Kiss You All Over
"Kiss You All Over" is a 1978 song performed by the group Exile, written by Mike Chapman and Nicky Chinn. It was included on the band's album "Mixed Emotions", and featured lead vocalist Jimmy Stokley and guitarist J.P. Pennington on vocals. On the "American Top 40" broadcast of May 26, 1979, Casey Kasem reported that Chapman stated his source of inspiration for "Kiss You All Over" was "It's Ecstasy When You Lay Down Next to Me" by Barry White. The song was a number one single in the United States, but proved to be  Exile's only big hit in the pop market (they would later have great success on the country music charts). It held the number one spot on the "Billboard" Hot 100 for four weeks (starting September 30), and "Billboard" ranked it as the No. 5 song for 1978. The track also reached number-one in at least three other nations. In the United Kingdom, the song was released on Mickie Most's RAK Records, and peaked at number 6 on the UK Singles Chart. The strings are played with a synthesizer in a backing track. In 2010, "Billboard" ranked the  song ninth on its list of "The 50 Sexiest Songs of All Time". Lead vocalist on the number, Stokley was ousted from the band in 1979, his health declining thereafter until he died at the age of 41 in 1985. The band moved into country music following the synth-pop success of "Kiss You All Over" and the 1979 follow-up hit "You Thrill Me" reached #40 (UK No. 67) and "How Could This Go Wrong", #88 on the charts. "Take Me Down" peaked at #3 on the Euro Hit 40 in the mid-1980s. No Mercy version. Eurodance trio No  Mercy's 1997 remixed version by Johnny Vicious and Darrin "Spike" Friedman reached number-one on the "Billboard" Hot Dance Club Play chart. It also reached number 16 on the UK Singles Chart and number 47 in Australia. Critical reception. Larry Flick of "Billboard" magazine wrote that "there's no denying that No Mercy's eponymous album is several notches above standard dance/pop fare—as evidenced by this Latin-spiced rendition of Exile's '70s-era hit." He noted that "the song's hook thrives within FMP's arrangement of swirling house beats and flamenco guitars." He also added  factor in the act's sweet harmonies. Diana Valois from "The Morning Call" picked "Kiss You All Over" as the "second best cut" of the album, describing it as "a full-blown flamenco exotica cover". "Music & Media" commented that "this highly successful trio has given this song a poppy-flamenco treatment that is likely to mean it will chart all over the place once again, something that proves that good songs last a long while." Tracklisting. CD single