Their program contains humor and energy with an international repertoire ranging from "Yesterday" by the Beatles to rhythmic Latin American favorites such as "Bambaleo" by the Gipsy Kings. Five Live was born to create a more gutsy/pop sort of sound with five singers, three men and two women. One night after a good meal and a few glasses of wine they began to sing for fun and the rest, as they say, is history. Although each enjoyed the work immensely, they realized that they all missed close harmony singing.
![uptown girl billy joel album uptown girl billy joel album](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/ztDxbobnLJ8/hqdefault.jpg)
Collectively, they worked in just about every different type of musical work, opera, jazz, avant-garde film, and radio session work. One by one they left the group to pursue individual careers as free-lance singers. The (you guessed it!) five members of Five Live met while singing together in the Swingle Singers. Release Date: 1983 on the album An Innocent Man It has sold 1.02 million copies as of 2013. The song was the 19th biggest-selling single of the 1980s in the United Kingdom, selling 975,000 copies. It peaked at number three on the Billboard Hot 100, and number one in the United Kingdom, staying at that position for five weeks it was the second biggest-selling single of 1983 in the United Kingdom behind only Culture Club's "Karma Chameleon", which Joel had knocked off the number one position on November 1, 1983. as previous single "Tell Her About It", it was still a big hit. According to numerous interviews with Joel, the song was initially written about his relationship with Macpherson, but it ended up also becoming about his soon-to-be wife, Brinkley (both women being two of the most famous supermodels of the 1980s)Īlthough "Uptown Girl" was not as successful in the U.S.
![uptown girl billy joel album uptown girl billy joel album](https://www.picclickimg.com/d/l400/pict/384003966326_/Billy-Joel-An-Innocent-Man-Vinyl-Record-Uptown.jpg)
The lyrics describe a working-class "downtown man" attempting to woo a wealthy "uptown girl."Īccording to an interview with Howard Stern, Joel had originally titled the song "Uptown Girls" and it was conceived on an occasion when he was surrounded by Christie Brinkley, Whitney Houston and his then-girlfriend Elle Macpherson. "Uptown Girl" was released on September 29, 1983, on his ninth studio album An Innocent Man (1983).