watching ruby turner on jools holland the other day was further proof of the abundance of underappreciated talent we have in the uk.
this is a selection of new and old uk talent, worth investigating.
download here
terri walker -flirtin’
sadly, terri will at best be underrated in the beverly knight tradition for the rest of her career. her three albums are ten times better than anything mya has ever put out…
soul ii soul – love enuff
new age funksters who retained their peace and love vibe well into the mid 90s when everyone else had given up.
loose ends – choose me
those that know revere loose ends as the 80s soul band to end them all.
five star – rsvp
family group who turned out to have more in common with jacksons than we thought possible – a veritable mountain of plastic surgery. this song is from their first album, when they had their own noses and steadman didn’t look like a circus freak.
light of the world – no1 girl
named themselves after a kool and the gang album, and had several hits. after splitting in 1981 some members went on to form beggar&co, who also had some success.
heatwave – super soul sister
ok only the keyboardist was british, the band was in fact, international. heatwave were responsible for standard ’always and forever’ and countless 70s funk gems.
cool notes – i forgot
originally part of the young south london lovers’ rock scene, then a jheri soul success, by uk standards, with several top ten hit.
central line – you’ve said enough
another success, and singer camelle hinds is still active.
leona lewis – suga sweet
a pre-fame remake of juicy’s 1985 jheri soul hit ‘ sugar free’. some more midtempos like this would have sat well on ‘spirit’…i hope she gets back to this style for her second album. leona had the biggest selling uk album of 2007 so even in this uncertain era for the music industry, this hopefully means a sophomore effort is a dead cert!
celetia – special
the uk’s answer to brandy and aaliyah in the 90s – sadly without the success but happily without the drama. this was from her second album, ‘runaway skies’.
shola ama – who’s loving my baby
still waiting on that comeback, shola. and sister sadie’s debut for that matter….what’s going on ladies? shola had the biggest selling r&b album in the uk, of all time.
lemar – fresh
things have also gone a bit quiet on the lemar front, after three successful albums. apparently a radio DJ in barbados mistakenly announced his name was ‘lemar bedingfield’ and now the population, or at least those listening, now believe he is related to those tiresome, delusional big-toothed horrors….as if!
