Jacqueline Graham (born 15 September 1956) is a British singer-songwriter. Following her hit version of " Could It Be I'm Falling in Love" with David Grant in 1985, Graham scored a further five UK top 20 hits over a two-year period. In 1994, her cover version of

Chaka Khan Yvette Marie Stevens (born March 23, 1953), better known by her stage name Chaka Khan (), is an American singer. Her career has spanned more than five decades, beginning in the 1970s as the lead vocalist of the funk band Rufus. Known as the " Qu ...

's hit " Ain't Nobody" reached number one on the U.S. ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

'' Dance Chart.

Biography

EMI Years

Graham was born in Birmingham to Jamaican immigrants. In 1983 after recording a session for a jazz funk band called Medium Wave Band, Graham was spotted by a talent scout and signed to EMI Records. Two solo singles were released in the following year, "Heaven Knows" (the title of her first album) and "Once More with the Feeling". The duet with David Grant, a cover version of the

Detroit Spinners Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at th ...

track "Could It Be I'm Falling in Love", was released in early 1985 reaching No. 5 in March of that year. Graham's fourth solo single "Round and Around" saw her return to the UK top 10 a few months later. A second duet with David Grant was released to end the year entitled "Mated". This peaked at No. 20. Graham's single "Set Me Free" was released in early 1986 and reached No. 7 in the UK, also seeing the success repeated throughout Europe. "Breaking Away" was released in August as the follow up single, reaching No. 14 in the UK charts. Graham's second album of the same name was also released. Later in 1986 her hit "Step Right Up" was remixed and released also making the UK top 20. During this time, American singer Michael McDonald was looking for a female singer to accompany him on the track " On My Own" (originally recorded with

Patti LaBelle Patricia Louise Holte (born May 24, 1944), known professionally as Patti LaBelle, is an American R&B singer, actress and businesswoman. LaBelle is referred to as the " Godmother of Soul". She began her career in the early 1960s as lead singe ...

) for his next UK tour. After hearing Graham's voice, McDonald was quoted as saying "Jaki is one of the best singers Britain has ever produced". McDonald later wrote for Graham's albums and has featured her as a special guest on his UK tours. In 1989 she released her third and final album recorded on the EMI label called ''From Now On''. The album included two singles: the title track and ballad "The Better Part of Me", both of which failed to reach the UK top 40.

Later years

In 1991, Graham joined with Paul Hardcastle in the group Kiss the Sky. Their self titled album was released that year on

Motown Records Motown Records is an American record label owned by the Universal Music Group. It was founded by Berry Gordy, Berry Gordy Jr. as Tamla Records on June 7, 1958, and incorporated as Motown Record Corporation on April 14, 1960. Its name, a portmant ...

. In 1993, Graham was spotted by AVEX International, Japan, whilst at the Midem music conference and was immediately signed to the label. Work started in 1994 on her album ''Real Life''. Three singles were released internationally from the album, "You Can Count On Me (For Love)", " Absolute E-Sensual" and the song that would be Graham's biggest international single to date " Ain't Nobody". "Ain't Nobody" entered the charts in Europe, Asia, Australia and reached No. 1 in the US Billboard Dance Chart for five weeks. Jaki Graham 2014

In October 2009, Graham performed at the

Birmingham Town Hall Birmingham Town Hall is a concert hall and venue for popular assemblies opened in 1834 and situated in Victoria Square, Birmingham, England. It is a Grade I listed building. The hall underwent a major renovation between 2002 and 2007. It no ...

with the BBC Big Band to perform specially arranged versions of Gershwin classics. Both the concert and the transmission that followed later on

BBC Radio 2 BBC Radio 2 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It is the most popular station in the United Kingdom with over 15 million weekly listeners. Since launching in 1967, the station broadcasts a wide range of content. ...

, received high critical acclaim and within a few weeks of the transmission Graham was invited back, this time to perform Duke Ellington classics in March 2010. In August 2010, almost 24 years to the date of its original release, ''Breaking Away – Special Edition'' was put out on CD across the UK and Ireland via Cherry Pop. In addition to the 12 songs that were included in the original album, an additional five bonus tracks, three of which were exclusive to the CD, were added. During 2010, Graham accompanied Michael McDonald and

Al Green Albert Leornes Greene (born April 13, 1946), better known as Al Green, is an American singer, songwriter, pastor and record producer best known for recording a series of soul hit singles in the early 1970s, including " Take Me to the River", ...

on their UK 'Legends' Arena Tour which included Birmingham LG, Manchester MEN and London's O2 Arena, as McDonald's special guest. Later in 2010, Demon Music released ''Absolute Essential – The Very Best of Jaki Graham''. This would be Graham's first 'official' 'greatest hits' album and included 28 songs over two CDs. During 2011, Graham was invited to join

Sir Cliff Richard Sir Cliff Richard (born Harry Rodger Webb; 14 October 1940) is an Indian-born British musican, singer, producer, entrepreneur and philanthropist who holds both British and Barbadian citizenship. He has total sales of over 21.5 million s ...

on his successful 'Soulicious' Arena Tour in October. This was his only British special guest alongside James Ingram, Percy Sledge, Freda Payne, Lamont Dozier and Marilyn McCoo and Billy Davis Jr. of the 5th Dimension. The event was filmed across two nights at London's O2 Arena and issued as a DVD. In early 2012, she entered a small recording studio in Leeds, and along with her band, would record her new album entitled ''For Sentimental Reasons''. Graham returned to the recording studio in Leeds to add some additional backing vocals and the album was complete. The mixing of the album took place in early August and was released in October 2012. In the same year, Jaki collaborated with UK music producer Paul Rudd to re-release a new version of 'Set Me Free 2012'. It was recorded with new vocals at Britannia Row Studios in London. In 2016, Graham presented a radio programme, 'Soul on Sunday', on

BBC Radio London BBC Radio London is the Local BBC Radio, BBC's local radio station serving Greater London and its surrounding areas. The station broadcasts across the area and beyond, on the 94.9 FM broadcasting, FM frequency, Digital Audio Broadcasting, DAB, ...

. In 2018, Graham released a new studio album, ''When a Woman Loves'', on her own label, JNT Music Ltd.

Personal life

Graham has been married to Tony Ormsby since 1976. They have a daughter Natalie (born 1981) and a son Ryan (born 1993).

Awards

In early October 2012, Graham was honoured with a 'Birmingham's 'Walk of Star' on Broad Street. A show took place in the evening that month where she performed some of her hits, as well as a selection of songs from 'For Sentimental Reasons'. In 2015, Graham was awarded an honorary degree from the University of Wolverhampton in recognition of her services to the music industry.

Discography

Albums

Studio albums

Compilation albums

Singles

References

External links

Official WebsiteJaki Graham at Vh1.comJaki Graham 2012 Audio Interview at Soulinterviews.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Graham, Jaki 1956 births Living people 20th-century Black British women singers British contemporary R&B singers EMI Records artists English house musicians English people of Jamaican descent Musicians from Birmingham, West Midlands 21st-century Black British women singers