Entertainment For Lively Minds
British, gifted and black
The publicity for Billy Ocean’s new UK tour proclaims him to be ‘the biggest black recording artist the UK has ever produced’.
Now at first I thought this was a rather mighty claim, but on closer inspection it would appear to hold some water.
I have no idea how they calculate ‘bigness’ – record sales? Critical acclaim? Longevity? Global appeal? – but whatever method they use he certainly has a fair claim. Six top ten hits in the UK and three number ones in the US, a household name and still going strong, although nowhere near as high profile as he was in the 80s.
But who are the challengers for this fanciful title?
Phil Lynott was, of course, not British. Joan Armatrading enjoys popularity in the US but has never sold enough records to compete. Lemar, Dizzee and Leona haven’t been around long enough. Craig David never had staying power. We can’t claim Hendrix even though the Experience was, arguably, a British group. Or Bob Marley even though his dad was Scottish.
So who else? Eddy Grant? Seal perhaps? Gabrielle maybe? Or is Billy’s boast unbeatable?
And why such a paltry list of contenders?
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Interesting
I think you named most of the contenders. It's complicated by the fact that Britain's historical relationship with the Caribbean meant that there have always been a lot of overseas artists for whom the UK is the main place they do their business. I'm thinking of people like Desmond Dekker, for instance.
It's one of those questions that's doomed never to have a satisfactory answer. A bit like "the biggest all-girl group from Britain" which is usually a squabble between Bananarama and the Sugababes, isn't it?
I'm not even sure you could get very far if you asked the question "what's the biggest rock band ever to come out of Britain?" The Beatles in terms of celebrity, the Stones in terms of longevity, Pink Floyd in terms of influence, etc etc etc.
I take your point
set your parameters and make your choice ... but can we look forward to reading about the 'Pink Floyd more influential that the Beatles' theory in the next issue?
I'm amazed
nobody's mentioned Soul II Soul. Arguably one of the biggest / most important British acts of their era, regardless of race.
Ahhh
Club Classics Vol II was the first album I ever bought, aged 11 I think.
As an aside almost all the members and former members of Soul II Soul have interesting stories attached to them. The main singer Melissa Bell is the mother of recent X Factor winner Alexandra Burke and as for another one of their singers, Doreen Waddell...well her succint Wikipedia entry tells you all you need to know,
Doreen Waddell (ca. 1966 - 1 March, 2002) was a singer who worked with Soul II Soul and The KLF.
She was killed on 1 March, 2002 in Brighton when being chased from a store where she had been shoplifting; she ran onto the A27, where she was hit by three vehicles, dying instantly.[1]
Point of information
Phil Lynott was actually born in England so ... do we have a winner? Yesterday was the anniversary of his death in 1986.
Seal...
...is still pretty successful here in the US. Next time I'm in Best Buy, I'll see how many Billy Ocean albums I can find.
Sade?
Not sure if she’s British. Or if she would be categorised as “black”. Nigerian dad, English mum I think. Sold a lot of records though.
Oddly enough the most successful British artist in the field of black music is white: Rod Temperton of Heatwave (who wrote lots of Off The Wall and Thriller).
I'm fairly sure
she's from the cultural hotbed of Clacton-on-Sea; it doesn't get much more British than that.
Mel
B?
Shirley Bassey?
I know she had a lot of hits in the UK (including collaborations with Yello and Propellorheads) but has she done much outside Britain?
Seal?
Or mebbe not
The Real Thing
I seem to remember reading somewhere that they were the best selling "black" artists in the 70s and they are still gigging now; they can also claim to be quite influential - the "4from8" album is regarded as a british soul classic in many quarters
Five Star?
They must have sold one hell of a lot of records...
Crayyyyggg David.....
Sells bucketloads in continental Europe.
Must be a contender...
And in Israel
apparently. He spends a lot of time in Tel Aviv these days and is, in fact, Jewish. Strange but true.
Can't be one of God's chosen....
He famously "chilled on Sunday..." whilst making whoopee on the Shabbat....
Having recently read the 'hot streak' thread
I realise I'm riding on someone else's coat-tails when I say Errol Brown - surely bigger than Billy Ocean - unless we are just counting solo artists.