Sue Chaloner

In her youth, Sue Chaloner was awarded a scholarship by the BBC and attended a school for the performing arts, going on to spend several years in the U.K. stage production of Hair. In the mid-'70s, she became half of the Spooky & Sue duo, who scored a novelty hit with "Swinging on a Star." By the early '90s, she had become a hit with the club cognoscenti by way of "Answer My Prayer" and "I Wanna Thank You," with production by the 3 Man Island/Band of Gypsies team. "I Wanna Thank You" namechecked Black and Civil Rights leaders Nelson Mandela, Marcus Garvey, Martin Luther King, and Ghandi. She was backed in live performances by her Soul Train team on a solo career that faded by the late '90s. A longtime resident of Amsterdam, Sue Chaloner died on April 1, 2024, at the age of 71.