Middle of the Road (band)

Middle of the Road
Middle of the Road in 1972
Background information
Also known as	Part 4 (1967) Los Caraca (1968-1970)
Origin	Glasgow, Scotland
Genres	Pop
Years active	1967–1976
Labels	RCA (1970-1973) Ariola (1973-1976)
Website	middleoftheroad-popgroup.com
Members	Lorna Osborne Ian McCredie Stuart McCredie Stephan Ebn
Past members	Sally Carr Ken Andrew Eric McCredie Linda Carroll Lorraine Felberg

Middle of the Road was a Scottish pop group who enjoyed success across Europe and Latin America in the early 1970s. Before Abba established themselves in the mid 70s the band were the sound of early Euro Pop with their distinctive harmonies and lead vocals from Sally Carr. Four of their singles sold over one million copies each, and received a gold disc. The tracks were "Chirpy Chirpy Cheep Cheep" (which went on to sell over 10 million), "Sacramento", "Tweedle Dee, Tweedle Dum" and "Soley Soley". By early 1972 the group had sold over five million records.

Lead singer Sally Carr, drummer Ken Andrew, guitarist Ian McCredie and his bassist brother Eric McCredie, founded the band on 1 April 1970 in Glasgow, Scotland. They had already played together under the name Part Four since 1967 and later in Latin American style under the name Los Caracas.

Under the name Los Caracas they won the UK TV talent show Opportunity Knocks.

They moved to Italy in 1970 because they had not found success in the United Kingdom. There they met the Italian music producer Giacomo Tosti, who gave the band their distinctive sound and gave them their international break.

The band had their first and biggest hit record in the United Kingdom with debut UK single, "Chirpy Chirpy Cheep Cheep" to reach #1 in the UK Singles Chart in June 1971 and keep it for four more weeks. In all, Middle of the Road had five hit singles in the UK during 1971-1972. The band had especially strong success in Germany, where they achieved eleven Top 40 hits in 1971-1974. As an example of this, Frank Valdor was fast to adapt Sacramento as his "party records". Chirpy Chirpy Cheep Cheep and Sacramento were played a lot on Scandinavian radio.