{"id":63614,"date":"2026-04-30T17:53:38","date_gmt":"2026-04-30T17:53:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/musicianvoice.com\/index.php\/2026\/04\/30\/hot-chocolate-co-founder-tony-wilson-dead-at-89\/"},"modified":"2026-04-30T17:53:38","modified_gmt":"2026-04-30T17:53:38","slug":"hot-chocolate-co-founder-tony-wilson-dead-at-89","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/musicianvoice.com\/index.php\/2026\/04\/30\/hot-chocolate-co-founder-tony-wilson-dead-at-89\/","title":{"rendered":"Hot Chocolate Co-Founder Tony Wilson Dead at 89"},"content":{"rendered":"


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\n\tTony Wilson, the former Hot Chocolate bassist and vocalist who co-wrote the hit \u201cYou Sexy Thing\u201d and had a solo hit with \u201cI Like You Style,\u201d died Friday at his home in Trinidad, according to the BBC<\/a>. A cause of death was not reported. He was 89.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWords don\u2019t do justice to the admiration I have for him as a human being or for his dedication to make his dream of getting the songs he wrote be heard,\u201d his son, Danny, wrote on Facebook<\/a>. \u201cIt wasn\u2019t until my mum dug out some old diaries of his from 1970 and \u201971 that I realised just how hard he had to work to achieve this dream.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tWilson\u2019s legacy lies in the fusion of soul, disco, reggae, and funk that formed the bedrock of Hot Chocolate\u2019s multicultural hits. Hot Chocolate\u2019s first hit, \u201cLove Is Life,\u201d felt like reggae, dance music, and rock all at once, a feat for 1970. The sound reached its apex with the infectiously catchy \u201cYou Sexy Thing.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tBorn in Trinidad, Wilson cut his teeth in groups like the Flames, the Souvenirs, and the Corduroys. Hot Chocolate, whose roots were both Caribbean and British, formed in London in the late Sixties and found its footing with a reggae-inflected cover of John Lennon\u2019s \u201cGive Peace a Chance,\u201d which they sent to Lennon. \u201cAmazingly, a week later I got a call to say John Lennon approved it and wanted to sign the band to the Apple record label,\u201d Brown told the BBC in 2009. \u201cAnd that\u2019s how we began.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe song came out credited to Hot Chocolate Band via the Beatles\u2019 Apple label in 1969. The B side was \u201cLiving Without Tomorrow,\u201d the first songwriting collaboration between singer Errol Brown, who was born in Jamaica, and Wilson. Wilson was credited as producer for both sides. Neither song charted but a 1970 follow up single, \u201cLove Is Life,\u201d made it up to Number 6 in the U.K. That same year, producer Mickie Most recorded a Brown-Wilson song, \u201cBet Yer Life I Do,\u201d with Herman\u2019s Hermits, leading him to want to work with Hot Chocolate.<\/p>\n

\n\tWithin a few years, they became one of the first Black British groups whose songs would become hits in the United States. In 1973, their \u201cBrother Louie,\u201d which was a Top 10 hit in England, became a hit in the U.S. when Stories, featuring singer Ian Lloyd, recorded it. They released their debut album, Cicero Park<\/em>, in 1974 and the album\u2019s single, \u201cEmma,\u201d became a Number Eight hit in the U.S. The album\u2019s \u201cDisco Queen\u201d would also become a hit the following year.<\/p>\n

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\t\tEditor\u2019s picks<\/p>\n<\/h2>\n<\/section>\n

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