Engineering Yazz’s hit, ‘The Only Way Is up’

At the age of 21, George Shilling engineered the global number one single The Only Way Is Up by Yazz . We asked him to tell us the story behind it.

"When aged 21 and having been a tape-op (assistant) for about three years, I was starting to engineer sessions when I was put with Coldcut. The older engineers at the studio couldn't understand how these two guys could be producing records! They turned up with boxes of records instead of musical instruments. The music industry did not widely recognize DJ skills in those days.

But I was young and keen and had friends who ran a pirate radio station playing house music, so I thought it would be cool to work with them.

I did a couple of other things with them before The Only Way Is Up, but they were still inexperienced in the studio and happy for me to guide them. They were struggling with the technology, learning how to use sequencing software, and piecing things together in a relatively primitive way, so there were a few dead-ends along the way.

But when Yazz came to sing, she lit up the room. She wasn't the most technical vocalist, but she had a great personality and was brimming with positivity. She put in an outstanding performance.

The only other 'live' musician was Morris Michaels, who did the backing vocals. He had a go at some guitar parts, but I don't think they got used.

I was immensely proud of being part of such a massive hit record. The gold disc for the single (and double Platinum album - I mixed many other tracks, too) still hangs on my studio wall.

Seeing it there while I was recording their album, Stornoway put together an acoustic folk version of the song, which I also recorded."