pop

A Brief History of "There's a Kind of Hush"

The New Vaudeville Band (1966) The studio group, The New Vaudeville Band, which was assembled by Geoff Stephens, struck gold in the fall of 1966 with their mega-hit "Winchester Cathedral" which was #1 in Australia, Canada, Singapore, South Africa, Spain, and the US. It was also Top 3 in Brazil, Italy, Mexico, New Zealand, Rhodesia, and the UK. After such a huge hit the pressure was on for a follow-up. Songwriter, producer, and arranger Geoff Stephens was tasked with the daunting duty. He chose "There's A Kind of Hush" a neo–British Music Hall number with a peppy horn section and bouncy percussion. The expectation was that this polished metropolitan pop number would follow "Winchester Cathedral" into the Top 3. The song did just that when it made it to #2 in South Africa. The only problem is that that was it. The song was a hit in only one other country: Australia where it reached #12.