Song:Spend Some Time
Album:The Best Of 20 Years
The Brand New Heavies were pioneers in Acid Jazz which I guess would be called Neo Soul today. The Acid Jazz term came out of the 80s London club scene and DJs like Gilles Peterson. Jazz is an influence but the music is also influenced by 70s funk and R&B. When I first heard the term Acid Jazz, I thought it was a marketing gimmick. The Brand New Heavies popularized Acid Jazz in the early 90s in England but also the R&B and Dance charts. Spend Some Time topped the Dance charts in 1994. The Brand New Heavies were formed by guitarist Simon Bartholomew and bassist Andrew Levy in 1985 as Brothers International. At first they were an instrumental group and then they added singer Jay Ella Ruth. After they signed with Acid Jazz Records, they changed the name to Brand New Heavies based on a James Brown album liner notes. They signed with Chrysalis in England and Delicious Vinyl in the US. Delicious brought in singer N'Dea Davenport who is from Atlanta. She had worked with Guru among others. Delicious had the band re-record their album with N'Dea. They had success in England and on the R&B charts with singles like Never Stop and Stay This Way. N'Dea wasn't on their second album Heavy Rhyme Experience. Instead there were guest rappers and it didn't do as well. She returned for the 1994 album Brother Sister. As I said, Spend Some Time topped the dance charts. N'Dea wasn't getting along with the band. And she put off recording a solo album to work with them. So she left and for the 1997 album shelter, veteran session singer Siedah Garrett was brought in. The album did OK and they scored a British top ten with a cover of You've Got A Friend. They recorded with singer Carleen Anderson on the 2000 CD Trunk Funk. And Sy Smith was on the 2003 album We Won't Stop. After her solo career didn't work out, N'Dea returned for the 2006 album Get Used To It. The Brand New Heavies are still around. They last recorded in 2014 and they still tour in England. This 2CD comp covers their entire career. Here's the video for Spend Some Time by The Brand New Heavies.
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