Eruption were a British disco, R&B and soulrecording act in the 1970s and 1980s. They are best known for their covers of Ann Peebles's "I Can't Stand the Rain" and Neil Sedaka's "One Way Ticket", which were big disco hits in 1978 and 1979, respectively.
History
The band was formed in 1969 as a school band in the United Kingdom as Silent Eruption, and consisted of musicians of Caribbean origins. The group changed the name to Eruption in 1974. In 1975 Precious Wilson joined the band as a backing singer and they won the RCA Soul Search contest and their first single "Let Me Take You Back in Time" was released. Finding their success quickly drying out, lead singer Lindel Leslie left the group in 1976. The group didn't find a singer who could replace Lindel Leslie so backing singer Precious Wilson became the lead singer. According to Precious Wilson RCA forgot all about them because of acts like David Cassidy who had much bigger success. RCA told them to quit their jobs. Without any success they didn't have any money. Their manager signed a contract for several concerts in Germany. In 1977 they went on the road in Germany where they were discovered by Hans-Jörg Mayer who worked as a talent scout for Frank Farian Farian signed the group with the Germany-based Hansa Records and the band was the backing band and the support act for Boney M's first European tour. Their 'comeback' single "Party, Party" flopped in 1977, but their cover of "I Can't Stand the Rain" released in December 1977 was an international hit, reaching No. 1 in Belgium and Australia, No. 5 in the UK Singles Chart and No. 18 in the US Billboard Hot 100. Afterwards, in the spring of 1978, "Party, party" was re-released and became a hit in the Benelux countries. Both songs were included in their first album, released in December 1977. It was followed by their second album titled Leave a Light, launched towards the end of 1978. The first single off the album, "Leave a Light", delivered the second single, "One Way Ticket", catapulted them to the top of the charts. In 1979, Eruption and Boney M. were both featured in the 1979 German film Disco Fever. Precious Wilson left the group in the same year to pursue a solo career and was replaced by singer Kim Davis. The group enjoyed their third German top 10 hit with "Go Johnnie Go" from the third album Fight Fight Fight. Shortly after, a tragedy hit when Davis succumbed to a brain haemorrhage, although some sources claim she died in a car accident. The band decided to continue and singer Jane Jochen stepped in. A new recording, a cover of Del Shannon's "Runaway" was released in December 1980, and peaked at No. 21 in the German charts. After a compilation album in the spring of 1981 and the single release of "You " from Fight Fight Fight, the band signed to Ralph Siegel's Jupiter Records. By now, without the lead vocals of Precious Wilson, success was drastically diminishing, and the singles from their fourth album Our Way received little notice. In 1983, the drummer Eric Kingsley left Eruption, and Andi Weekes Barbados joined the group to play drums during last two years of the band's activity. In 1985, Eruption disbanded. In 1988, a new version of "I Can't Stand the Rain" was released. In 1994, Farian released the CD Gold – 20 Super Hits which featured five remixed and two original Eruption titles and 13 tracks from Precious Wilson's solo album. The new version of "One Way Ticket" was released as a single in the same year to promote the compilation. In 1997, Wilson became the legal owner of the trademark Eruption. She continues to tour promoting her solo projects, and also as Eruption with her new group, but none of the band's original members perform in the latest line-ups.
