Ebony Alleyne is an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

R&B and

soul In many religious and philosophical traditions, there is a belief that a soul is "the immaterial aspect or essence of a human being". Etymology The Modern English noun '' soul'' is derived from Old English ''sāwol, sāwel''. The earliest atte ...

singer Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or withou ...

Biography

Ebony Alleyne was signed to

Sony Music Sony Music Entertainment (SME), also known as simply Sony Music, is an American multinational music company. Being owned by the parent conglomerate Sony Group Corporation, it is part of the Sony Music Group, which is owned by Sony Entertainme ...

at the age of 19 years old as a singer-songwriter. After much collaboration, the label found that they could not pigeon hole her style into the regular R&B approach for which they were known. Producers

Ian Levine Ian Geoffrey Levine (born 22 June 1953) is a British songwriter, producer, and DJ. A moderniser of Northern soul music in the UK, and a developer of the style of Hi-NRG, he has written and produced records with sales totalling over 40 million. ...

and

Clive Scott Jigsaw was an English pop rock band best known for their 1975 hit "Sky High". The band was fronted by the singer-songwriter duo of Clive Scott and Des Dyer for most of its life. Following Scott's death in 2009, it has been the platform for Dye ...

were brought in to collaborate with Alleyne's style. Both felt that they should aim for a Dionne Warwick- Burt Bacharach approach - Alleyne penned the lyrics to "Walk Away and Never Look Back" with the Levine and Scott team. On the basis of this collaboration, Sony granted a £150,000 budget to produce an album with a full orchestra (sixty strings, thirty brass). "Walk Away and Never Look Back" sneak-previewed at a Togetherness soul weekend in 2002 and created further interest - three 7" vinyl singles were pressed in a limited edition on the old soul label Okeh Records. In 2003, just as the album was ready to go into press, Sony Records underwent a management reshuffle. One track "All the Love in the World" cropped up on Levine's ''Northern Soul 2004''. In early 2007, however,

Expansion Records Expansion Records is a British record label founded by Northern Soul DJ Richard Searling and Soul Bowl owner John Anderson. In 1989, DJ Author & Journalist Ralph Tee joined the label, both he and Searling run Expansion Records. Label hist ...

bought the rights to the album, and the Alleyne, Levine and Scott team returned to the studio to record one new track, "You Caught Me Off Guard", and added it to the track listing. The album ''Never Look Back'' was finally released in June 2007; launched at a release party at the

Jazz Café The Jazz Cafe is a music venue in Camden Town, London. It opened in 1990 on the former premises of a branch of Barclays Bank and has had several owners throughout its history as a music venue. In 2020 the Jazz Cafe celebrates its 30th year, h ...

in Camden Town. The album was released in Japan in late September with five bonus tracks, including a remix of "You Caught Me Off Guard". Alleyne recorded three new tracks - "Mister Magic Man", a duet with

Noel McKoy Noel McKoy ( – 3 November 2022) was a British soul music singer. His music was a collection of soul, gospel, funk and Northern soul. McKoy created, produced and presented the Dutch Pot new artist nights in London – which ran for five year ...

"Special Delivery", and "Have a Little Faith in Me" for Levine's album ''

Northern Soul 2007 Northern may refer to the following: Geography * North, a point in direction * Northern Europe, the northern part or region of Europe * Northern Highland, a region of Wisconsin, United States * Northern Province, Sri Lanka * Northern Range, a ...

'' and another track - "Whistle for a Ride" - for '' Disco 2008''.

Additional information

One of Alleyne's unreleased songs, "Like a Lady" (scheduled for inclusion on the 2003 album) was re-recorded with

The X Factor ''The X Factor'' is a television music competition franchise created by British producer Simon Cowell and his company Syco Entertainment. It originated in the United Kingdom, where it was devised as a replacement for '' Pop Idol'' (2001–2003 ...

artists Voices With Soul for ''Northern Soul 2007'' and became a hit on

YouTube YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second mo ...

with more than 40,000 views and subsequently released a

download In computer networks, download means to ''receive'' data from a remote system, typically a server such as a web server, an FTP server, an email server, or other similar system. This contrasts with uploading, where data is ''sent to'' a remote ...

single on iTunes.

Albums

*''Never Look Back'' (Expansion Records, June 2007)

Singles

*"Walk Away and Never Look Back" / "Count the Days" ( Okeh Records, 2002) *"My Man" / "Touching the Sky" (Okeh, 2002) *"Second Look" / "In Love With a Stranger" (Okeh, 2002)

References

External links

Ebony Alleyne interview by Pete Lewis, 'Blues & Soul' January 2008
* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Alleyne, Ebony 1983 births Living people 21st-century English women singers 21st-century English singers