“They are back with a vengeance.” So said The Hollywood Reporter’s Craig Rosen in his glowing May 2006 review of The Brand New Heavies’ sizzling performance at the legendary Roxy Nightclub in Los Angeles, USA, their first US performance in nearly a decade.
The Heavies’ triumphant US return marked the re-emergence of one of the most innovative, influential, R&B and funk groups of the last 15-plus years. In the mid-1980s, after bonding over their love of American funk and soul music - notably James Brown and the Meters - Simon Bartholomew, Jan Kincaid and Andrew Levy formed The Brand New Heavies as an instrumental outfit. Based in West London, the band fitted perfectly into the rare groove and then acid jazz club scenes at the time, which also became associated with other notable long standing career artists such as Jamiroquai and Incognito.
In 1990, the Heavies found its voice with the addition of N’Dea Davenport, introduced to the band via their hot US label, Delicious Vinyl. In 1991, the group scored a US No. 3 R&B hit with “Never Stop,” a highlight from its self-titled debut album. In the UK the debut album was receiving rave reviews and spawned further hits in “Dream Come True” and “Don’t Let It Go To Your Head”.
Heavy Rhyme Experience: Vol. 1, the Heavies second album, featured the group pairing with such red-hot rappers as Grand Puba, Kool G. Rap and Gang Starr’s Guru, among others. The album solidified the group’s standing in both the rap and R&B worlds
Brother Sister, the third album released in 1994, continued the momentum with big crossover hits “Dream On Dreamer,” “Midnight At The Oasis” and “Back To Love.” A tremendous run of critical acclaim and four Top 20 hits -- “Never Stop,” “Stay This Way” (1991), “Dream on Dreamer” (1994) and “Sometimes” (1997) - established the Heavies as a creative and commercial force whose influence helped birth the neo soul movement, the acclaimed artistic explosion of the mid 1990s that included D’Angelo, Erykah Badu, Jill Scott and a host of others.
At the peak of their success in the mid 90’s N’Dea Davenport decided to leave pursue a solo career. The Heavies replaced N’Dea with a succession of talented vocalists but none could quite capture the magic that the band created with their original lead singer. Their fourth album, Shelter, was released in 1997, and spawned the hits “Sometimes” and “You are the Universe”, amongst others, and featured the vocal talents of Siedah Garrett.
Since leaving Warner Music in 2000, the band have continued to record, tour and promote, with consistent demand for them to perform live all over the world. In 2002 they released a Japan only new album We Won’t Stop, now a sought after fan rarity, and in 2004 returned to the UK after a prolonged absence with AllAbouTheFunk, featuring UK vocalist Nicole Russo, which was critically well received by the media, but didn’t repeat their earlier commercial success.
And after a decade apart the original Heavies – Jan, Andrew, Simon and N’Dea – got back back together, reforming in late 2005 after meeting in New York to discuss working together again.
A new album, Get Used To It, was recorded in New York and London and initially released in the US in summer 2006, via the band’s long standing relationship with Delicious Vinyl, with Starbucks as well as more traditional retail distribution. Preceded by the single “I Don’t Know Why I LoveYou”, the album was subsequently made available around the world via a variety of license and distribution deals and met with universal acclaim from media and fans alike.
The rest of 2006 went by in a blur with touring and promotion happening in USA, UK, Europe and Japan, including TV performances in the US on Conan O’Brien and Jimmy Kimmel, and in the UK on Charlotte Church, performing a killer version of White Stripes’ Seven Nation Army.
In February 2007 The Heavies completely sold out The Barbican in London as part of the BBC’s Soul Britannia TV series. In May the band headlined the prestigious 40th Anniversary of the infamous Southport Soul Weekender, and in June headlined the last night at the Capital Jazz Festival in Washington DC. They also performed across Europe throughout that summer. In August 2007 the band returned to the US for their third nationwide tour in a year – a co-headlining tour with Macy Gray, which proved to be a treat for fans of both acts.
In 2008 the band returned to the US to perform in LA before the 50th Grammys, which they attended, with a stellar turn out for a unique show which featured guest performances including Grammy nominated Vikter Duplaix and the legendary Caron Wheeler from Soul 11 Soul. Prince turned up and watched the whole show, his second visit to a Heavies concert in a decade!
The band also continue to have ongoing success with music synchronizations, more recently for US and UK box office no.1 smash movie Happy Feet, which features Jump N Move from the classic Brand New Heavies album The Heavy Rhyme Experience, which is now their most downloaded track in the US after it was featured in American Idol in the 2008 season. The band’s music also features in numerous TV series and movies including more recently Nip Tuck, the Shield, Private Practice and Chris Rock’s last movie “I Think I Love My Wife”. Which demonstrates the Heavies music is as relevant as its ever been.
In June 2008 The Heavies were chosen by French cosmetics brand Lancome to record a new version of a Cole Porter Classic, C’est Magnifique, for a TV advert that was being created for a brand new perfume launch called Magnifique, with the TV ad featuring Anne Hathaway, of Devil Wears Prada and Get Shorty fame. The campaign was massive and global, and ran in 65 markets from August 2008, giving the band an unprecedented level of exposure around the world.
With their live reputation growing, The Heavies did 50 live shows in the last six months of 2008, demonstrating their ability to work hard and the demand from fans to see them play live. They again worked at the European Summer Festivals, including a performance as part of the Formula One Grand Prix in Singapore, and the Capital Jazz cruise in Bermuda. In October 2008 they did their first UK and European tour for almost a decade, and the first since N’Dea rejoined the group. The band finished the year in December with its third tour of Japan in successive years – back due to popular demand.
At Indigo2 in London in October 2008 the band recorded their first ever live album, in front of a sell out crowd at their largest London show for a decade. This double CD was made available immediately after the sell out performance for purchase – another first for the band. Following rave reviews from fans, the band decided to make the live album commercially available, called Live in London, and, after creating a new mix, it is now being released globally in October 2009 in conjunction with EMI Records, who will distribute. A new website is also in development and will launch in September 2009, and become the hub for all the band’s activities.
After a couple of years of intense touring and promotion, The Heavies returned to the studio in London in March 2009, initially to mix and edit the live album, and then to start work on their next studio album, Heavy Rhyme Experience Volume 2, which is planned for release in 2010 and will feature a stellar list of rappers and guests. Throughout the summer the band have been playing live again, including The Essence Music Festival in New Orleans, America’s premier urban music Festival headlined by Beyonce, Maxwell and Maze, The Heavies being the only British group to feature at the 3 day event. The band also appeared at the Hague Jazz Festival in Holland and at a special arena event for MTV Thailand in Bangkok, demonstrating the geographical breadth of the band’s appeal.
In October and November 2009 the band will play more dates in the USA and the UK as part of the promotion for the live album, before returning to the studio to complete the new album.
