Ebony Alleyne
| Ebony Alleyne | |
|---|---|
| Origin | London, United Kingdom |
| Genres | Soul, R&B |
| Occupation(s) | Singer |
| Instruments | Vocals |
| Years active | 2000s |
| Labels | Expansion Records |
Ebony Alleyne is an English R&B and soul singer.
Biography
Born in London in 1983, Ebony Alleyne was signed to Sony Music at the age of only 19 years. At first wanting to be a singer-songwriter, she found that the label didn't think this was the right approach for her. She was passed on to producers Ian Levine and Clive Scott who both felt they should aim for a Dionne Warrick-Burt Bacharach approach - the three-some penned the song "Walk Away and Never Look Back" which pleased Sony so much that they were granted a £150,000 budget to produce an album with a full orchestra (sixty strings, thirty brass). Alleyne sneak-previewed the song at a Togetherness soul weekend in 2002 and caused a great deal of excitement - three 7" vinyl singles were pressed in a limited edition on the old soul label Okeh Records ... but the much awaited album didn't happen. In 2003, just as the album was ready to go into press, the chairman at Sony had a serious fall-out with Ebony's manager and she was dumped, much to everyone's disappointment, and for a while it looked as if one and a half years' work had gone to waste. One track "All the Love in the World" cropped up on Levine's Northern Soul 2004.
In early 2007, however, Expansion Records bought the rights to the album, and Levine and Scott took Alleyne to the studio to record one new track "You Caught Me Off Guard" and add it to the track listing. The album Never Look Back was finally released in June 2007 and launched at a release party at the Jazz Café in Camden Town. The album was released in Japan late September with five bonus tracks, including a remix of "You Caught Me Off Guard". Alleyne recorded three new tracks - "Mister Magic Man", a duet with Noel McKoy "Special Delivery", and "Have a Little Faith in Me" for Levine's album Northern Soul 2007 and another track - Whistle for a Ride - for Disco 2008.
Additional information
One of Alleyne's unreleased songs, "Like a Lady" (scheduled for inclusion on the 2003 album) was re-recorded with The X Factor artists Voices With Soul for Northern Soul 2007 and became a hit on YouTube with more than 40,000 views and subsequently released a download single on iTunes.
Albums
- "Never Look Back" (Expansion Records, June 2007)
Singles
- "Walk Away and Never Look Back" / "Count the Days" (Okeh Records, 2002)
- "My Man" / "Touching the Sky" (Okeh, 2002)
- "Second Look" / "In Love With a Stranger" (Okeh, 2002)
Further reading
External links
- http://www.soulexpress.net/ebonyalleyne.htm
- http://rateyourmusic.com/artist/ebony_alleyne
- http://www.myspace.com/ebonyalleyne