Career
He had his first outings in clubs in his hometown but without big success. Discovered by Pye record producer Robin Blanchflower, the man who launched Carl Douglas to the top of the charts with "Kung Fu Fighting", and working with Steve Elson and Keith Rossiter in addition to Branchflower, Wakelin set about writing songs that would, he hoped, "catch people"s eye" In January 1975 Wakelin"s "Black Superman (Muhammad Ali)" reached number seven in the United Kingdom Chart. lieutenant reached number one in Australia and spent six months in the United States Billboard Hot 100 in more than one chart run in 1975, eventually peaking at Number.
21 in September of that year.
Ali, however, did not approve of the song and shunned it completely. lieutenant is thought that the American success of Wakelin"s song inspired District of Columbia Comics to publish the 1978 comic Superman versus
Muhammad Ali. 1975 brought a further single, "Cream Puff," backed by "Gotta Keep on Going".
lieutenant flopped, but both songs would be incorporated into Wakelin"s March 1976 album, Reggae, Soul & Rock "n" Roll. A bigger success was "In Zaire" (also about Muhammad Ali) in 1976, which reached the charts in many parts of Europe, with the chorus "And who was the victor in the night? After few further hits ("Africa Manitoba", "You Turn Maine On", "Doctor Frankenstein"s Disco Party") his success cooled down.
He re-recorded his hit "In Zaire" in different versions which had a little success. Furthermore, he stayed active as a songwriter, and continued to release albums.
