CRACKING the States has been the dream of every British act since the Beatles first topped the Billboard charts.

But from Sir Cliff Richard to Oasis, British stars have discovered that being touted as the “next big thing” is the surest way to leave American music fans cold.

Last April the US Top 100 Billboard chart was without a British entry for the first time in nearly 40 years. Dido, who sold six million albums in the US, and Craig David have been hailed as the two artists who could lead a much-needed Britpop revival.

The first “British invasion” peaked in April 1964 when the Beatles held all Top Five US chart places. Sir Cliff, by contrast, has enjoyed British chart hits across six decades, but has never had the same impact in America as the Beatles.

The Bee Gees, Led Zeppelin and Elton John became the biggest British exports of the Seventies, and the arrival of the pop video in the early Eighties afforded lucrative US careers to Duran Duran, George Michael and Depeche Mode.

British heavy metal bands have often gone down well, with Deep Purple, Whitesnake, Iron Maiden and Black Sabbath phenomenally successful. Ozzy Osbourne, Sabbath’s sometime lead singer, has become a household name on both sides of the Atlantic.

But Paul Weller, a British chart-topper for 25 years with The Jam and as a solo artist, had a recent US tour cancelled because no company would finance it. Status Quo, another British institution, have failed to impress US record buyers.

Blur’s British-themed pop fell flat in the States, and Pop Idols Will Young and Gareth Gates will not even have their records released there. Oasis enjoyed a modicum of success before US audiences rejected the band’s boorish attitude. Robbie Williams has geared his new £50 million EMI recording contract towards finally breaking into an indifferent American market.

This week’s US Billboard Top 100 album chart features a few veteran Brits, with compilations from the Rolling Stones, Rod Stewart and Fleetwood Mac steady sellers. The rock group Coldplay are also tipped to enjoy lasting success in the States, with their polite demeanour and willingness to slog through extensive promotional tours — behaviour echoed by Craig David and Dido — seen as a key reason for their breakthrough.

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