In 1981, Ian Dury left Stiff for Polydor Records.^[1] As a cash-in for the Christmas market, Stiff commissioned session musicians to record a version of the Hokey Cokey with a Dury-soundalike vocal from Martin Kershaw, whose credits included guitar on "Kung Fu Fighting" and "Dance Yourself Dizzy",^[2] and playing banjo on 120 episodes of the Muppet Show.^[3] The other musicians on the recording were Nick Portlock, Jonathan Miller, and Bob Butterworth.^[4]

Stiff enigmatically refused to confirm the identity of the genuine vocalist,^[5] leading to speculation that it actually was Dury.^[6] For more implausible deniability, Stiff created an antonymous sub-label, called Slack, with a logo based on a pile of nutty slack, on which to release the single; Kershaw and Portlock co-wrote the b-side.^[7]

The recording reached the top 20 of the UK and Irish singles charts. Stiff press officer Nigel Dick, with other staff from the Stiff offices, donned snowman costumes for a video^[8]^[9] (shot in Brimpton, Berkshire) and appearance on the 17 December 1981 edition of Top of the Pops.^[10]

Kershaw re-emerged with a medley single in 1982,^[11] this time on Kershaw's own Solid Records label.^[12] The Snowmen's final single came in 1986, with a version of the nursery rhyme This Old Man, by which time Dury himself was claiming to be involved, saying he "did it as a joke".^[13]

The Snowmen
Genres	Novelty/children
Years active	1981–87
Labels	Stiff Records

Past members	Martin Kershaw Nick Portlock Jonathan Miller Bob Butterworth

Year	Song	UK ^[14]	RoI^[15]
1981	"The Hokey Cokey"	18	17
1982	"Xmas Party"	44	–
1986	"Nik Nak Paddy Wak"	80	–
"—" denotes releases that did not chart.

History

Discography

Albums

Singles

References