Clout was a South African million-selling all-girl group formed in 1977.
Clout’s first and biggest hit, “Substitute”, was a new arrangement of a Righteous Brothers song, composed by Willie Wilson.
In 1978, their version reached No. 1 in South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, Germany, France, the Netherlands, Sweden, Austria, Denmark and Belgium. It also reached No. 2 on the UK Singles Chart and remained in the UK charts for 15 weeks.
In 1981 the band split, after confirmed rumours that the band didn’t play any instruments on their recordings, this was all done by a male band called Circus.
After a lengthy hiatus, frontwoman Cindy Alter joined forces with local musicians to form a new band “Cindycate”, with the sole purpose of writing and recording original material.
“Cyndicate” had enormous potential but Cindy decided to take a personal break.
In 2002, Cindy was approached by an agent in South Africa who wanted to reunite Clout for a series of shows.
After touring for a year, Clout went their separate ways.
Recently she wrote her biography, aptly titled, “No Substitute”.
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