Avowing a positive and multicultural philosophy with their "funky dred" logo and the catch phrase "A happy face, a thumpin' bass, for a lovin' race,"
Soul II Soul started spreading the similar ideals of London sound system culture across the globe at the end of the 1980s. At a time when the highly mechanized sound of new jack swing was dominating contemporary R&B, the group -- led by producer, songwriter, and occasional vocalist
Jazzie B -- found a way to synthesize breakbeat-driven hip-hop and house music with the elegant dancefloor R&B of disco-era groups such as
Barry White's
Love Unlimited Orchestra,
MFSB, and
Chic. The two biggest hits off
Soul II Soul's debut
Club Classics Vol. One (1989), "Keep On Movin'" and "Back to Life (However Do You Want Me)," both powered by the silken voice of
Caron Wheeler, turned the group into chart-topping stars at home and abroad. The latter also made them Grammy winners.
Soul II Soul's output since then is highlighted by a second number one U.K. album,
Vol. II: 1990 - A New Decade (1990) and the number three hit
Volume III: Just Right (1992), plus 11 additional U.K. Top 40 singles, each one featuring a different lead voice.
Jazzie B (
Trevor Beresford Romeo) and
Daddae Harvey (Philip Harvey) ran their first sound system in their early teens. They moved crowds with reggae before expanding their sets to incorporate soul, funk, and jazz, and in the mid-'80s reached full flight with an inclusive Sunday-night residency at the Africa Centre in Covent Garden. In 1988,
Soul II Soul branched out from sound systems and pirate radio to wax with "Fairplay," their debut for Virgin's 10 subsidiary.
Jazzie B co-wrote and co-produced the track, also co-produced by
Nellee Hooper (
Maximum Joy, the Wild Bunch) with co-writer
Rose Windross featured as lead vocalist. Before the end of the year, the group followed up with the
Do'Reen showcase "Feel Free," written and produced by
Jazzie B and
Hooper. The singles respectively reached number 63 and 64 on the U.K. pop chart.
Soul II Soul achieved their breakthrough in early 1989 with singer
Caron Wheeler, who had previously been in the reggae vocal group
Brown Sugar and was also a high-profile background vocalist, as heard on (and seen in the videos for)
Elvis Costello's "Everyday I Write the Book" and the Special A.K.A.'s "Free Nelson Mandela." Third
Soul II Soul single "Keep On Movin'" entered the U.K. chart that March and peaked at number five before the full-length
Club Classics, Vol. One landed the following month. On the heels of that chart-topping album was "Back to Life (However Do You Want Me)," written by
Wheeler,
Jazzie B,
Hooper, and group keyboardist
Simon Law. The song topped the U.K. chart and also became the group's biggest international hit, reaching the Top Ten in numerous countries, including the U.S., where
Club Classics, Vol. One was issued under the title Keep On Movin'.
Soul II Soul subsequently won Grammy Awards for Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal ("Back to Life") and Best R&B Instrumental Performance (album track "African Dance"). Additionally, they were nominated beside fellow cosmopolitan Londoner
Neneh Cherry for Best New Artist.
Club Classics, Vol. One was barely a year old when
Soul II Soul offered their second album,
Vol. II: 1990 - A New Decade. The record was released the same month as
UK Blak, the solo debut of
Caron Wheeler, who had left the group (and would return, leave, and return throughout the band's existence). Another number one LP in the U.K.,
Vol. II yielded the Top Ten U.K. hits "Get a Life" and "A Dream's a Dream," respectively featuring
Marcia Lewis and
Victoria Wilson-James, as well as "Missing You," a Top 40 entry fronted by
Kym Mazelle. As with "Keep On Movin'" and "Back to Life," these singles also fared well on the R&B/hip-hop and dance charts in the U.S. Without
Hooper, an increasingly in-demand collaborator across genres,
Jazzie B handled the production for the group's third album on his own, and rounded up a mostly new crew of vocalists including
Richie Stephens,
Kofi, and Rick Clarke, the singers featured on the singles.
Volume III: Just Right topped out at number three in the U.K., and the Clarke-assisted "Joy" became a number four pop hit. "Mood" was nominated for a Grammy in the category of Best R&B Instrumental Performance, but not before 10/Virgin assembled Volume IV: The Classic Singles 88-93. The anthology was released in November 1993 and included a new single, the
Melissa Bell collaboration "Wish" -- the ninth
Soul II Soul track to peak within the Top 40 of the U.K. pop chart.
Soul II Soul made two more albums in the '90s. The first one,
Volume V: Believe, arrived in July 1995, and was followed in September 1997 by
Time for Change, released through Island instead of 10/Virgin.
Penny Ford and Charlotte Kelly sang the U.K. Top 40 hits off the former, "Love Enuff" and "I Care," and Paul Johnson was the voice of "Represent," the Top 40 single from
Time for Change. By the end of the decade,
Soul II Soul had disbanded.
Do'Reen died in 2002, struck by multiple vehicles while attempting to cross the A27 on foot. Since 2007, the group, still led by
Jazzie B (who in 2008 was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire), has performed with various lineups that have included
Wheeler and many of the other vocalists throughout their history.
Jazzie B has also remained active as a DJ. ~ Andy Kellman