Displaying items by tag: Soul

© Words Piers Hernu

At twenty three, jazz singer songwriter Amy Winehouse may be the hottest female singing talent in the world today, she may have cracked America, sung with the Rolling Stones and be lauded by the likes of Prince, Elton John, Jay Z and P Diddy,she may be a married, tattooed, multi millionaire with a reputation for hellraising and doing exactly what she wants when she wants but the dimuitive Jewish girl from North London is still very much Daddy’s little princess.

Florence Ballard was a student at junior high school in the Detroit housing projects and became friends with Paul Williams and Eddie Kendricks, (two members of The Primes, later to become the Temptations). The boys encouraged her to form a sister group called the Primettes (1959).

© Words Matteo Sedazzari

The origin of the 12” single originated from Jamaica in the late 50’s, and developed further into the sixties with the birth of ska, rocksteady, early reggae and sound systems, where party goers would dance to the beat of home grown talent that was longer than the three minute single. Furthermore, with the birth of disco in the 70’s, with the clubs of New York and such like, soul, funk and r ‘n’ b influenced tunes, in 4/4 time, with the bass pumping the music along, the disco dancers needed the groove to go on forever, beyond conventional airtime. 

©Words Nick Churchill www.thegranvillechambers.co.uk

Her godfather was the Godfather of Soul himself, James Brown. Her mother is Brown’s explosive backing singer Vicki Anderson; her step-father, his right-hand man Bobby Byrd. She grew up with her grandparents during the civil rights movement of the 1960s and by the age of there was singing solos in her grandfather’s church.

© Words Matteo Sedazzari
It would unfair to say that Nile Rodgers is having a renaissance, as his music has never gone away nor has it aged, be it Sister Sledge or Chic, timeless classics that still enthral and pulsate any dance floor,  regardless of age.  I remember back in my days of clubbing, late eighties to early nighties, that Sister Sledge’s Thinking of You  became a club anthem, the smiles on the dancers faces were truly beautiful,

© Words - Nick Churchill

Is it just me, or is optimism back in the air again? Maybe it’s the spring sunshine, perhaps it’s the promise of a short-sleeved summer, it could simply be the music choice lately – Richie Havens, Curtis, Nina – but there’s a feeling that something’s gotta give. And soon.

I've been long excited about The Action's "In The Lap Of The Mods" book like it was the second coming.  The Action, along with The Small Faces, The Kinks and David Bowie are my favourite 60's artists.  From their first single as The Boys all the way down to the material cut before they became Mighty Baby (released in the 80's on a mini LP "Speak Louder Than") and even lead singer Reg King's 1971 solo LP I'm all on board as a one man American cheering section. I'm still, 18 years later, slowly wrapping my head around Mighty Baby.

I remember the first time I heard Teena Marie, it was the summer of 86 and I had a nice summer job.  Without going into details of the job, it was in a small kitchen, and I used to bring tapes in to play.  Anyway one Monday, I brought in a Motown compilation cassette that I had purchased at Woolworths.  

With perhaps the rarest and most beautiful of voices in the world of music, Carleen Anderson's ability to enchant remains undiminished. Jason Holmes met up with her to get to the root of things

Ahmet Ertegun was the music industry blueprint for somebody who cares about music and artists. He was rich, and a great business guy, but from the Stones to Led Zeppelin he took chance after chance and it paid off. The people who run the music business now are bean counters. There are very few people in the higher regions of the business who are there for the music, but Ahmet Ertegun was one of them.

I met Ahmet once in 1997. He came to my office in London and tried to buy Oasis from me. He also - bizarrely - tried to buy the Teletubbies for the States from me until I directed him to the BBC. He must have been about 73 that point but the man could still smell a hit.

I loved Ahmet, he was a legend, an absolute diamond human and musical genius. He knew every genre of music back to front. The time I met him he told me so many great stories. Obviously I said, "Ahmet, you should write a book", and he replied, "Alan, it would get me killed." He lived a life and then some.

Atlantic is the blueprint for every great indie label there has ever been - even if they don't know it. Ahmet invented the first one in 1947. He'll always shine on through the music he released, and he'll be remembered by music fans with gratitude and love.

Reproduced by Kind Permission of Alan McGee