10cc formed in 1972, initially consisting Graham Gouldman, Eric Stewart, Kevin Godley and Lol Creme who between them were creative pop and experimental songwriters, as well as multi-instrumentalists, singers and producers. They recorded most of their albums at their own Strawberry Studios (North) in Stockport and Strawberry Studios (South) in Dorking.
Originally signed to UK Records label, 10cc first charted in September 1972 with their ‘50s pastiche ‘Donna’, which narrowly missed the #1 spot but spent a quarter of the year on the Singles Chart. Six-months later 10cc had their first #1 single ‘Rubber Bullets’. They recorded two albums for the label before signing to Phonogram’s Mercury Records label in 1975.
Between 1972 and 1978, 10cc had five consecutive UK Top 10 albums: “Sheet Music” (#9-1974), “The Original Soundtrack”(#3-1975), “How Dare You!”(#5-1976), “Deceptive Bends”(#3-1977) and “Bloody Tourists”(#3-1978). Their Double live album “Live And Let Live” recorded on tour in Manchester and London, reached #14 in 1977.
10cc also had twelve unique UK Top 30 singles, ten of which reached the Top 10, whilst three of them were #1 hits; ‘Rubber Bullets’(1973), ‘I'm Not In Love’(1975) and ‘Dreadlock Holiday’(1978). ‘I'm Not In Love’ was their breakthrough worldwide hit. During this period, there were also two ‘hits’ collections released, reaching #9 in 1975 and #5 in 1979.
