Clout is a South African rock band formed in Johannesburg in 1977. The group, originally all-female, later included male musicians who had played as session musicians on their debut single "Substitute" - Clout's first and biggest hit, which was a cover of a Righteous Brothers song composed by Willie Wilson. In 1978, the band's version reached Number 1 in multiple countries including South Africa, New Zealand, Germany, France, The Netherlands, Sweden, Austria, Denmark, and Belgium. It also peaked at number 2 on the UK Singles Chart and remained there for 15 weeks. Due to sanctions against South African artists by UK's Equity, the BBC used Clout's performance from Dutch programme TopPop for its presentation of "Substitute" on Top of the Pops. The song reached number 67 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100. Following this success, Clout released several more top 10 singles including "Save Me", "You've Got All of Me", and "Under Fire". The band split up in 1981 after releasing their last major single, a cover of Hall and Oates' "Portable Radio". In 1992, Clout's greatest hits package 20 Greatest Hits was released on CD. A reunion album Since We've Been Gone was released in 2005, featuring re-recorded classic hits and new songs. The band had brief reunions in 2018 to celebrate the 40th anniversary of "Substitute" and in 2020 for a virtual performance of the same song.
