The Brand New Heavies

Originally called Brother International, they adopted the Brand New Heavies name from a James Brown liner note - which referred to him as Minister Of New Super Heavy Funk - and emerged from the London club scene in the mid-1980s to become cult heroes of the new dance movement. Originally an instrumental group, the Heavies became heroes of a modern jazz form - dubbed acid jazz - and were signed to the Cooltempo label, releasing the single Got To Give, before moving to Acid Jazz Records to release the successful 1990 album Brand New Heavies, with singer Jay Ella Ruth and scoring hit singles People Get Ready and Dream Come True. The addition of American singer N'Dea Davenport gave them a further lift as they became a major attraction in both Britain and America on the back of their 1994 album Brother Sister, including a hit cover of Maria Muldaur's Midnight At The Oasis. Siedah Garrett replaced Davenport for the 1997 album Shelter and she in turn was replaced by Carleen Anderson, Nicole Russo, and then Sy Smith with guest appearances by poet Gina Loring on the We Won't Stop album, on which they moved from 1970s funk into a more electronic style. Davenport returned to the ranks for the 2006 album Get Used To It, released via the Starbucks coffee chain, including the hit I Don't Know Why (I Love You). And the band returned to basic funk in 2011 with the download instrumental album, Dunk Your Trunk, and were back on form in 2013 with their eighth studio album, Forward, continuing to tour with Davenport sharing lead vocal duties with Dawn Joseph.

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