Carroll Thompson

Carroll Thompson
Born 1960 (age 55–56)
Letchworth, Hertfordshire, England
Genres Lovers rock, reggae, pop
Instruments Vocals, piano
Associated acts Floy Joy

Carroll Thompson (born 1960)[1] is a British lovers rock singer, best known for her work in the 1980s.

Biography

Thompson sang in school and church choirs as a girl, but initially studied for a career in pharmacy.[1] In the mid-1970s, she began working as a backing singer at several recording studios after auditioning for Frank Farian's Sugar Cane group.[1] Eventually, Thompson embarked on a solo career, with early successes in the shape of Lovers rock singles "I'm So Sorry" (produced by the now London-based Leonard Chin) and "Simply In Love", which both topped the reggae chart in 1981, the same year seeing the release of her debut album.[1] She won two GLR Reggae Awards in 1982, for Best Female Performer and Best Song (for "Hopelessly In Love").[1] In 1983, she won further awards, again winning Best Female Performer at the GLR awards. She also recorded duets with Sugar Minott ("Make It With You") and Trevor Walters ("Love Won't Let Us Wait"), as well as continuing with regular solo reggae chart hits.

Thompson opted to join the Sheffield-based jazz-funk aggregation Floy Joy in 1984 where she featured on one album and scored two minor hits with the soul ballad "Until You Come Back to Me" (#91 UK pop) and "Operator" (#86 UK pop). In 1987 she duetted with Aztec Camera's Roddy Frame on the song "One and One" from the album Love.

Following Floy Joy, her releases dwindled reviving in 1990 when she provided lead vocals on a version of Diana Ross's "I'm Still Waiting", recorded with Aswad and Courtney Pine, which was a minor UK Singles Chart hit.[1] She also enjoyed minor chart hits that year with Movement 98's "Joy & Heartbreak" and "Sunrise".[1] In 1992, her "Let the Music Play" was included on the soundtrack to the film The Crying Game, and in 1993, she worked with Neil "Mad Profesor" Fraser on the album The Other Side Of Love.[2] Carroll is married to Radio 5 Live presenter Dotun Adebayo.

Thompson has worked as a session singer with Michael Jackson, Stevie Wonder, Natalie Cole, Pet Shop Boys, Robbie Williams, Boy George, Maxi Priest, Sting, Billy Ocean, Chaka Khan, Aswad and M People. She is also the co-founder (with Adebayo) of Colourtelly, Britain's first black interest internet TV station.[3]

Albums

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Larkin, Colin (1998) "The Virgin Encyclopedia of Reggae", Virgin Books, ISBN 0-7535-0242-9
  2. ↑ Barrow, Steve & Dalton, Peter (2004) "The Rough Guide to Reggae, 3rd edn.", Rough Guides, ISBN 1-84353-329-4
  3. ↑ Silver, James (2007) "'We don't see ourselves represented on screen at all'", The Guardian, 2 July 2007
  4. ↑ Lazell, Barry (1997) "Indie Hits 1980-1989", Cherry Red Books, ISBN 0-9517206-9-4

External links

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