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The Brand New Heavies are an acid jazz and funk group formed in 1985 in Ealing, a suburb of London, England.

Biography

The Brand New Heavies began in the 1980s as an instrumental acid jazz group called Brother International. According to Simon Bartholomew, "We made a tape on 7 microphone on cassette and they played it, nobody stopped dancing... and the rest is history!"

The group came up with the Heavies name after signing their first record contract, borrowing from a liner note on a James Brown single declaring the artist "Minister of New Super Heavy Funk". As The Brand New Heavies, they gained a cult following in the London club scene and soon signed to Cooltempo as acid jazz replaced rare groove in clubs. The band would issued a debut recording for Eddie Pillar's Acid Jazz label in 1990 with Jay Ella Ruth as lead singer.

A single, "Got To Give", came out on Cooltempo before the Brand New Heavies signed to Acid Jazz Records and released Brand New Heavies to critical acclaim. The band signed to a division of Chrysalis Records in the UK, and American distribution was picked up by influential label Delicious Vinyl, and N'Dea Davenport (who had signed an artist development deal with Delicious Vinyl) joined the group. A revamped version of the first album with vocals by N'Dea Davenport was then released, and the singles "Dream Come True" and "Never Stop," both with Davenport vocals, became hits on both sides of the Atlantic.

The group's appearance with MC Serch (formerly of 3rd Bass) and Q-Tip (of A Tribe Called Quest) at a performance in New York City, inspired the group to incorporate elements of hip hop music. Their next album was the critically acclaimed Heavy Rhyme Experience, Vol. 1, which included collaborations with Guru of Gang Starr and The Pharcyde, among others, but lacked any female vocals.

Brother Sister (1994) was the last album for a while with N'Dea Davenport, who had left to complete her solo album (which she had put on hold to join the Heavies). The album spawned more singles, though one of them, a cover of Maria Muldaur's "Midnight at the Oasis," was popular only in the UK because it was not included in the US version of the album.

Siedah Garrett joined the group for their next album, Shelter (1997). It contained the minor hit, the Carole King-penned song "You've Got A Friend" that was originally made famous by James Taylor. Again, though, this song did not appear on the US version of the album.

The Brand New Heavies then released their greatest hits album, Trunk Funk (2000) with Carleen Anderson on vocals for some newly recorded songs, followed by the Japan only album We Won't Stop (2003) featuring a variety of vocalists and Allaboutthefunk (2004) featuring British singer Nicole Russo on vocals.

In April 2006, the Brand New Heavies reunited with N'Dea Davenport and former label Delicious Vinyl. A new album, Get Used to It was released on 27 June, 2006 via Starbucks and more traditional music retail outlets. The album was recorded in New York and London; and the lead single "I Don't Know Why (I Love You)" was issued in early May. The single was notable for being one of very few late releases to feature the trademarked "A Tom Moulton Mix", as the legendary disco pioneer had been asked to contribute mixes. Later that year, their song "Jump 'N' Move" was featured on the soundtrack for the 2006 computer animated film, Happy Feet, and the in-game soundtrack for 2004's NBA Live 2005. The band toured at the end of 2006.

Members

Discography

Studio Albums

• The Brand New Heavies (1990, debut, almost no vocals)
• The Brand New Heavies (1991, vocals by N'Dea Davenport)
• Heavy Rhyme Experience, Vol. 1 (1992, vocals by various hip hop groups and rappers)
• Brother Sister (1994, vocals by N'Dea Davenport)
• Shelter (1997, vocals by Siedah Garrett)
• We Won't Stop (2003, Japan Only release; vocals by various singers)
• Allaboutthefunk (2004, vocals by Nicole Russo)
• Get Used to It (2006, vocals by N'Dea Davenport)

Compilations

• Original Flava (1995)
• Trunk Funk - The Best of The Brand New Heavies (2000)
• Excursions, Remixes & Rare Grooves (2001)
• Acid Jazz Years (2002)
• The Brand New Heavies: Platinum Collection (2006)
• Elephantitis - The Funk + House Remixes (2CD, 2007)

Singles

• "Got To Give" (1988)
• "Dream Come True (Brand New Mix)" (Acid Jazz, 1990, different version from the single 2 years later)
• "Never Stop" (1991) UK#43
• "Stay This Way" (1991) UK#24
• "Dream Come True '92" (1992) UK#24
• "Ultimate Trunk Funk EP" (1992) UK#19 (Stay This Way/Mr. Tanaka/Don't Let It Go...)
• "Don't Let It Go To Your Head" (1992) UK#24
• "Stay This Way" (1992) UK#40
• "Bonafied Funk/Death Threat" (1992)
• "Dream On Dreamer" (1994) UK#15
• "Back To Love" (1994) UK#23
• "Midnight At The Oasis" (1994) UK#13
• "Spend Some Time" (1994) UK#26
• "Brother Sister" (1994)
• "Close To You" (1995) UK#38
• "Mind Trips" (1995)
• "World Keeps Spinning" (1996, from "The Truth About Cats & Dogs" soundtrack)
• "Sometimes" (1997) UK#11
• "You Are The Universe" (1997) UK#21
• "You've Got A Friend" (1997) UK#9
• "Shelter" (1997) UK#31
• "Top 5 Heavy Hits" (1997)
• "You Can Do It" (1997)
• "Saturday Nite" (1999) UK#35
• "Apparently Nothing" (1999) UK#32
• "Worst Case Scenario/Saturday Nite (Jay Dee Remix)" (2000, split EP with Fat Lip.
• "What Do You Take Me For" (Flower Records, 2003)
• "Boogie" (OneTwo Records/Edel Records, 2004) UK#66
• "Can We/Sometimes (Bullseye Remixes)" (2005, split EP with SWV.
• "Surrender" (OneTwo Records, 2005)
• "Get Used To It" (2006)
• "I Don't Know Why (I Love You)" (2006)

External links

• The Brand New Heavies at MySpace
• Heavies Listening Party
• Delicious Vinyl Official Site
• NDeaDavenport.net - Official Site of N'Dea Davenport
• Siedah.com - Official website of Siedah Garrett
• CarleenAnderson.net - Official Site of Carleen Anderson
• NicoleRusso.co.uk - Official Site of Nicole Russo
• SySmith.com - Official Site of Sy Smith

References

1. ^ Hammer, Steve. "Interview: Simon Bartholomew".
2. Berto, Alessio 'Soulbeat'. "Interview". Clubbity.com.
3. Interview with Jon Scragg, Jazz FM 102.2 (London), 22 October, 2004.
4. "N'Dea Davenport Interview". SoulTalk.

• English musical groups
• Music from London
• Acid Jazz
• Delicious Vinyl artists