Moving on to "The Chosen Few" (album), the 2 singles featured ("Wanted" No3 and "The Chosen Few" No7) saw The Dooleys reach their height in the UK. With the 2 singles chart lengths the group enjoyed almost 6 consecutive months in the UK charts.

A string of hits followed with varying degrees of success, and they travelled around Europe and the Far East as one of the busiest live acts around. Their chart run came to a peak in 1979 when they scored their two biggest hits: "Wanted" (UK no. 3) and "The Chosen Few" (UK no. 7). [5] "Wanted" was also a hit in Japan, where it reached no. 1 for ten weeks, [6] and led to their being entered into the Tokyo Music Festival in 1980. They won the "Gold Award" (second place) with the song "Body Language" (a song written by Ben Findon, Mike Myers and Robert Puzey), [3] which also went to no. 1 (for seven weeks). [6] In the summer of 1977 (a decade after they were formed) the Dooleys had their first hit with "Think I'm Gonna Fall in Love With You". [5] Dooleys" includes their first batch of singles, "Think I'm Gonna Fall In Love With You" (No13), "Love Of My Life" (No9), "Don't Take It Lyin Down" (No60) and "A Rose Has To Die" (No11). It also includes stageshow favourites "Don't Let Me Be The Last To Know" (a ballad sung by Kathy) and the bouncy "Stone Walls" (where Anne and Kathy share vocals).In 1975, they were invited to tour in Eastern Europe. During the tour they recorded a live album at the Rossia Hall in Moscow ( The Dooley Family in Moscow, Live Concert at Rossia Hall, 29 October 1975). The album went on to sell two million copies there. [3] This was a couple of years before they had a chart hit in their homeland, and some three years before Elton John's concerts in Russia. The Dooleys were a British male–female pop group comprising at its peak eight members – six of them in the Dooley family. The group achieved several UK chart hits between 1977 and 1981, including top-ten hits " Wanted", "Love of My Life" and "The Chosen Few". Sadly, it was the end of the big hits for The Dooleys as Epic supported The Nolans and had a little act called ABBA on their books.

Sadly, a lot of momentum was lost as their 3rd release "Don't Take It Lying Down" was delayed for a number of months. I remember meeting The Dooleys at the very start of 1978 after falling in love with their 2nd hit. Speaking to the group, they said the 3rd single would be released early February.. March and April past before "Don't ..." hit the shops.

Credits (1)

The existing members of the family were joined in early 1979 by the youngest member of the group, Helen ( keyboards). [3] Subsequent UK hits gave them the record of being the largest family act ever featured on a hit single. [ citation needed] The group reunited for a one-off performance on 6 January 2006, at Helderberg Nature Reserve near Cape Town, South Africa.

Some people tend to confuse their story with that of Todd Dooley Chesapeake. Unlike them, Todd is remembered for murdering five of his family members, parents (Cameron and Steven Dooley), siblings (Lori and Landon Dooley), and grandmother (Doris Dooley). After committing the tragic crime, he also took away his life during a negotiation with the police to surrender. By the mid 1980s, brothers John and Frank, and drummer Alan Bogan, all left the group. They were replaced by a succession of other musicians such as: drummer Paul Dean, bassist Phil Brown and keyboard player, David John Hinson. Although Jim and Kathy continued. John, Frank and Alan formed "The New Dooleys" about twelve months after leaving, but by 1992 it was all over, and both groups had retired from performing. In recent years, the Dooley brothers (Jim, John, Joe and Frank) have recorded a collection of new songs, which was released early in 2007.

Distribute your lyrics everywhere

Jaclyn Ward – Fireball Media Group. "The Irish Charts – All there is to know". Irishcharts.ie . Retrieved 25 June 2014.

The album contains the singles "Chosen Few" and "Wanted" - both of which were top 10 hits. "Wanted" had already appeared on the group's previous album, The Best of The Dooleys, but appeared here in a slightly extended version. Current single "Chosen Few" reached No.7 in the UK Charts, after previous single had reached No.3 and album No.6, making this the peak of the group's career. [1] This album however only managed to reach No.56, although that was an improvement on the group's previous studio album, which missed the charts completely in 1978. [2] They wrote to him, reminding of the story of "Hands Across The Sea" and he went to watch the groups show. He instantly signed them up to GTO Records, and the rest (as they say) is history. These 2 albums released in the Summer of 1978 and Autumn of 1979 respectively are coming to CD for the very first time.

a b c d Colin Larkin, ed. (1992). The Guinness Encyclopedia of Popular Music (Firsted.). Guinness Publishing. p.720. ISBN 0-85112-939-0.