Eddy Grant back on tour
Colin Wilson Hugely-influential reggae artist Eddy Grant brings his Reparation tour the Waterfront, Norwich, on Thursday, July 3 (7.30pm), his first UK dates in more than 20 years.
Colin Wilson
Hugely-influential reggae artist Eddy Grant brings his Reparation tour the Waterfront, Norwich, on Thursday, July 3 (7.30pm), his first UK dates in more than 20 years.
Born in Guyana but emigrating with his parents to London as a boy, Eddy Grant has had a huge impact on British music and culture.
This tour (with a full band) will allow fans to reconnect with this celebrated multi-million selling talent.
Eddy Grant hit number one in the UK with Baby Come Back with the Equals in 1966. The multi-racial group had plenty more hits, but after a serious illness Grant left the band, returned to Guyana to recuperate and launched his successful solo career.
Best known for his huge hits I Don't Wanna Dance, which hit the UK number one spot in 1982 and the seminal Electric Avenue, Eddy's songwriting was often as politically-charged as it was commercially flavoured. The Clash featured a cover of Police On My Back for their Sandinista triple-set, and Gimme Hope Jo'hanna, which gave Eddy Grant a hit in 1988, was a very thinly veiled attack on the apartheid regime in South Africa.
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As his solo career took off, Eddy moved to Barbados and set up the Blue Wave studio. He continued to release tracks by classic calypso and soca artists on his label Ice Records, as well as Ringbang, a genre of Caribbean music he created.
To coincide with the tour UMTV are releasing The Very Best of Eddy Grant on Monday.
t (£22.50adv) UEA Students' Union, Waterfront and Soundclash, www.ueaticketbookings.co.uk, 01603 508050
t Eddy also plays Junction 1, Cambridge, on Wednesday (7pm, 01223 511511, £22.50adv)
