This fantastic afro-flavoured fusion of funk and soul comes from a Soweto nightclub back in the dark days of apartheid in the early ’70s. It’s performed by Abacothozi, house band at the township’s first nightclub, The Pelican.
Not only is this a classic Northern Soul number but Jackie Shane is one of the earliest trans performers in pop history.
My 11,000-mile round trip to meet country-soul singer Shelby Lynne began with a disastrous motorcycle journey… and got worse after that.
Texas troubadour Micah P. Hinson’s plaintive love song stays in your head long after its two minutes are over.
Phyllis Dillon’s rocksteady classic is a gem from Duke Reid’s legendary Treasure Isle studio. It’s been widely described as the greatest performance by a female singer in Jamaican music.
Doll By Doll were something of a cult band in the punk/New Wave era, thanks mainly to the larger than life personality of their Scottish front man. (more…)
Jackie Edwards has been called the Nat King Cole of Jamaica for the smooth sentimental singing style that earned him the nickname The Cool Ruler long before Gregory Isaacs inherited the mantle. But there was much more to him than that.
The brotherhood of I Am Kloot
There’s blood on your legs,” sings the small man with the big guitar. “I love you . . .” Has there ever been a more mysterious, more sinisterly romantic line in popular music than the lyric of Twist by I Am Kloot?
Jackie Wilson was one of the first R&B superstars back in the ’50s but his music had a second lease of life thanks to Van Morrison and Dexys Midnight Runners in the ’70s and ’80s.