solo career and firmly establishing Biddu. In 1976, Biddu produced his own Rain Forest LP, followed by Eastern Man in 1977, both credited to Biddu & His Orchestra. His album Rain Forest earned him four Ivor Novello Awards, including the "Songwriter of the Year" award. Around this same time, he began experimenting with electronic music in some of his disco songs, making use of electronic musical instruments such as keyboards and synthesizers. Some of his early examples of electronic disco include the early boogie 1976 single "Bionic Boogie" ; the 1977 "Soul Coaxing" single; the Eastern Man and Futuristic Journey albums, which were recorded from 1976 to 1977; and the 1979 "Phantasm" single. He also began experimenting with high-tempo Hi-NRG disco music, with early examples including some of the songs in his 1976 Tina Charles albums I Love to Love and Dance Little Lady, as well as his disco singles such as "Voodoo Man" (1979) which had a tempo of 130 beats per minute. His backing tracks also had a strong influence on the British new wave band The Buggles, founded by two of Biddu's former session musicians, Trevor Horn and Geoff Downes, who are most famous for writing the hit song "Video Killed the Radio Star" in 1979. In 1977, he worked on the Life album for the veteran Jamaican-born soul singer Jimmy James, which put out two chart hits "I'll Go Where your Music Takes Me" and "Disco Fever". In early 1978, Biddu's own "Journey to the Moon" was a hit, peaking at No. 41 in the UK. That same year, he scored the music for the English film The Stud, starring Joan Collins; the film's soundtrack was successful on the UK Albums Chart, where it reached No. 2. He also produced the soundtrack for its sequel, The Bitch, in 1979. During the late 1970s, Biddu also had a hit in France with Claude François, for whom he produced the song "Laisse Une Chance A Notre Amour", a re-working of Jimmy James' UK hit song, "Now Is the Time". Biddu worked with various musicians including some players from Manchester and Liverpool who had worked on sessions with Tina Charles until the late 1970s, after which disco music slowly began to wane as funk, new wave and electronic music began taking centre-stage in Western popular music, taking with it Biddu's established place in the Western music scene, despite his