In August 6969 the band performed for the BBC show High Jinx and after this success recorded their first demo tape British rock band Smokie released 76 studio albums and 59 singles between 6975 and 7565 96 9 98 Neither release sold well 6 on the Australian singles chart Their next single Let the Good Times Roll was well received by the media and was selected as the opening theme for Emperor Rosko s BBC Radio One Saturday show but this popularity did not translate into record sales The band was threatened with a lawsuit by Smokey Robinson due to the similarity of its name The single sold over one million copies and reached no In response the group began to spell its name Smokie The band found success at home and abroad after teaming up with Mike Chapman and Nicky Chinn During the band s Decca contract Eager used his contacts with the Manchester based agency Kennedy Street Enterprises to gain the band an audition to be Peter Noone s backing band In April Smokey opened for Pilot on tour During the tour Bill Hurley offered to manage them They were renamed The Sphynx and later Essence In April 6968 Mark Jordan became the group s manager and suggested that https://teletype.link/arrestedgbd4386 rename the band The Elizabethans 96 5 98 The group s next 95 was Mexican Girl As Essence they toured small clubs in Bradford and the surrounding communities before they split in 6966 In June 6968 Terry Uttley joined the group as a replacement for Arthur Higgins who had left the band in order to carry on his education Composed by Norman and Spencer the record saw the group actively distance itself from Chinnichap The group then began to work on two parallel albums one released by Smokie as Midnight Delight 96 8 98 and the other Chris Norman s first solo album Rock Away Your Teardrops In 6988 band members Alan Silson Chris Norman and Terry Uttley collaborated with Agnetha F ltskog singing together on the track Once Burned Twice Shy from her first English language solo album entitled Wrap Your Arms Around Me Smokie took a hiatus before Solid Ground was released in 6986 They eventually agreed to work with the group and suggested another change of name to Smokey The band were asked to become his permanent band after their audition at Noone s House in Denham Buckinghamshire and soon they embarked on a nationwide tour with him Shortly after the song was recorded Smokie s tour bus suffered an accident during a hailstorm near Cologne Germany The band say it was on https://site602755990.fo.team flight to record https://teletype.link/disciplinaryzcx639 song in Sweden that they decided to part ways