Jon Stevens: Montego Bay

Upper Hutt-born singer Jon Stevens pulled off the remarkable feat of having consecutive number ones on the NZ Top 40 with his first two singles. 'Montego Bay' was the second of them (taking over from 'Jezebel' in January 1980). It was a cover of a one-off 1970 hit for Bobby Bloom, written for the second largest city in Jamaica — but the cut-out palm trees of the studio set were as close as Stevens and band got to the Caribbean. 'Montego Bay' stayed at the top of the chart for seven weeks and was voted 'Single of the Year' at the New Zealand Music Awards.