I always had a weak spot for Hot Chocolate, partly because the UK band pumped out so many impossible-to-dislike singles—"Emma", "You Sexy Thing", "Every 1's a Winner"—and partly because frontman Errol Brown was such a one-of-a-kind freak. Slight, bald, mustache-bearing at a time when any kind of facial hair was considered illegal, Brown had a voice like a rubber biscuit and a spellbindingly weird dance style and microphone technique that suggested a man in dire need of a piss. A sexy piss, mind you. Craziest of all, Errol Brown was a proud supporter of Margaret Thatcher's Conservative government—almost certainly the only Jamaican-born black man whose vote she could count on. Even in spite of this, I thought Errol Brown was the tits, and I still do. Today it was announced that Errol Brown passed away in the Bahamas at the age of 71 after a battle with liver cancer.