Meli’sa Morgan, The SOS Band & Glenn Jones in Europe

Three of the finest soul acts of the 80s are coming over to Europe for a few select dates. Singer Meli’sa Morgan, Glenn Jones, and The SOS Band play three dates in the UK. Meli’sa is also playing a set with Alyson Williams and High Fashion in Lyon in France on April 27th, as reported earlier on these pages. Meli’sa is also playing an additional date with Glenn Jones at Ijland in Amsterdam on May 8th.

One of two singers of the now classic High Fashion, Meli’sa Morgan sang lead on the legendary “Feelin’ Lucky Lately”, and also on “You’re The Winner ” (which she co-wrote) and more. She later recorded solo and a smash right away with her first album “Do Me Baby” in 1986 which features several highlights resonating up until today: “Do You Still Love Me”, “Fool’s Paradise” or “Now Or Never” among them. She followed it up a year later with “Good Love” with contributions from Kashif, Paul Laurence, Lesette Wilson, and Carl Sturken and Evan Rogers. She also recorded a brilliant version of Al Green’s “Still In Love With You” in 1992, co-produced by Masters At Work and released two more albums in 2005 and 2018.

We first came across the wonders of The SOS Band back in 1982, the same year as the first High Fashion album came out. “High Hopes” had me instantly hooked. The combination of one of the first compositions by Jam & Lewis, a brilliant soulful executive production by Leon Sylvers, and the warm vocals of Abdul Ra’oof were very hard to match. Mary Davis was the female singer and she of course is one of a kind. The track is off their third album and was a predecessor of the enormously successful and absolutely brilliant LPs “On The Rise” (1983) which features the all-time favorite “Tell Me If You Still Care” and the holy “Just Be Good To Me”, “Just The Way You Like It” (1984) which was produced completely by Jam & Lewis and has the wonderful “Weekend Girl” and “I Don’t Want Nobody Else” and of course “Sands Of Time” which includes the wonderful “The Finest”, one of Mary’s best works. They released their last proper album in 1991.

And then there’s Glenn Jones of course. “I Am Somebody” became something like a hymn when it came out back in 1983. It was from his first solo album “Everybody Loves A Winner”, a mini-album which also includes the sensational “Keep On Doin'”. Glenn was former lead singer of The Modulations before he went solo and his second album “Finesse” (1984), partly produced by Leon Sylvers, has some amazing soul tunes and Glenn’s inimitable vocals. I still come back to the title track and “You’re The Only One I Love” and “Show Me”, and more. Glenn continued to release consistently strong albums in the 80s and 90s and his last recorded output, “Forever: Timeless R&B Classics”, came out in 2006.

Make sure to attend one of those magical soul nights with three of the most important artists of the golden era of 80s soul.

05/10 Peterborough – New Theatre
05/11 Manchester – Band On The Wall
05/12 London – The O2