Tony Wilson obit

Hot Chocolate founder and You Sexy Thing co-writer Tony Wilson dies

 He was not on the list.

Hot Chocolate cofounder Tony Wilson, who cowrote the hit “You Sexy Thing,” has died at age 89

Wilson left Hot Chocolate in the mid-'70s and embarked on a solo career

In addition to Hot Chocolate, Wilson wrote songs for artists like Herman’s Hermits and Mary Hopkin

Hot Chocolate cofounder and bassist Tony Wilson, who cowrote the British soul band’s signature hit “You Sexy Thing,” has died. He was 89.

Wilson’s death was announced via his Facebook page on April 24 with a post that read, “Dad left us today. He left a lot of music behind… forever and ever.”

His son Danny Wilson also shared a Facebook post confirming the musician died at his home in Trinidad. No cause of death was given.

“Words don’t do justice to the admiration I have for him as a human being or for his dedication to make his dream of getting the songs he wrote [to] be heard,” Danny Wilson wrote. “It wasn’t until my mum dug out some old diaries of his from 1970 and ‘71 that I realized just how hard he had to work to achieve this dream. Trust me, it is truly staggering.”

He added that in addition to his work with Hot Chocolate, Wilson also wrote songs for Herman’s Hermits, Mary Hopkin and Mavis John.

“He meant so much to so many people - of that I have become acutely aware through social media posts since his passing,” he wrote. “Many of which make reference to how overlooked and underrated his music was, and although totally biased, I have to agree.”

Hot Chocolate’s biggest hit, “You Sexy Thing,” was written by Wilson and his cofounder Errol Brown, and came out in 1975. It hit No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100, and later saw a resurgence in 1997 when it was featured in the movie The Full Monty. The song was also prominently featured in movies like Rat Race and Boogie Nights.

Wilson and Brown first met in 1968 through mutual friends while living in apartments across the way from each other in London, Brown told The Independent in 1998.

When they met, Wilson had already released a few singles and Brown had no songwriting aspirations, but with Wilson’s encouragement, they started writing together and formed Hot Chocolate.

At one point, they wrote a new version of John Lennon’s “Give Peace a Chance,” but didn’t realize they needed permission from the man himself to release it.

“The guy that paid for the recording sent it to the Apple label for John’s approval,” Brown recalled. “We all laughed but four days later he called and said, ‘John Lennon loves it and wants to put it out straight away!’”

Though Wilson was initially the lead singer, he wasn’t able to sing on “Give Peace a Chance” because he was under contract to another company, which paved the way for Brown to take the reins.

Eventually, their partnership began to splinter.

“Tony and I had been extremely close, almost like brothers, and although he was happy that he had finally got off the ground with Hot Chocolate, he was probably a bit peeved that I was the singer,” Brown, who died in 2015, told The Independent. “I don’t think he ever got over that… Tony had started as the front man but ended up having to hide behind me.”

After a fight over the royalties for “You Sexy Thing,” which at the time was just a B-side, Wilson left Hot Chocolate to pursue a solo career. The two solo albums he released failed to make a splash, and he stopped releasing new music in the 1980s, according to the BBC.

Wilson celebrated his 88th birthday with a Facebook post in October 2024.