The British soul band Hot Chocolate was formed in 1968 by Errol Brown and Tony Wilson. It knew fame in the 1970s and 1980s, with at least one hit song every year on the UK Singles Chart from 1970 to 1980. The group was interrupted several times and its membership changed through the years. In particular Errol Brown, who was their lead singer, frontman and principal songwriter, left in 1986.

Their song “It Started with a Kiss” was released in 1982 as A side of a single, and was included as track 6 on their seventh studio album Mystery. It reached number 5 in the UK. In autumn 2004, it became voted by the UK public as one of the Top 20 love songs of all time.

It tells about the singer’s childhood love; at age nine he promised to marry her, but he couldn’t hold on to that love in his teenage years. So now he laments that she does not seem to remember him, she even does not recognise him when he calls her name. According to Songfacts:

Frontman Errol Brown told the Mail On Sunday January 25, 2009: “I thought of the title and connected it to my puppy love for a girl in my class in Jamaica when I was nine. Her name was Barbara Blackwood. She would have no idea it had anything to do with her.”

Here is a video of the song from the band’s YouTube channel:

There is also a 2011 remaster on the same channel. Here are the lyrics from Genius:

It Started With a Kiss
words & music by Errol Brown

It started with a kiss
In the back row of the classroom
How could I resist
The aroma of your perfume?

You and I were inseparable
It was love at first sight
You made me promise to marry you
I made you promise to be my wife

But then
You were only eight years old
And I had just about turned nine
(Just about turned nine)
I thought that life was always good
I thought you always would be mine

It started with a kiss
Never thought it would come to this
(You don’t remember me do you?)
It started with a kiss
Never thought it would come to this
(You don’t remember me do you?)

I remember every little thing
Like fighting in the playground
Cause some good looking boy
Had started to hang around

That boy hurt me so bad
But I was happy
Cause you cried, and still
I couldn’t help but notice
That new distant look in your eyes

And then
When you were sixteen
And I had just turned seventeen
(Just turned seventeen)
I couldn’t hold on to your love
I couldn’t hold on to my dream

It started with a kiss
Never thought it would come to this
It started with a kiss, oh ooo
Never thought it would come to this

You don’t remember me, do you?
You don’t remember me, do you?

Walking down the street
Came the star of my love story
And my heart began to beat so fast
So clear was my memory

I heard my voice cry out her name
And as she looked and looked away
I felt so hurt, I felt so small
And it was all that I could say

You don’t remember me, do you?
You don’t remember me, do you?
You don’t remember me, do you?
You don’t remember me, do you?

It started with a kiss
Never thought it would come to this
It started with a kiss, oh ooo
Never thought it would come to this