Kiss You All Over

You don't see this very often: a #1 pop hit by a country group from Kentucky written by the leading glam rock songwriters from the UK. "Kiss You All Over" was the brainchild of Mike Chapman, who wrote and produced the song with his partner Nicky Chinn - the pair had scored hits for the likes of Sweet, Suzi Quatro, and The Arrows. Chapman moved from England to Los Angeles in 1975 (for a girl) and struggled to find his footing. He came across a band called The Exiles in a stack of demo tapes and liked what he heard. The group had been around for about a decade, but their only chart success was a minor hit in 1970 with "Church St. Soul Revival," a Tommy James cover. Chapman signed them to a management/production contract, changed their name to Exile, and wrote and produced a song for them called "Try It On," which made #97 US in 1977. He had trouble generating momentum for the band, but that changed when he came up with "Kiss You All Over" in a flash of inspiration. He summoned Chinn from London and Exile from Kentucky, and they recorded the song, which became a monster hit, shooting to #1 on the Hot 100, where it stayed for four weeks.

A very unusual song, "Kiss You All Over" combines elements of rock and disco, which was the stylistic sweet spot of 1978. It was the first song Mike Chapman wrote on a keyboard instead of guitar; the instrument could replicate strings, which gave him a new sonic arsenal. In an interview with Billboard, Chapman said: "It's a very unusual song and is very much about what music in the US is all about in 1978. It's MOR (Middle Of the Road) soft rock, slightly disco though not pure disco, and has a sensuous lyric line that Americans love. Americans are big lyric listeners and listen to every word." Those lyrics Chapman speaks of lay out some extended foreplay, as our hero promises to cover his lady with kisses "Till the night closes in." You can imagine what happens next.

Exile had trouble following up this song with another hit, in large part because their songwriter/producer team was separated by an ocean. In 1979, the band relased two more Chapman/Chinn songs as singles, "You Thrill Me" and "How Could This Go Wrong," but they made only #40 and #88, respectively ("Kiss You All Over" was the group's only UK chart entry. After a few years of chart, er, exile, the band focused on country music and found their groove, with ten #1 Country hits in the mid-'80s.