The Brand New Heavies were formed in 1985, in Ealing, West London
The group featured (at various times):
Jan Kincaid
Simon Bartholomew
Andrew Levy
N'Dea Davenport
Dawn Joseph Mynott
Siedah Garrett (b. 24th June 1960, Los Angeles, California, U.S.A.)
Carleen Anderson (b. 10th May 1967, Houston, Texas, U.S.A.)
Nicole Russo
Sy Smith (b. 18th February 1978, New York City, New York, U.S.A.)
Jay Ella Ruth
and
Ceri Evans
The Brand New Heavies were formed in 1985 in Ealing in West London.
The group have been at the forefront of the Acid Jazz scene since the outset of the genre.
Prior to their Brand New Heavies incarnation, the group were an instrumental band called Brother International.
Signing to the Cooltempo imprint, initially, the group emerged at the same time the U.K.’s rare groove scene had taken hold.
At Cooltempo, the group released ‘Got To Give’ in 1988, before a label move to Eddie Piller's Acid Jazz label in 1990.
The BNH had recruited Jay Ella Ruth as their lead singer.
the brand new heavies - 1990 / the brand new heavies - 1992 / brother, sister - 1994 / shelter - 1997
In 1990, the group released ‘Brand New Heavies’, which featured ‘Dream Come True’ and ‘Stay This Way’.
Following this release, the Brand New Heavies signed to a division of London Records in the UK called FFRR.
The U.S. label Delicious Vinyl, handled the distribution on that side of the pond.
N'Dea Davenport also joined the group.
The first album (this time with vocals by N'Dea Davenport) was re-worked and re-released.
The songs ‘Dream Come True’, ‘Never Stop’ and ‘Stay This Way’ were all remixed, becoming successful in the U.K. and the U.S.
In 1992, ‘Heavy Rhyme Experience, Vol. 1’ was released.
The album featured elements of Hip-Hop, showcasing Guru of Gang Starr and The Pharcyde, amongst others.
In 1994, The Brand New Heavies released ‘Brother Sister’.
This was to be the last album which featured N'Dea Davenport.
‘Brother, Sister’ featured a cover version of Maria Muldaur's ‘Midnight at the Oasis’.
The track was a hit in the U.K., but not included on the U.S. version of the album.
Siedah Garrett recruited to the group’s ranks for 1997’s album ‘Shelter’.
The album contained a version of the Carole King evergreen, ‘You've Got a Friend’.
we won't stop - 2002 / allaboutthefunk - 2004 / get used to it - 2006 / live in london - 2008
In 2000, a greatest hits album was released, this time, with Carleen Anderson on vocals on some of the original songs.
In 2003, they released the album ‘We Won't Stop’ only in Japan.
A year later saw a U.K. release for the album ‘Allaboutthefunk’ featuring vocals, this time around, by Nicole Russo.
2006 saw the return to the fold of N'Dea Davenport, with the release of the album ‘Get Used To It’.
In 2011, The Brand New Heavies released a download instrumental album entitled ‘Dunk Your Trunk’.
dunk your funk - 2011 / forward - 2013
In 2013, the group released their eighth studio album called ‘Forward’.
The featured vocalists included N'Dea Davenport, Jan Kincaid, Simon Bartholomew and Dawn Joseph.
A new studio album is being prepared for release in early 2014.
http://www.thebrandnewheavies.net
Albums:
Brand New Heavies (Acid Jazz Records 1990)
Heavy Rhyme Experience: Vol. 1 (ffrr Records 1992)
Brother, Sister (ffrr Records 1994)
Original Flava (Acid Jazz Records 1995)
Excursions: Remixes & Rare Grooves (Delicious Vinyl Records 1996)
Shelter (London Records 1997)
We Won't Stop (Pony Canyon Records 2003)
Allaboutthefunk (Enterprise Records 2004)
Get Used To It (Delicious Vinyl Records 2006)
Live In London (Delicious Vinyl Records 2008)
Dunk Your Funk (Delicious Vinyl Records 2011)
Forward (Shanachie Records 2006)
