Chaka Khan was the original choice to record Snap!’s 1990 hit The Power.
The track topped the UK charts and came in at No. 2 in the US with singer Penny Ford on vocals – but her involvement in the recording came about by chance.
She reveals on BBC’s Top of the Pops: The Story of 1990: “Chaka Khan and I moved to London, actually to get off drugs, and we got an apartment in the middle of London. We stayed inside, didn’t do anything…
“The call came one day from the Germans and they asked her to come be involved in the project,” Ford recalls. “And basically, she said, ‘I don’t do European dance music – you go do it’.
“So, I came to Germany for three days. I told them, ‘Just get me a pack of cigarettes, get me a bottle of champagne, and turn on the mic’. They turned on the music and I just started to sing,” she adds.
The Power was written by Michael Münzing and Luca Anzilotti – under the pseudonyms Benito Benites and John ‘Virgo’ Garrett III – and produced by Snap! It features a rap by Turbo B and samples Let the Words Flow by Chill Rob G, Love’s Gonna Get You by Jocelyn Brown, and King of the Beats by Mantronix.
“There was already a sample on the record. I kind of ignored it and sang around it,” Ford explains. “I came directly back here to London, and I was living in Belsize Park.
“I’m standing there ironing or doing something basic, and I happen to hear from the television, ‘And the new Number 1 record on Top of the Pops – The Power’. And I’m like, ‘What?!'”
Despite Ford contributing vocals, she didn’t appear on any promo for the song, with Jackie Harris instead lip-syncing her parts.
“They just got some chick from the army base and they brought her into do the television and mime,” she shares. “And she wasn’t even a singer. I realise they have her in the back because they were trying to pull a fast one. I think they thought they were gonna be fine with that.
“This was before the Milli Vanilli thing came out – that situation had just started to explode. If it hadn’t been for that happening, they might have gotten away with having someone mime my voice.”
Things all turned out for the best, however, as Ford continues: “At that point, I was rushed in, shined up and made ready to go and be the singer of Snap!
“So, by the time we sorted everything out and we came back round to do Top of the Pops the second time, Ooops Up was the next single and I was right out there front and centre because I’d already had practice being on stage with Chaka.”
