Light Of The World were originally a forerunner of the late 1970s/early 1980s British jazz-funk movement. The band's name is taken from the 1974 Kool and the Gang album, Light of Worlds. The band was formed by Breeze McKrieth, Kenny Wellington, Paul Williams, Jean Paul Maunick and David Baptiste.
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The band's original 1978 line up was:
These members also played with the band on their many performances in clubs throughout the UK before securing their first recording contract.
The following members joined the line-up in 1979, after the recording of the first album. The band were already signed to Ensign Records/Polygram, and this followed the death of Chris Etienne when the band were in involved in a motorway crash. After auditions, Nat Augustin and Ganiyu Bello, who had travelled from Manchester, joined the band. The band recorded a second album followed by a successful tour.
The band split up for the first time in 1981.
Wellington, Baptiste and McKreith became Beggar and Co,[2] and immediately hit the Top 20 in the UK Singles Chart with "(Somebody) Help Me Out".[3] This was followed by work on the Spandau Ballet track, "Chant No.1 ( Don't Need This Pressure On)", which reached #2 in the UK Singles Chart.[4] Maunick, Hinds and Williams formed Incognito. Bello and Augustin continued briefly as Light Of The World, before recording solo material for EMI and Polydor. Peter Hinds was also a member of Atmosfear.
There was a brief Light Of The World reunion in 1982, featuring the American drummer, William Billy Carson, just before Bello and Augustin embarked on their solo recordings.
In 1985, Wellington and McKrieth reformed the band after working on some remixes with DJ, John Morales. This included a remix of the tracks "London Town" and "Time". Light Of The World reformed briefly again in 1990, recording for Chrysalis.
Various configurations followed, including the single "Keep The Dream Alive" with Kenny Wellington and Nat Augustin, produced by Simon Law. This was followed by a configuration of Kenny Wellington and Bello with Jean Paul Maunick in charge of production, for another single "One Destination". Bello had also put together another splinter group called The Team, and had dancefloor success with the track "Wicki Wacki House Party". In the meantime Augustin replaced Ashley Ingram in the group Imagination and recorded the album Fascination Of The Physical.
In 1999, Wellington assembled most of the original band, including McKrieth and Baptiste, to co-produce anpther album Inner Voices along with Richard Bull. Augustin was also on board for the recording along with bass player Frank Felix who, after years of live performance with the band, was invited by Wellington to join. Other than compilation albums, this was the last studio album involving the original band members.
Currently the founder members of the band are working together once again, with a line-up including Wellington, McKrieth, Baptiste, Maunick and Hinds, and have recorded another album.
Although no original members are currently involved, Bello and Augustin perform as Light Of The World, with a new line up of musicians on board, although Colin Grahame has appeared with the band on many occasions over the years. A new line-up are featured on the most recent CD, Brass, Strings N' Things under the collective name of Beggar & Co featuring The Funk Jazz Collective:-
Founder member, Paul 'Tubbs' Williams died in early 2007, and a benefit concert was held for him at Dingwalls in Camden. This show featured all the original members back on stage, along with guests including Junior Giscombe, Kenny Thomas and Leee John formerly of Imagination.