Errol Brown
Errol Brown, the lead singer for the British band Hot Chocolate and the writer of the band’s indelible disco hit “You Sexy Thing,” which returned to the pop charts when it was featured in the comedy “The Full Monty,” died on Wednesday at his home in the Bahamas. He was 71.
Mr. Brown’s manager, Phil Dale, who confirmed the death, said Mr. Brown had liver cancer.
Mr. Brown was a mustached, shaven-headed heartthrob whose hip-swinging performances accentuated the sex appeal of Hot Chocolate’s songs. The band had some two dozen Top 40 hits in England, including “Emma” and “Every 1’s a Winner,” both of which reached the Billboard Top 10 in the United States.
“You Sexy Thing,” a buoyant come-on inspired by the woman who became Mr. Brown’s wife, was released in 1975 as the B-side of the single “Blue Night.” But it was “You Sexy Thing,” on which he sang an octave higher than he usually did, that became a hit.
In 1981, Hot Chocolate performed for Prince Charles and Lady Diana during their pre-wedding reception at Buckingham Palace.
The band’s popularity waned in the 1980s, and Mr. Brown left in 1987.
His biggest hit was given new life in 1997 with the release of “The Full Monty,” the British comedy about working men who turn to an unlikely side job: stripping. In the movie, “You Sexy Thing” blares from a boombox as the main characters disrobe in front of a room of bemused women. The soundtrack album reached the Top 1o on the British charts that year. The song was also heard in the film “Boogie Nights” (1997) and in commercials for Dr Pepper and the Chevy Silverado. The Chevy commercial was shown during the 2014 Super Bowl.
Mr. Brown was born in Kingston, Jamaica, on Dec. 11, 1943. His father, Ivan, was a police officer who was rarely around, and his mother, Edna, left Errol with her sister and an uncle while she went to London to work as a secretary. She sent for him a few years later.
He turned to songwriting after his mother died when he was young. His first successful single was a reggae cover of John Lennon’s “Give Peace a Chance.” Mr. Lennon liked it so much that he had it released on Apple, the Beatles’ label, in 1969.
Mr. Brown’s wife, Ginette, the woman who inspired “You Sexy Thing,” survives him, as do their daughters, Colette and Leonie.
Mr. Brown continued to perform occasionally after leaving Hot Chocolate, most recently on what was billed as a farewell tour in 2009
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