Stock Aitken Waterman, sometimes known as SAW, were a UK songwriting and record producing trio consisting of Mike Stock, Matt Aitken and Pete Waterman. They had great success during the mid to late 1980s and early 1990s. The three are considered to be one of the most successful songwriting and producing partnerships of all time, scoring more than 100 UK top 40 hits, selling 40 million records and earning an estimated £60 million (about $103.78 million).Return of the hitmen, Alexis Petridis, The Guardian, London, 12-03-2005, reproduced at Cafe 80s website.Accessed: 04-05-2008.

SAW started producing Hi-NRG underground club hits, but earned worldwide success with a mix of Hi-NRG-influenced sound, romantic Motown lyrics and Italian melodies. During 1987-1989, their music style was labelled eurobeat or hi-NRG, which had an octave bass going ‘boom-pah, boom-pah, boom-pah’. They also put swing shuffle element to their songs.Classic Tracks: Rick Astley ‘Never Gonna Give You Up’ -- Sound On Sound. Retrieved on 2-7-2010.

The team

On 15 January 1984, shortly after meeting Aitken and Stock, Waterman asked them to work with him and his recently formed production company, Pete Waterman Limited (PWL). One of their first collaborations was the Cyprus entry for the Eurovision Song Contest in May 1984 where Greek singer Andy Paul performed the SAW song "Anna Maria Lena". Their initial style was in creating Hi-NRG dance music with a cover version of "You Think You're a Man" by Divine (#16 UK Jul 1984) and "Whatever I Do" by Hazell Dean (#4 UK Jul 1984). They struck gold in March 1985 when "You Spin Me Round (Like a Record)" by Dead or Alive reached number one on the UK singles chart. However, Pete Waterman has said in interviews that the trio were still in dire financial straits at the time.