Floaters, The

The end of the long hot summer of 1977. The Sex Pistols had dampened Jubilee festivities with God Save The Queen. Elvis Presley had finally shuffled off his mortal, overweight, coil. All doom, gloom and safety pins for a nation of insatiable sex-starved schmucks who desperately needed some good lovin’.

Enter a hitherto unknown US vocal group, The Floaters. Messrs Clark, Cunningham, and soul music’s very own Mitchell brothers. Or, to be more precise, Ralph the Aquarian, Charles the Libran, Paul the Leo and Larry the Cancerian (who liked a woman that loved “everything and everybody” apparently).

Add a shot of Barry White -style laydeez muzak and hey presto – Float On – a UK chart-topper in August that year which also reached Number Two in America.

Formed by James Mitchell and Marvin Willis, former members of fellow Michigan soul collective The Detroit Emeralds, The Floaters’ zodiac-inspired debut (a sort of Russell Grant meets the Love Unlimited Orchestra ) was an instant smash.

At the height of Saturday Night Fever, the song’s slobbering invitation to “Love Land” over a get-your-kit-off backing made it an opportune excuse for a drunken dancefloor fumble as the last record of the night at discos the length and breadth of Blighty.

Naturally, the astrological forecast for The Floaters was downhill henceforth. Further singles failed to match the novelty of this, their only hit.

Even with the addition of Mr Jonathan Murray in 1978 (he of the nickname “Mighty Midget”) never again were these star-gazing lady-killers to savour the satin sheets of chart success.

Charles Clark 
Vocals
Larry Cunningham 
Vocals
Paul Mitchell 
Vocals
Ralph Mitchell 
Vocals
Jonathan Murray 
Vocals