Interview: Martin Fry on How ABC’s “When Smokey Sings” Paid Tribute and Surpassed His Hero on the Charts

When Martin Fry of 80s New Wave band ABC was sick, music saved him. This Charismatic velvet voiced new wave frontman was going through his darkest times, when he had Hodgkins disease. As he battled cancer with chemotherapy he realized that listening to his favorite music lifted him up out of despair and so he wanted to create a song that paid tribute to this joyful music of motown that helped him survive. the result was one of the greatest top 5 hits of 1987, When Smokey Sings about his hero, Smokey Robinson.. the song just soars. Up next this Martin Fry of ABC tells us the story of capturing that and how his tribute to his hero Smokey actually passed him up on the charts as both were in the top 10 at the same time. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info .