Eddy Grant

Edmond Montague Grant born 5 March 1948 is a GuyaneseBritish singer songwriter and multiinstrumentalist known for his genreblending sound his music has blended elements of pop British rock soul funk reggae electronic music African polyrhythms and Latin music genres such as samba among many others In addition to this he also helped to pioneer the genre of Ringbang He was a founding member of the Equals one of the United Kingdoms first raciallymixed pop groups who are best remembered for their millionselling UK charttopper the Grantpenned Baby Come Back His subsequent solo career included the 1982 song I Dont Wanna Dance plus the platinum 1983 single Electric Avenue which is his biggest international hit He earned a Grammy Award nomination for the song He is also well known for the antiapartheid 1988 song Gimme Hope Joanna Grant was born in Plaisance British Guiana now Guyana later moving to Linden His father Patrick was a trumpeter who played in Nello and the Luckies While he was at school his parents lived and worked in the United Kingdom sending back money for his education In 1960 he emigrated to join his parents in London He lived in Kentish Town and went to school at the Acland Burghley Secondary Modern at Tufnell Park where he learned to read and write music He became a big fan of Chuck Berry and after seeing him play at the Finsbury Park Astoria decided on a career in music In 1965 Grant formed the Equals playing guitar and singing background vocals and the band had two hit albums and a minor hit with the single I Get So Excited before having a number one hit in 1968 with his song Baby Come Back The tune also topped the UK Singles Chart in 1994 when covered by Pato Banton featuring Robin and Ali Campbell of the reggae group UB40 The Equals had five further top 40 hits in the UK up to the end of 1970 The Baby Come Back album featured a song by Grant titled Police on My Back which was recorded by the Clash for their 1980 album Sandinista Willie Nile released his version of Police on My Back on his Streets of New York CD The Equals song Green Light cowritten by Grant from their 1968 album Supreme was recorded by the Detroit Cobras for their 2007 album Tied True In this period he also worked as a songwriter and producer for other artists including the Pyramids producing their debut single Train Tour to Rainbow City and Prince Buster for whom he wrote Rough Rider and started the Torpedo record label releasing Britishmade reggae singles On 1 January 1971 Grant suffered a heart attack and collapsed lung leading to his departure from the Equals to concentrate on production opening his own Coach House Studios in the grounds of his Stamford Hill home in 1972 and starting Ice Records in 1974 initially distributed by Pye Records and later by Virgin Records He produced the Pioneers 1976 album Feel the Rhythm as well as early recordings by his younger brother Rudy working under the name the Mexicano During this time he also branched out of music learning to tap dance and subsequently trying his hand at acting at the behest of fellow Guyanese immigrant actor Norman Beaton Source Article Eddy Grant from Wikipedia in English licensed under CCBYSA 30