Brit funk
Encyclopedia
Brit funk is a musical style that has its origins in the British music scene of the late 1970s-80s. It mixes elements from funk
and soul music
with original jazz-funk
and Caribbean overtones.
An important stylistic element of Brit funk is the dominant role of the bass
and rhythm
guitars. With a hard funky rhythm, a cross between James Brown
and Earth, Wind & Fire
, the Brit funk trend reached its peak in the mid-1980s.
. The pioneers of Brit funk were Hi Tension
, a band from northwest London, which started as Hot Waxx in the early 1970s
. The Real Thing
, Heatwave
and Gonzalez
were also pioneers from the late '70s, adding their own slant to the American melodic funk and R'n'B sounds of the post-disco era. However, the first time the term was use was in reference to bands such as Light of the World, who were obviously influenced by the funk scene from the USA, but were happy to acknowledge their UK roots without the need to adopt American accents on stage.
Groups such as Light of the World were among the first after Hi Tension to have major hit records in UK and international charts. After their split, the most notable part was Incognito
, who released one of the definitive Brit-funk era albums called 'Jazz-Funk' plus a couple of notable singles such as 'North London Boy'. They reformed 8 years later on Gilles Peterson
's Talkin' Loud label in 1990. The duo Linx should also get a mention as being one of the quality acts following their eponymously-titled sparkling debut album from 1981 which included 'You're Lying' and 'Intuition'.
One of the most influential and commercially successful bands was Level 42
. Mark King
, their lead singer and bass player, took up the slap and pop style created by artists like Larry Graham
and Stanley Clarke
and developed his own sound. The band's self-titled album and tracks like 'Turn it on' and 'Love Games' were unique and spurred US interest in remixing their tracks for club use. They produced three albums that were associated with the movement: 'Level 42', 'The Early Tapes' (released a few years later following their rising success), and 'The Pursuit of Accidents'. A visual example of this period is 'Rockpalast', recently released on DVD and representative of a band at its peak.
Record companies and music press of the time wanted to change the face of Brit funk, so the Soul Boy
movement started with bands such as Haircut One Hundred sounding very Brit funkish and Wham!
as a way to commercialize the music. The sound had out-stayed its welcome by 1985 with the rise of the stripped-down 'house' music sound, and so Brit funk died out along with related forms of Soul, Funk, and Boogie, although the best music remains classic today.
Funk
Funk is a music genre that originated in the mid-late 1960s when African American musicians blended soul music, jazz and R&B into a rhythmic, danceable new form of music. Funk de-emphasizes melody and harmony and brings a strong rhythmic groove of electric bass and drums to the foreground...
and soul music
Soul music
Soul music is a music genre originating in the United States combining elements of gospel music and rhythm and blues. According to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, soul is "music that arose out of the black experience in America through the transmutation of gospel and rhythm & blues into a form of...
with original jazz-funk
Jazz-funk
Jazz-funk is a sub-genre of jazz music characterized by a strong back beat , electrified sounds, and often, the presence of the first electronic analog synthesizers...
and Caribbean overtones.
An important stylistic element of Brit funk is the dominant role of the bass
Bass guitar
The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
and rhythm
Rhythm guitar
Rhythm guitar is a technique and rôle that performs a combination of two functions: to provide all or part of the rhythmic pulse in conjunction with singers or other instruments; and to provide all or part of the harmony, ie. the chords, where a chord is a group of notes played together...
guitars. With a hard funky rhythm, a cross between James Brown
James Brown
James Joseph Brown was an American singer, songwriter, musician, and recording artist. He is the originator of Funk and is recognized as a major figure in the 20th century popular music for both his vocals and dancing. He has been referred to as "The Godfather of Soul," "Mr...
and Earth, Wind & Fire
Earth, Wind & Fire
Earth, Wind & Fire is an American soul and R&B band formed in Chicago, Illinois, in 1969 by Verdine and Maurice White. Also known as EWF, the band has won six Grammy Awards and four American Music Awards. They have been inducted into both the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the Vocal Group Hall of...
, the Brit funk trend reached its peak in the mid-1980s.
History
Brit funk has its roots in North and East LondonLondon
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
. The pioneers of Brit funk were Hi Tension
Hi Tension
Hi Tension were a North London based boy band, seen as pioneers of Brit funk and started as Hott Waxx in the early 1970s. They included Phil Fearon and Lloyd Phillips brother of guitarist Paul, before becoming Hi Tension and riding high on the Brit funk wave with the tracks, "Hi Tension" and...
, a band from northwest London, which started as Hot Waxx in the early 1970s
1970s
File:1970s decade montage.png|From left, clockwise: US President Richard Nixon doing the V for Victory sign after his resignation from office after the Watergate scandal in 1974; Refugees aboard a US naval boat after the Fall of Saigon, leading to the end of the Vietnam War in 1975; The 1973 oil...
. The Real Thing
The Real Thing (group)
-Albums:Studio albums* Real Thing - UK #34* 4 from 8 * Step Into Our World , retitled Can You Feel the Force - UK #73* ....Saints Or Sinners? Live albums* The Real Thing Live Compilation albums...
, Heatwave
Heatwave (band)
Heatwave was an international funk/disco musical band featuring Americans Johnnie Wilder, Jr. and Keith Wilder of Dayton, Ohio, Englishman Rod Temperton , Swiss Mario Mantese , Czechoslovak Ernest "Bilbo" Berger , Jamaican Eric Johns and Briton Roy Carter .They were known for their successful...
and Gonzalez
Gonzalez (band)
Gonzalez were a British R&B and funk band. They became well known as a backing band for touring R&B, funk and soul stars. Their eponymous album was released in 1974 and they recorded a total of six albums before disbanding in 1986,...
were also pioneers from the late '70s, adding their own slant to the American melodic funk and R'n'B sounds of the post-disco era. However, the first time the term was use was in reference to bands such as Light of the World, who were obviously influenced by the funk scene from the USA, but were happy to acknowledge their UK roots without the need to adopt American accents on stage.
Groups such as Light of the World were among the first after Hi Tension to have major hit records in UK and international charts. After their split, the most notable part was Incognito
Incognito (band)
Incognito is a British band, as well as one of the members of the United Kingdom's acid jazz movement. Their debut album, Jazz Funk, was released in 1981, with thirteen more albums following, the last of which, Transatlantic RPM, was released in 2010....
, who released one of the definitive Brit-funk era albums called 'Jazz-Funk' plus a couple of notable singles such as 'North London Boy'. They reformed 8 years later on Gilles Peterson
Gilles Peterson
Gilles Peterson , is a DJ, record collector and record label owner from London, UK. Through his labels Acid Jazz, Talkin' Loud, and latterly Brownswood Recordings, he has been associated with the careers of well-known artists of the 1990s such as Erykah Badu, Roni Size and Jamiroquai...
's Talkin' Loud label in 1990. The duo Linx should also get a mention as being one of the quality acts following their eponymously-titled sparkling debut album from 1981 which included 'You're Lying' and 'Intuition'.
One of the most influential and commercially successful bands was Level 42
Level 42
Level 42 are an English pop rock and jazz-funk band who had a number of worldwide and UK hits during the 1980s and 1990s.The band gained fame for their high-calibre musicianship—in particular that of Mark King, whose percussive slap-bass guitar technique provided the driving groove of many of the...
. Mark King
Mark King (musician)
Mark King is an English musician. He is most famous for being the lead singer and bassist of the band, Level 42. In the early 1980s King popularized the 1970s-era slap and pop style for playing the bass guitar by incorporating it into pop music.-Early life:King was brought up on the Isle of Wight,...
, their lead singer and bass player, took up the slap and pop style created by artists like Larry Graham
Larry Graham
Larry Graham, Jr. is an African American bass guitar player, both with the popular and influential psychedelic soul/funk band Sly & the Family Stone, and as the founder and frontman of Graham Central Station...
and Stanley Clarke
Stanley Clarke
Stanley Clarke is an American jazz musician and composer known for his innovative and influential work on double bass and electric bass guitar as well as for his numerous film and television scores...
and developed his own sound. The band's self-titled album and tracks like 'Turn it on' and 'Love Games' were unique and spurred US interest in remixing their tracks for club use. They produced three albums that were associated with the movement: 'Level 42', 'The Early Tapes' (released a few years later following their rising success), and 'The Pursuit of Accidents'. A visual example of this period is 'Rockpalast', recently released on DVD and representative of a band at its peak.
Record companies and music press of the time wanted to change the face of Brit funk, so the Soul Boy
Soul Boy
Soul Boy is a 2010 Kenyan drama film, written by Billy Kahora and directed by Hawa Essuman. It developed under the mentorship of German director and producer Tom Tykwer in Kibera, one of the largest slums in the African continent, in the middle of Nairobi, Kenya...
movement started with bands such as Haircut One Hundred sounding very Brit funkish and Wham!
WHAM!
Wham! were a short-lived British musical duo formed by George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley in the early 1980s. They were briefly known in the United States as Wham! UK due to a naming conflict with an American band....
as a way to commercialize the music. The sound had out-stayed its welcome by 1985 with the rise of the stripped-down 'house' music sound, and so Brit funk died out along with related forms of Soul, Funk, and Boogie, although the best music remains classic today.
Notable Bands
- AtmosfearAtmosfearAtmosfear were a British jazz funk band formed in 1979. They consisted of bassist, and keyboardist Lester J. Batchelor, drummer Ray Johnson, guitarist Andy Sojka, saxophonist Stewart Cawthorne, and producer Jerry Pike. A year later singer and guitarist Tony Antoniou joined the main line up...
- Beggar and CoBeggar and CoBeggar & Co are a group composed of core members Kenny Wellington, David Baptiste, Neville 'Breeze' McKrieth and other guest musicians, specialising in jazzfunk and dance music...
- Central LineCentral Line (band)Central Line were a British pop and jazz-funk group, based in London, England. They recorded three albums for Mercury Records in the 1980s, and had two hit singles in the United States, as well as one Top 40 success in their native country.-Career:...
- FreeezFreeezFreeez were a United Kingdom dance music group from London, known initially as one of the UK's main jazz-funk bands of the early 1980s. Initiated by John Rocca, Freeez consisted of various musicians, originally with Rocca and others such as Andy Stennet Freeez were a United Kingdom dance music...
- GonzalezGonzalez (band)Gonzalez were a British R&B and funk band. They became well known as a backing band for touring R&B, funk and soul stars. Their eponymous album was released in 1974 and they recorded a total of six albums before disbanding in 1986,...
- Haircut One Hundred
- HeatwaveHeatwave (band)Heatwave was an international funk/disco musical band featuring Americans Johnnie Wilder, Jr. and Keith Wilder of Dayton, Ohio, Englishman Rod Temperton , Swiss Mario Mantese , Czechoslovak Ernest "Bilbo" Berger , Jamaican Eric Johns and Briton Roy Carter .They were known for their successful...
- Hi TensionHi TensionHi Tension were a North London based boy band, seen as pioneers of Brit funk and started as Hott Waxx in the early 1970s. They included Phil Fearon and Lloyd Phillips brother of guitarist Paul, before becoming Hi Tension and riding high on the Brit funk wave with the tracks, "Hi Tension" and...
- ImaginationImagination (band)Imagination were a three piece British soul and funk band, who came to prominence in the early 1980s. They had chart hits in 28 countries, earning four platinum discs, nine gold discs and more than a dozen silver discs around the world between 1981 and 1983....
- IncognitoIncognito (band)Incognito is a British band, as well as one of the members of the United Kingdom's acid jazz movement. Their debut album, Jazz Funk, was released in 1981, with thirteen more albums following, the last of which, Transatlantic RPM, was released in 2010....
- KajagoogooKajagoogooKajagoogoo are a British pop band, best known for their hit single, "Too Shy", which reached No. 1 in the UK Singles Chart and No. 5 on the U.S...
- Level 42Level 42Level 42 are an English pop rock and jazz-funk band who had a number of worldwide and UK hits during the 1980s and 1990s.The band gained fame for their high-calibre musicianship—in particular that of Mark King, whose percussive slap-bass guitar technique provided the driving groove of many of the...
- Light of the World
- Loose EndsLoose Ends (band)Loose Ends was a successful British R&B band that had several urban contemporary hits. The trio was formed in London in 1980, initially comprising vocalist and guitarist Carl McIntosh, vocalist Jane Eugene, and keyboard player, writer and founder Steve Nichol...
- Morrisey Mullen
- Paul HardcastlePaul HardcastlePaul Hardcastle is an English composer and musician, specialising in the synthesizer.-Discography:In the early 1980s, Hardcastle played the keyboards on several singles on the Oval record label by the dance music groups Direct Drive and First Light, before going solo.He achieved some acclaim for...
- Paz
- Second Image
- ShakatakShakatakShakatak are an English jazz-funk band, founded in 1980.-Career:Shakatak scored a number of chart entries, including two Top Ten hits in the UK Singles Chart, "Night Birds" and "Down on the Street" plus a further 12 entries in the Guinness book of British Hit Singles...
- Spandau BalletSpandau BalletSpandau Ballet are a British band formed in London in the late 1970s. Initially inspired by, and an integral part of, the New Romantic fashion, their music has featured a mixture of funk, jazz, soul and synthpop. They were one of the most successful bands of the 1980s, achieving ten Top Ten singles...
- The Inversions
- The Real ThingThe Real Thing (group)-Albums:Studio albums* Real Thing - UK #34* 4 from 8 * Step Into Our World , retitled Can You Feel the Force - UK #73* ....Saints Or Sinners? Live albums* The Real Thing Live Compilation albums...
- UK Players
- Wham!WHAM!Wham! were a short-lived British musical duo formed by George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley in the early 1980s. They were briefly known in the United States as Wham! UK due to a naming conflict with an American band....