Brand New Heavies
Encyclopedia
The Brand New Heavies are an acid jazz
Acid jazz
Acid jazz is a musical genre that combines elements of jazz, funk and hip-hop, particularly looped beats. It developed in the UK over the 1980s and 1990s and could be seen as tacking the sound of jazz-funk onto electronic dance: jazz-funk musicians such as Roy Ayers, Donald Byrd and Grant Green are...

 and funk
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...

 group formed in 1985 in Ealing
Ealing
Ealing is a suburban area of west London, England and the administrative centre of the London Borough of Ealing. It is located west of Charing Cross and around from the City of London. It is one of the major metropolitan centres identified in the London Plan. It was historically a rural village...

, a suburb
Suburb
The word suburb mostly refers to a residential area, either existing as part of a city or as a separate residential community within commuting distance of a city . Some suburbs have a degree of administrative autonomy, and most have lower population density than inner city neighborhoods...

 of London, England.

Biography

The Brand New Heavies began in the 1980s as an instrumental acid jazz
Acid jazz
Acid jazz is a musical genre that combines elements of jazz, funk and hip-hop, particularly looped beats. It developed in the UK over the 1980s and 1990s and could be seen as tacking the sound of jazz-funk onto electronic dance: jazz-funk musicians such as Roy Ayers, Donald Byrd and Grant Green are...

 group called Brother International.

The group came up with the Heavies name after signing their first record contract, borrowing from a liner note on a James Brown single declaring the artist "Minister of New Super Heavy Funk". As The Brand New Heavies they gained a cult following in the London club scene and soon signed to Cooltempo as acid jazz replaced rare groove in clubs. The band issued a debut recording for Eddie Piller
Eddie Piller
Eddie Piller is an English DJ and record label entrepreneur.Starting his career in the 1980s as a part of the English mod revival, Piller launched the underground fanzine Extraordinary Sensations and operated as a DJ and concert promoter. In 1985, he started the Countdown Records label, through...

's Acid Jazz
Acid jazz
Acid jazz is a musical genre that combines elements of jazz, funk and hip-hop, particularly looped beats. It developed in the UK over the 1980s and 1990s and could be seen as tacking the sound of jazz-funk onto electronic dance: jazz-funk musicians such as Roy Ayers, Donald Byrd and Grant Green are...

 label in 1990 with Jay Ella Ruth as lead singer.

A single, "Got to Give", came out on Cooltempo before the Brand New Heavies signed to Acid Jazz Records
Acid Jazz Records
Acid Jazz is a record label based in east London. It takes its name from acid jazz, a genre of jazz music. Alternative version states that the genre itself was named after the record label...

 and released Brand New Heavies
Brand New Heavies (album)
Brand New Heavies is the eponymous debut album by British acid jazz and funk group the Brand New Heavies. It was released in 1990 and featured virtually no vocals.-Track listing:Standard Version#"BNH" - #"Gimme One of Those" -...

to critical acclaim. The band signed to a division of Chrysalis Records
Chrysalis Records
Chrysalis Records was a British record label that was created in 1969. The name was both a reference to the pupal stage of a butterfly and a combination of its founders names, Chris Wright and Terry Ellis...

 in the UK, and American distribution was picked up by influential label Delicious Vinyl
Delicious Vinyl
Delicious Vinyl is an American independent record label founded by Matt Dike and Michael Ross in 1987 and based in Los Angeles. Throughout its history, the label has had distribution deals with [Island Records/[PolyGram]], Warner Music Group, EMI, Red Ant, Rhino and Universal Music Group.-Early...

, and N'Dea Davenport
N'Dea Davenport
N'Dea Davenport is an American recording artist, dancer, performer and producer, best known for her work as a vocalist in the UK funk band, The Brand New Heavies, and her pioneering contributions to the genre of acid jazz.-Biography:...

 (who had signed an artist development deal
Artist development deal
An artist development deal is often the first of a recording artist's contracts with a major record label. In lieu of high royalties or other desirable rights, the label will promise to develop the skills and public profile of the artist...

 with Delicious Vinyl
Delicious Vinyl
Delicious Vinyl is an American independent record label founded by Matt Dike and Michael Ross in 1987 and based in Los Angeles. Throughout its history, the label has had distribution deals with [Island Records/[PolyGram]], Warner Music Group, EMI, Red Ant, Rhino and Universal Music Group.-Early...

) joined the group. A revamped version of the first album with vocals by N'Dea Davenport was then released, and the singles "Dream Come True", "Never Stop" and "Stay This Way", all with Davenport on lead vocals, became hits on both sides of the Atlantic
Atlantic Ocean
The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's oceanic divisions. With a total area of about , it covers approximately 20% of the Earth's surface and about 26% of its water surface area...

, with the latter becoming a music video directed by Douglas Gayeton that saw heavy rotation on MTV.

The group's appearance with MC Serch
MC Serch
MC Serch is a Jewish-American hip hop MC and former member of 3rd Bass.-Biography:Serch grew up in Far Rockaway, Queens, attending Far Rockaway High School, and graduated from Music & Art High School...

 (formerly of 3rd Bass
3rd Bass
3rd Bass was an American hip-hop group that rose to fame in the late 1980s and early 1990s, and was notable for being one of the first successful interracial hip-hop groups.-Career:...

) and Q-Tip
Q-Tip (rapper)
Kamaal Ibn John Fareed , better known by his stage name Q-Tip, is an American hip hop artist, producer, singer, and actor from St. Albans, Queens, New York, part of the critically acclaimed group A Tribe Called Quest...

 (of A Tribe Called Quest
A Tribe Called Quest
A Tribe Called Quest is an American hip hop group, formed in 1985, and is composed of rapper/producer Q-Tip , rapper Phife Dawg , and DJ/producer Ali Shaheed Muhammad. A fourth member, rapper Jarobi White, left the group after their first album but rejoined in 2006...

) at a performance in New York City, inspired the group to incorporate elements of hip hop music
Hip hop music
Hip hop music, also called hip-hop, rap music or hip-hop music, is a musical genre consisting of a stylized rhythmic music that commonly accompanies rapping, a rhythmic and rhyming speech that is chanted...

. Their next album was the critically acclaimed Heavy Rhyme Experience, Vol. 1
Heavy Rhyme Experience, Vol. 1
Heavy Rhyme Experience, Vol. 1 was a studio album by Brand New Heavies. It included collaborations with Guru of Gang Starr, Grand Puba, Main Source and The Pharcyde, among others, but lacked any female vocals...

, which included collaborations with Guru
Guru (rapper)
Keith Edward Elam , better known by his stage name Guru, was an American emcee and member of the hip-hop duo Gang Starr, along with DJ Premier. He was born in Roxbury, Massachusetts...

 of Gang Starr
Gang Starr
Gang Starr was an influential East Coast hip hop duo that consisted of the late MC Guru and DJ/producer DJ Premier. Their style combined elements of New York jazz and hip hop.-Background:...

 and The Pharcyde
The Pharcyde
The Pharcyde are an alternative hip hop group based in South Central Los Angeles. The original four members of the group are Imani , Slimkid3 , Bootie Brown and Fatlip . DJ Mark Luv was the group's first DJ, followed by producer J-Swift and then J Dilla...

, among others, but lacked any female vocals.

While under management by Colin Lester
Colin Lester
Colin Lester is a British artist manager of R&B, Pop and Rock Music acts. He was born on 26 May 1960 in Hampstead, London, England.Lester has managed the careers for numerous commercially successful British and international artists...

's and Ian McAndrew's Wildlife Entertainment, The Brand New Heavies released Brother Sister
Brother Sister
Brother Sister is an album by Brand New Heavies was the last album for a while with N'Dea Davenport, who had left to complete her solo album . The album spawned more singles, including "Spend Some Time" which spent two weeks at number two on the American dance charts...

(1994) which was the last album for a while with N'Dea Davenport, who had left to complete her solo album (which she had put on hold to join the Heavies). The album spawned more singles, though one of them, a cover of Maria Muldaur
Maria Muldaur
Maria Muldaur is a folk-blues singer who was part of the American folk music revival in the early 1960s...

's "Midnight at the Oasis
Midnight at the Oasis
A version of this song was recorded by the group Brand New Heavies, attributed to "Brand New Heavies featuring N'Dea Davenport". This version reached #13 in the UK in 1994 and was their biggest hit up until the departure of Davenport, when Sometimes made #11....

", was popular only in the UK because it was not included in the US version of the album.

Siedah Garrett
Siedah Garrett
Siedah Garrett is an American songwriter and singer.-Biography:She appeared as a contestant on Password Plus in 1980.She performed "One Man Woman" on Quincy Jones' Grammy-Award winning "Back on the Block."...

 joined the group for their next album, Shelter (1997). It contained the minor hit, the Carole King
Carole King
Carole King is an American singer, songwriter, and pianist. King and her former husband Gerry Goffin wrote more than two dozen chart hits for numerous artists during the 1960s, many of which have become standards. As a singer, King had an album, Tapestry, top the U.S...

-penned song "You've Got a Friend" that was originally made famous by James Taylor
James Taylor
James Vernon Taylor is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist. A five-time Grammy Award winner, Taylor was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2000....

. Again, though, this song did not appear on the US version of the album. The album also contained the hit "Sometimes". The remix of "Sometimes" included the rap vocals of Q-Tip.

The Brand New Heavies then released their greatest hits album, Trunk Funk - The Best of The Brand New Heavies
Trunk Funk - The Best of The Brand New Heavies
Following her departure from Virgin, Carleen Anderson briefly filled in as lead vocalist for the Brand New Heavies following the departure of their previous lead singers N'Dea Davenport and Siedah Garrett...

(2000) with Carleen Anderson
Carleen Anderson
Carleen Anderson is an American soul singer, who has had success in the United Kingdom. She is the daughter of the singer Vicki Anderson and stepdaughter of Bobby Byrd, and is most well known as the lead singer in the Young Disciples as well as for her own solo career.-Early career:Anderson was...

 on vocals for some newly recorded songs, followed by the Japan only album We Won't Stop (2003) featuring a variety of vocalists and Allaboutthefunk
Allaboutthefunk
After The Brand New Heavies then released their greatest hits album, Trunk Funk - The Best of The Brand New Heavies with Carleen Anderson on vocals for some newly recorded songs, followed by the Japan only album We Won't Stop featuring a variety of vocalists...

(2004) featuring British singer Nicole Russo on vocals.

In April 2006, the Brand New Heavies reunited with N'Dea Davenport and former label Delicious Vinyl. A new album, Get Used to It was released on 27 June 2006 via Starbucks
Starbucks
Starbucks Corporation is an international coffee and coffeehouse chain based in Seattle, Washington. Starbucks is the largest coffeehouse company in the world, with 17,009 stores in 55 countries, including over 11,000 in the United States, over 1,000 in Canada, over 700 in the United Kingdom, and...

 and more traditional music retail outlets. The album was recorded in New York
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

 and London; and the lead single "I Don't Know Why (I Love You)" was issued in early May. The single was notable for being one of very few late releases to feature the trademarked A Tom Moulton Mix
Tom Moulton
Tom Moulton is an American record producer, and originator of the remix, the breakdown section, and the 12-inch single vinyl format.-Life and career:Thomas Jerome Moulton was born in Schenectady, New York, United States....

, as he had been asked to contribute remix
Remix
A remix is an alternative version of a recorded song, made from an original version. This term is also used for any alterations of media other than song ....

es. Later that year, their song "Jump 'N' Move" was featured on the soundtrack for the 2006 computer animated feature film
Feature film
In the film industry, a feature film is a film production made for initial distribution in theaters and being the main attraction of the screening, rather than a short film screened before it; a full length movie...

, Happy Feet
Happy Feet
Happy Feet is a 2006 American-Australian computer-animated family film with music, directed and co-written by George Miller. It was produced at Sydney-based visual effects and animation studio Animal Logic for Warner Bros., Village Roadshow Pictures and Kingdom Feature Productions and was released...

, and the in-game soundtrack for 2004's NBA Live 2005
NBA Live 2005
NBA Live 2005 is the 2004 installment of the NBA Live video games series. The cover features Carmelo Anthony of the Denver Nuggets. The game was developed by EA Sports and released on September 28, 2004. The game was released on the Playstation 2, the Xbox, the Gamecube, and PC.-Features:*EA Sports...

and 2009's NBA 2k10. The band toured at the end of 2006.

The Brand New Heavies released a live album in October 2009 - Live In London - and announced plans to record two new studio albums in 2010-2011. The first likely to be released is "Heavy Rhyme Experience Vol. 2", which would be a follow-up to 1992's "Heavy Rhyme Experience Vol. 1". Dizzee Rascal and Roots Manuva are rumoured to be contributing to this project. The second new studio album is to be the true follow-up to 2006's "Get Used To It", with N'dea Davenport once again on vocals. No release date for either album has been mentioned by the band or its record label as of late 2011.

Members

Band Member Instrument Dates
Jan Kincaid
(born 17 May 1966 in Ealing)
drums, keyboards 1985—
Simon Bartholomew
(born 16 October 1965 in Ealing)
guitar, vocals 1985—
Andrew Levy 
(born 20 July 1966 in Ealing)
bass, keyboards, writer, producer 1985—
Lascelles Gordon percussion, guitar debut album (1991)
Jim Wellman tenor sax, soprano sax, keyboards debut album (1991)
N'Dea Davenport
N'Dea Davenport
N'Dea Davenport is an American recording artist, dancer, performer and producer, best known for her work as a vocalist in the UK funk band, The Brand New Heavies, and her pioneering contributions to the genre of acid jazz.-Biography:...

 
(born 6 May 1966 in Atlanta, Georgia, USA)
vocals 1990–1995, 2005—
Ceri Evans keyboards 1985–1992
Jay Ella Ruth vocals 1990
Siedah Garrett
Siedah Garrett
Siedah Garrett is an American songwriter and singer.-Biography:She appeared as a contestant on Password Plus in 1980.She performed "One Man Woman" on Quincy Jones' Grammy-Award winning "Back on the Block."...

 
(born 24 June 1960 in Los Angeles, California, USA)
vocals 1997
Carleen Anderson
Carleen Anderson
Carleen Anderson is an American soul singer, who has had success in the United Kingdom. She is the daughter of the singer Vicki Anderson and stepdaughter of Bobby Byrd, and is most well known as the lead singer in the Young Disciples as well as for her own solo career.-Early career:Anderson was...

vocals 2000
Nicole Russo vocals 2004
Sy Smith
Sy Smith
Sy Olivia Smith is an American Emmy nominated singer-songwriter. Born in New York, New York, Smith rose to fame in the late 1990s when she signed a recording contract with Hollywood Records. Smith released her first studio album Psykosoul in 2000, which spawned the singles "Gladly" and "Good N...

vocals 2003
Max Beesley
Max Beesley
Maxton Gig Beesley Jr. , known simply as Max Beesley, is an English actor and musician.Beesley rose to fame for his role of Andy Simpson in Every Woman, Every Man from 1993 to 1998, and has since appeared in a variety of television shows including Bodies, Hotel Babylon, London Ink, Survivors and...

 
(born 15 January 1971)
live percussion, live keyboards

Studio albums

  • 1990: The Brand New Heavies
    Brand New Heavies (album)
    Brand New Heavies is the eponymous debut album by British acid jazz and funk group the Brand New Heavies. It was released in 1990 and featured virtually no vocals.-Track listing:Standard Version#"BNH" - #"Gimme One of Those" -...

  • 1991: The Brand New Heavies (featuring N'Dea Davenport
    N'Dea Davenport
    N'Dea Davenport is an American recording artist, dancer, performer and producer, best known for her work as a vocalist in the UK funk band, The Brand New Heavies, and her pioneering contributions to the genre of acid jazz.-Biography:...

    )
  • 1992: Heavy Rhyme Experience, Vol. 1
    Heavy Rhyme Experience, Vol. 1
    Heavy Rhyme Experience, Vol. 1 was a studio album by Brand New Heavies. It included collaborations with Guru of Gang Starr, Grand Puba, Main Source and The Pharcyde, among others, but lacked any female vocals...

    (featuring vocals by various hip hop groups and rappers)
  • 1994: Brother Sister
    Brother Sister
    Brother Sister is an album by Brand New Heavies was the last album for a while with N'Dea Davenport, who had left to complete her solo album . The album spawned more singles, including "Spend Some Time" which spent two weeks at number two on the American dance charts...

    (featuring N'Dea Davenport
    N'Dea Davenport
    N'Dea Davenport is an American recording artist, dancer, performer and producer, best known for her work as a vocalist in the UK funk band, The Brand New Heavies, and her pioneering contributions to the genre of acid jazz.-Biography:...

    )
  • 1997: Shelter (featuring Siedah Garrett
    Siedah Garrett
    Siedah Garrett is an American songwriter and singer.-Biography:She appeared as a contestant on Password Plus in 1980.She performed "One Man Woman" on Quincy Jones' Grammy-Award winning "Back on the Block."...

    )
  • 2003: We Won't Stop (Japan only release; featuring vocals by Sy Smith
    Sy Smith
    Sy Olivia Smith is an American Emmy nominated singer-songwriter. Born in New York, New York, Smith rose to fame in the late 1990s when she signed a recording contract with Hollywood Records. Smith released her first studio album Psykosoul in 2000, which spawned the singles "Gladly" and "Good N...

    )
  • 2004: Allaboutthefunk
    Allaboutthefunk
    After The Brand New Heavies then released their greatest hits album, Trunk Funk - The Best of The Brand New Heavies with Carleen Anderson on vocals for some newly recorded songs, followed by the Japan only album We Won't Stop featuring a variety of vocalists...

    (featuring Nicole Russo)
  • 2006: Get Used to It
    Get Used to It (Brand New Heavies album)
    Get Used to It is an album by the Brand New Heavies, released on 27 June 2006, via Starbucks and more traditional music retail outlets. Following the band's reunion with N'Dea Davenport and former label Delicious Vinyl in April 2006, the album was recorded in New York and London, and the lead...

    (featuring N'Dea Davenport
    N'Dea Davenport
    N'Dea Davenport is an American recording artist, dancer, performer and producer, best known for her work as a vocalist in the UK funk band, The Brand New Heavies, and her pioneering contributions to the genre of acid jazz.-Biography:...

    )
  • 2012: Heavy Rhyme Experience Vol. 2 (featuring vocals by various hip hop groups and rappers)
  • 2012: TBA (featuring N'Dea Davenport
    N'Dea Davenport
    N'Dea Davenport is an American recording artist, dancer, performer and producer, best known for her work as a vocalist in the UK funk band, The Brand New Heavies, and her pioneering contributions to the genre of acid jazz.-Biography:...

    )

Live, remix collections, compilations and soundtracks

  • 1995: Original Flava
  • 1995: Excursions, Remixes & Rare Grooves
  • 1996: Excursions, Remixes, Rare Grooves And More
  • 1998: Sliding Doors (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) ("More Love" - 4:45)
  • 1999: Trunk Funk - The Best of The Brand New Heavies (featuring Carleen Anderson
    Carleen Anderson
    Carleen Anderson is an American soul singer, who has had success in the United Kingdom. She is the daughter of the singer Vicki Anderson and stepdaughter of Bobby Byrd, and is most well known as the lead singer in the Young Disciples as well as for her own solo career.-Early career:Anderson was...

    )
  • 2002: Acid Jazz Years
  • 2006: The Brand New Heavies: Platinum Collection
  • 2007: Elephantitis - The Funk + House Remixes
  • 2008: Get Used to It - The Tom Moulton Mixes (featuring N'Dea Davenport)
  • 2009: Greatest Hits Live in London
    Greatest Hits Live in London
    The Brand New Heavies released a live album in October 2009 - Greatest Hits Live In London - and shortly after announced that 2010 would bring two new studio albums.-Track listing:CD 1#"Intro"#"People Get Ready"#"BNH"...

    (featuring N'Dea Davenport)

Singles

  • 1988: "Got to Give"
  • 1990: "Dream Come True (Brand New Mix)" (Acid Jazz; different version from the single two years later)
  • 1991: "Never Stop
    Never Stop (Brand New Heavies song)
    A revamped version of the first album with vocals by N'Dea Davenport was then released, and the singles "Never Stop" was released including "Dream Come True" & "Stay This Way", all with Davenport on lead vocals, became hits on both sides of the Atlantic, with the latter becoming a music video...

    " (UK
    UK Singles Chart
    The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...

     #43)
  • 1991: "Stay This Way" (UK #24)
  • 1992: "Dream Come True '92" (UK #24)
  • 1992: "Ultimate Trunk Funk EP" (UK #19) (Never Stop/ Stay This Way/Mr. Tanaka/Don't Let It Go...)
  • 1992: "Don't Let It Go to Your Head" (UK #24)
  • 1992: "Stay This Way" (UK #40)
  • 1992: "Bonafied Funk/Death Threat"
  • 1994: "Dream on Dreamer
    Dream on Dreamer
    "Dream on Dreamer" is a 1994 single by acid jazz group the Brand New Heavies, from their third original studio album Brother Sister.-Track listing:UK CD maxi single#"Dream On Dreamer" – 3:36...

    " (UK #15)
  • 1994: "Back to Love" (UK #23)
  • 1994: "Midnight at the Oasis
    Midnight at the Oasis
    A version of this song was recorded by the group Brand New Heavies, attributed to "Brand New Heavies featuring N'Dea Davenport". This version reached #13 in the UK in 1994 and was their biggest hit up until the departure of Davenport, when Sometimes made #11....

    " (UK #13)
  • 1994: "Spend Some Time" (UK #26)
  • 1994: "Brother Sister"
  • 1995: "Close to You" (UK #38)
  • 1995: "Mind Trips"
  • 1996: "World Keeps Spinning" (From The Truth About Cats & Dogs
    The Truth About Cats & Dogs
    The Truth About Cats & Dogs is a 1996 American romantic comedy film, starring Janeane Garofalo, Uma Thurman, Ben Chaplin, and Jamie Foxx. It was directed by Michael Lehmann and written by Audrey Wells...

    soundtrack)
  • 1997: "Sometimes" (UK #11)
  • 1997: "You Are the Universe
    You Are the Universe
    "You Are the Universe" is a song by Brand New Heavies, released in 1997.The composition was issued as the third single taken from Shelter, which remains the Brand New Heavies only album recorded with Siedah Garrett, who afterwards left the group to concentrate on her own songwriting...

    " (UK #21)
  • 1997: "You've Got a Friend
    You've Got a Friend
    "You've Got a Friend" is a song from 1971, originally written and performed by Carole King. It was included in her album Tapestry of 1971, but was made famous by James Taylor's cover version the same year...

    " (UK #9)
  • 1997: "Shelter" (UK #31)
  • 1997: "Top 5 Heavy Hits"
  • 1997: "You Can Do It"
  • 1999: "Saturday Nite" (UK #35)
  • 1999: "Apparently Nothing" (UK #32)
  • 2000: "Worst Case Scenario/Saturday Nite (Jay Dee Remix)" (Split EP with Fat Lip
    Fat Lip
    "Fat Lip" is the title of a song recorded by Canadian punk rock band Sum 41. It was released in April 2001 as the lead single from their debut album All Killer No Filler. It is the band's most successful single to date, topping the Billboard Modern Rock Tracks chart...

  • 2003: "What Do You Take Me For" (Flower Records)
  • 2004: "Boogie" (OneTwo Records/Edel Records, UK #66)
  • 2005: "Can We/Sometimes (Bullseye Remixes)" (Split EP with SWV
    SWV
    Sisters with Voices, better known as SWV, is an American female R&B trio from New York. Formed in 1990 as a gospel group, SWV became one of the most successful R&B groups of the 1990s. They had a series of hits, including "Weak", "Right Here/Human Nature", "I'm So Into You", and "You're the One"....

    )
  • 2005: "Surrender" (OneTwo Records)
  • 2006: "Get Used to It"
  • 2006: "I Don't Know Why (I Love You)"
  • 2009: "C'est Magnifique"


External links

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