Britfunk
   HOME
*





Britfunk
Brit funk (or Britfunk) is a musical style that has its origins in the British music scene of the late 1970s and which remained popular into the 1980s. It mixes elements from jazz, funk, soul, urban dance rhythms and pop hooks. The scene originated in southern England and spread with support from DJs including DJ Froggy, Greg Edwards, Robbie Vincent, Chris Hill and Colin Curtis. Major funk acts included Jimmy James and the Vagabonds, Average White Band, Ian Dury & the Blockheads, Carl Douglas, Hot Chocolate, the Delegation, Hi-Tension, Light of the World, Level 42, Central Line, the Pasadenas, Beggar and Co and Soul II Soul. The genre also influenced 1980s new wave/pop groups such as Culture Club, Bow Wow Wow, Pigbag, Dexys Midnight Runners and Haircut 100. Name and characteristics The term Brit funk evolved from the club DJs and James Hamilton of ''Record Mirror'' whose column had a major influence in launching new records. Brit funk was a fusion of R&B, funk, soul music rh ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Soul Music
Soul music is a popular music genre that originated in the African American community throughout the United States in the late 1950s and early 1960s. It has its roots in African-American gospel music and rhythm and blues. Soul music became popular for dancing and listening, where U.S. record labels such as Motown, Atlantic and Stax were influential during the Civil Rights Movement. Soul also became popular around the world, directly influencing rock music and the music of Africa. It also had a resurgence with artists like Erykah Badu under the genre neo-soul. Catchy rhythms, stressed by handclaps and extemporaneous body moves, are an important feature of soul music. Other characteristics are a call and response between the lead vocalist and the chorus and an especially tense vocal sound. The style also occasionally uses improvisational additions, twirls, and auxiliary sounds. Soul music reflects the African-American identity, and it stresses the importance of an African-Ameri ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


Light Of The World (band)
Light of the World are a British jazz-funk band. Biography The band was formed in London in 1978. They were originally a forerunner of the late 1970s/early 1980s British jazz-funk movement. The band's name is taken from the 1974 Kool and the Gang album, '' Light of Worlds''. The original line-up consisted of Jean-Paul Maunick, drummer Everton McCalla, bassist Paul Williams, guitarist Neville McKreith, percussionist Chris Etienne, keyboardist Peter Hinds, trumpet player Kenny Wellington and saxophonist David Baptiste. The band's debut single "Swingin'", peaked at No. 45 in the UK Singles Chart. This was later followed up by two top 40 hits: a cover of the Bob Marley and the Wailers song "I Shot the Sheriff" (#40), and the double A-side single "I'm So Happy" / "Time" (#35). Their debut album was released in 1979 on Ensign Records Ensign Records was a record label started in 1976 by London-born Nigel Grainge, elder brother of UMG Chairman Sir Lucian Grainge. History Nigel ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


Hi-Tension
Hi-Tension are a British band based in North West London, and are pioneers of Brit funk. In 1971 the band started out as Hott Wax with the original line-up being Paul Philips (guitarist), Jeff Guishard (percussionist), David Joseph (keyboard player and lead vocals), Ken Joseph (bass player) and Paul McLean (saxophonist), David Reid and Paapa Mensah (both drummers) and Leroy Williams. They changed the band name to Hi-Tension in 1978 and had hits with the songs "Hi Tension" and "British Hustle". Biography In 1971, the group started as Hott Wax with original members being Paul Philips, Lloyd Philips, David Joseph and Ken Joseph. In 1975, Phil Fearon (later a member of the bands Galaxy and Kandidate) joined as a member of the group but had later left by 1977. After this, David Joseph recruited other members that lived in the area to join the group. In 1978 they released their first single aptly named "Hi Tension" that peaked to No. 13 in the UK Singles Chart in May 1978. They then r ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


Chris Hill (DJ)
Chris Hill (born 8 January 1945) is a British disc jockey. He worked at the club ''Lacy Lady'' in Ilford, as well as at the ''Goldmine'' Canvey Island and was the head of the 'Soul Mafia' a group of DJs which included Greg Edwards, DJ Froggy, Jeff Young and Robbie Vincent, in London and the South East of England into the early 1980s. He had a major input into the creation of the British 'Brit Funk' music scene of the late 1970s and early 1980s. Career Early DJ experience Hill's first residency was at ''The Cock'' public house in Orsett, Essex in the late 1960s where he would play jazz records. The Canvey Island ''Goldmine'' owner, Stan Barrett and manager Kenny Faulkner came to The Cock and offered Hill the residency. Hill stated: "They’d heard about me and when I started at The Goldmine on Canvey Island in November 1972, people there didn’t understand a ‘Soul’ night." In 1975-1976, he promoted his 'swing revival nights' playing the music of Count Basie, Jimmie Lunce ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Soul Music
Soul music is a popular music genre that originated in the African American community throughout the United States in the late 1950s and early 1960s. It has its roots in African-American gospel music and rhythm and blues. Soul music became popular for dancing and listening, where U.S. record labels such as Motown, Atlantic and Stax were influential during the Civil Rights Movement. Soul also became popular around the world, directly influencing rock music and the music of Africa. It also had a resurgence with artists like Erykah Badu under the genre neo-soul. Catchy rhythms, stressed by handclaps and extemporaneous body moves, are an important feature of soul music. Other characteristics are a call and response between the lead vocalist and the chorus and an especially tense vocal sound. The style also occasionally uses improvisational additions, twirls, and auxiliary sounds. Soul music reflects the African-American identity, and it stresses the importance of an African-Ameri ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  




Culture Club
Culture Club are an English pop band formed in London in 1981. The band comprises Boy George (lead vocals), Roy Hay (guitar and keyboards), Mikey Craig (bass guitar) and formerly included Jon Moss (drums and percussion). Emerging in the New Romantic scene, they are considered one of the most representative and influential groups of the 1980s. Led by singer and frontman Boy George, whose androgynous style of dressing caught the attention of the public and the media in the early 1980s, the band have sold more than 50 million records including over 6 million BPI certified records sold in the UK and over 7 million RIAA certified records sold in the US. Their hits include "Do You Really Want to Hurt Me", "Time (Clock of the Heart)", "I'll Tumble 4 Ya", "Church of the Poison Mind", "Karma Chameleon", " Victims", "Miss Me Blind", " It's a Miracle", "The War Song", "Move Away", and "I Just Wanna Be Loved". In the UK they amassed twelve Top 40 hit singles between 1982 and 1999, inclu ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

New Wave Music
New wave is a loosely defined music genre that encompasses pop-oriented styles from the late 1970s and the 1980s. It was originally used as a catch-all for the various styles of music that emerged after punk rock, including punk itself. Later, critical consensus favored "new wave" as an umbrella term involving many popular music styles of the era, including power pop, synth-pop, ska revival, and more specific forms of punk rock that were less abrasive. It may also be viewed as a more accessible counterpart of post-punk. Common characteristics of new wave music include a humorous or quirky pop approach, the use of electronic sounds, and a distinctive visual style in music videos and fashion. In the early 1980s, virtually every new pop/rock act – and particularly those that employed synthesizers – were tagged as "new wave". Although new wave shares punk's do-it-yourself philosophy, the artists were more influenced by the styles of the 1950s along with the lighter s ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


Soul II Soul
Soul II Soul are a British musical collective formed in London in 1988. They are best known for their two major hits; 1989's UK number five and US number eleven " Keep On Movin'", and its follow-up, the UK number one and US number four " Back to Life". They have won two Grammy Awards, and have been nominated for five Brit Awards—twice for Best British Group.Soul II Soul BRITS Profile
. BRIT Awards Ltd. Retrieved 26 January 2013


Career


1988–1989: Beginnings and club classics

The group initially attracted attention as a sound system some years prior to 1988 run by founder Jazzie B, playing at nights including ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Ian Dury
Ian Robins Dury (12 May 1942 27 March 2000) was a British singer, songwriter and actor who rose to fame during the late 1970s, during the punk and new wave era of rock music. He was the lead singer and lyricist of Ian Dury and the Blockheads and before that of Kilburn and the High Roads. Biography Early life Dury was born, and spent his early years, at his parents' home at 43 Weald Rise, Harrow Weald, Middlesex (though he often pretended that he had been born in Upminster, Essex, which all but one of his obituaries in the UK national press stated as fact). His father, William George Dury (born 23 September 1905, Southborough, Kent; died 25 February 1968), was a local bus driver and former boxer, while his mother Margaret (known as "Peggy", born Margaret Cuthbertson Walker, 17 April 1910, Rochdale, Lancashire; died January 1995) was a health visitor, the daughter of a Cornish doctor and the granddaughter of an Irish landowner. William Dury trained with Rolls-Royce to be a cha ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


Beggar And Co
Beggar and Co (also written Beggar & Co) are a British jazz-funk group formed by Kenny Wellington, David Baptiste and Neville 'Breeze' McKrieth, originally members of the group Light of the World. Overview Beggar and Co's first single was "(Somebody) Help Me Out", which entered the chart on 7 February 1981. It peaked at number 15 and spent a total of ten weeks on the UK Singles Chart. Their second release was "Mule (Chant No.2)", which entered the UK Singles Chart on 12 September 1981, and reached number 27, remaining in the chart for five weeks. Beggar and Co was also the featured brass section on a number of chart records for other artists, both as a horn section or as individual musicians. Recorded studio sessions included Spandau Ballet's hit single, " Chant No. 1 (I Don't Need This Pressure On)". In 2007, the band released a live recording from The Jazz Cafe, ''Brass, Strings N' Things''. Since 2016, Breeze McKrieth, Kenny Wellington, David Baptiste became part of a pe ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


Central Line (band)
Central Line was an R&B and soul band from London, England. They recorded two albums with Mercury in the 1980s and had two hit singles in the United States, as well as one Top 40 hit in their native country. Career The band was formed in March 1978, and were signed to Mercury Records early in 1979 by John Stainze. The original founding members were Steve Salvari, Camelle Hinds, Lipson Francis and Henry Defoe. Hinds, Francis and Defoe were previously in a band called TFB (Typical Funk Band), which had contained members that would go on to form Light of the World. TFB also contained the drummer Errol Kennedy, who later joined Imagination. Salvari joined TFB after the departure of Kenny Wellington in late 1976, as their second keyboard player and the band members then stood at Salvari, Hinds, Francis, Defoe and Kennedy. The band gigged for about a year then broke up. Francis and Defoe went to work with a bass player who was in Boney M., and Salvari and Hinds staying together to w ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Level 42
Level 42 is an English jazz-funk band formed on the Isle of Wight in 1979. They had a number of UK and worldwide hits during the 1980s and 1990s. Their highest-charting single in the UK was " Lessons in Love", which reached number three on the UK Singles Chart, and number 12 on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart, upon its release in 1986. An earlier single, " Something About You", was their most successful chart-wise in the United States, reaching number 7 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart. After much success as a live and studio band in the 1980s, Level 42's commercial profile diminished during the early 1990s following a series of personnel changes and musical shifts. Disbanding in 1994, the band reformed in 2001. History 1979–1980: Prehistory and formation Mark King and the Gould brothers (Phil and Rowland, the latter generally known by his nickname Boon) were all brought up on the Isle of Wight and played together in various bands during their teenage years. Phil Goul ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]