Eddy Grant
The words ‘musical legend’ get bandied about with surprising ease, but in Eddy Grant’s case, they couldn’t be more fitting. One of Britain’s best-loved reggae stars, the Guyanese native (his country has honoured him with not only a lifetime achievement award, but his own postage stamp!) kicked off his recording career in Sixties London with The Equals, one of the country’s first racially integrated pop groups, who had an unforgettable No.1 hit with BabyCome
Back. Eddy, now 73, followed that success with songs including IDon’t WannaDance, and his platinumselling Eighties album, ElectricAvenue. Here, the reflective star, who performed at Nelson Mandela’s 90th birthday celebrations, tells best about the music he continues to make, famous friends swinging by his studio and why, despite the storms, his philosophy on life will always be sunny…
Hi Eddy, has the past year been easier to deal with, living in sunny Barbados?
Well, recently we had ash blowing our way from the volcano which erupted on St Vincent! The sky was dark by 4pm and, even with your doors and windows closed, the ash would find a way in, cover your floor. Lockdown was OK – until the volcano started its nonsense. In general, Barbadians take events with grace. I live outside town, in the countryside. It’s not so bad for me. The truly terrible thing has been hearing of the death of friends.
You’ve lost friends in the pandemic…
Oh, Bunny Lee, the great Jamaican producer; Toots Hibbert of Toots and the Maytals, who I’d sung with some months before he went back to Jamaica and got Covid-19. Lots of acquaintances, some family… Can you imagine the trauma beyond this – when you can stop and think of the ones that you’ve lost? I just have to relax, take it as it comes – as I do most things in this life. This, too, shall pass.
You sound like a glasshalf-full person, Eddy…
Absolutely. My life has been no cake walk. I thank God for giving me life and keeping me alive. I just hope those friends who’ve died find some peace wherever they’ve gone to, because eventually we all go there, right?
You live with your wife, Ann. Have you seen more of her than usual?
Yes, I’ve been married to that wonderful woman for 53 years. As a musician not touring due to Covid-19,
I got a chance to at least see her and some of my children. I’ve got kids in London and in Barbados. Zoom is the norm for me now!
You’ve had your own studio for years. Didn’t the Rolling Stones record there at one point?
They did… Mick Jagger came first, and we recorded his 1987 album, Primitive Cool.
Then he brought the band to rehearse for their 1989 Steel Wheels tour. Sting was one of the first to come and use my studio for his first solo album, The Dream of the Blue Turtles.
Everything here is on that record – the good vibes, the photography, the sunshine.
Artists seem drawn to Barbados…
It’s a wonderful package. When I first came here, preRihanna, there was no big ‘star’ coming out of Barbados, so I was able to cast a musical image for the island on the world map. Music has been my constant through the past year, but it always has been.
Which musical greats would you have wanted to work with?
I wanted to produce three
people. Chuck Berry, James Brown, and The Mighty Sparrow – it is from him that I learned how to sing calypso. I could go on – Miles Davis, John Coltrane, these people I got to know, my mentors. That would be one amazing jam…
What’s the inspiration behind your re-released 2017 album, Plaisance?
The village where I was born. I decided the album would tell a little story of me at a certain age, in Guyana. It has a bit of the culture, as it was then. I’d like to think one day it will be made into a stage play, or something.
And the hit single, Is Carole King Here?
Guyana was a British colony then, so we heard a lot of British and American music on the radio. Carole King’s was played, a lot. I didn’t know who the hell she was, so the lyrics play around with that! Her coming and going into the life of a kid like me – not politicising the music, just… hearing and liking it.
The footprint of your childhood runs through the album. What was it like?
Plaisance was on the outskirts of Georgetown – six miles away. But growing up, those six miles might as well have been 600! You just did not go to town. One Christmas, I was taken ‘to town’ to see Father Christmas at a big store called Fogarty’s and it was a massive event! But in the village, we had these massive open spaces. Didn’t matter if your house was as big as a sixpenny piece ( ha, that dates me) – you could go outside.
You must have had some great adventures…
I’ll tell you one. Flooding’s possible there, so houses are on stilts, but mine wasn’t – and when I was little, it flooded. I was always trying to escape – and was at our little gate, jumping over. Somebody had left some wellington boots, so I got in them, and fell into the water! A distant relative was passing, saw this head and these wellies bobbing up now and again. He dashed across this two-feet wide bridge and pulled me out, just before I did the deep six. So yeah, if you like my music, you need to thank that guy!
To buy any of Eddy’s music, visit eddygrant.com