop music over the past decade.
SAW formed after Stock and Aitken approached Waterman for business advice
on a demo they were putting together in 1984. A year earlier Waterman
has ended his partnership with producer Peter Collins, with whom he
co-produced hits for Nik Kershaw, Musical Youth and Alvin Stardust.
Stock and Waterman's first SAW hit was Divine's You Think You're A Man
which reached number 16 in 1984, while their first number one came in
December that year with Dead or Alive's You Spin Me Round.
This year their Top 75 hits for PWL include Sybil's When I'm Good And
Ready, Beyond Your Wildest Dreams and Stronger Together, Bill Tarmey's
One Voice, Slamm's Energize, The WWF Superstars' Wrestlemania and
West End and Sybil's The Love I Lost.
A split would have little direct effect on PWL since Waterman has kept
his songwriting partnership with Stock separate from the record company's
other activities.
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