2nd lineup of 1981:
Lipson Francis,
Linton Beckles,
Henry Defoe
and Camelle Hinds
with new members:
Mel Gaynor
Danny Cummings
Roy Carter
Steve Jefferies
Kim LeMesurier
George Chander,
Diane Catherine Sealey (Dee Sealy)
and Jimmy Chambers
Here is the story about this band nobody knew from the start:
Central Line was an R&B and soul band from London, England. They recorded three albums with Mercury in the 1980s and had two hit singles in the United States, as well as one Top 40 hit in their native country.
This famed jazz funk band was formed in March 1978 in East London with Camelle Hinds, Henri Defoe and Lipson Francis at the nucleus who were then part of an outfit; TFB that later spawned members to Light of the World and Imagination. They were then joined my Steve Salvari (keyboards), Jake Le Mesurier (drums) and Linton Beckles. By April that year they took on a manager who was intent on landing them a record contract by the end of the year. After embarking on an intense season of rehearsals and demo recording sessions a place was secured on the bill of the Ally Pally, International All Day Soul Festival; a jazz funk event in July 1978 with contemporaries, Hi Tension, Kandidate, Gonzalez and Light of the World. Such events became a common feature on the UK scene at popular club venues and the Caister Weekenders and All Dayers hosted by the club and radio DJ cluster of Chris Hill, Greg Edwards Robbie Vincent, Froggy, Chris Brown, Tom Holland, Sean French, Steve Walsh, Dave Brown, Pete Tong and others up and down the country.
By the end of 1978 the band was in studios heralded by three major record companies; CBS, EMI and Phonogram. On signing the dotted line on 1st February 1979 with Phonogram’s classic R&B Chicago label; Mercury. This was soon followed by a tight rehearsal routine and not long after the band soon took to some of London’s key music venues like Ronnie Scott’s, 100 Club, Dingwalls, Southgate Royalty, the Manor and a host of UK and Continental gig circuits. A number of support tours ensued across major UK concert venues with US renowned Jazzers and R&B acts like Roy Ayers, Grover Washington Jr, Fat Larry’s Band & Slick, Al Hudson, and The Real Thing. During that period Central Line received their first critical acclaim from their debut single release “Wot we Got (its Hot)” cementing their future as a hot pick for studio and live outings.
With a change of A&R personnel at Phonogram in 1980 the band underwent some changes both in its line up and management with Steve and Jake leaving. Entering into the UK top 75 by the end of the year with “You know you can do it” signified that the band was now preparing for serious chart activity. It was a chance meeting with Linton’s old friend and fellow musician Roy Carter (of Heatwave fame) in early 1981 that change the band’s course of history, releasing the definitive and signature single; “Walking into Sunshine” in the summer of 1981 took the UK dance floor by storm and despite climbing just outside of UK top 40 it remained in the charts for 13 weeks. Meanwhile across the US a Larry Lavan remix of the track earned it a place as a US top 75 pop, top 20 R&B and top 5 Dance on the Billboard charts launching the band’s first album “Breaking Point” to international acclaim charting both sides of the Atlantic. To this present day America hasn’t forgotten Central Line as throughout the past 3 decades Walking into Sunshine has received ‘cover and sample treatment’ from a number of artists including Force MD’s, Angie Martinez, Nina Skyy and recently Musiq Soulchild’s “Anything”. “Man at the Top” from the band’s second album “Choice” also received a sample treatment from Lil Wayne’s “World of Fantasy”.
Between 1982-84 Central Line retreated to studio work making only doing promotional appearances while developing their craft as song writers and musicians. On the release of the second album “Choice” in 1983 they again charted with “Nature Boy” “Surprise Surprise” “You said Enough” and “Lovely Day” while maintaining US chart connection with “Time for some Fun” b/w “Conviction” and “You said Enough”. In early 1985 the band hit a cross roads finding themselves without a manager and a record deal in the balance but went on to record together for the last time a demo set of what was to be their best outing to date however in the midst of a cocktail of ‘rock ’n roll flurry’ both in and outside of the band they disbanded and parted ways with Phonogram.
New chapters were written in the years that followed as the band members took to new ventures as prized session musicians, studio owners, producers and artist development managers as did Linton, Lipson and writer partner Tony McCorkell as LTL Music and later Gem Tree Enterprises now with Lipson with Mo Music specialising in music and performing arts productions, Linton heads up Linton Charles Media bringing consultancy and lecturing to the music and media industries, while Camelle and Henri charted in the US as Hindsight and later pursued other solo projects as Camelle Hinds, Defoe and recently Karneeshi Collective respectively, both also delivering music and arts management training and lecturing. Although out of the spot light the talent of Central Line graced a host of famous and made famous artist including, Paul Weller, Dee C Lee, LCGC, Soul ii Soul, Karen Wheeler, Claudia Fontaine, Robert Palmer, Heaven 17, Walkers, Jaki Graham, Clive Griffin, Sabrina, Biddu, Shola Ama to name but a few.
The 21st century won't go out without the reigniting of the flickering flames of jazz funk in the UK and around the globe. Whether its to do with ‘the passing of time’, ‘lets hear 80’s music again’ or the maturing of a music once thought of as a by-gone era; suddenly in the past 5 years the resurgence of interest from fans and DJ’s alike gave rise to a number of one-off stints by various acts like, Light of the World, Beggar & Co, Dave Joseph (Hi Tension), Junior Giscombe, Leee John (Imagination) and Second Image including Incognito, now world famous having done a non-stop run since their beginnings. As the main exponents of British jazz funk music they all found themselves in a all star line-up instigated by Kenny Wellington (LOTW) as the “Jazz Funk Connection” performing London’s famed Jazz Café and Dingwalls in 2006. The story now goes that most of the acts are coming out of retirement to play out their swan song in nostalgic mode or even endeavouring to put on costumes again and perform full stage sets again.
The story is a fantastical journey for Central Line as they prepare to play a set at the Indigo O2 on 15 April 2011 as they join a Brit Funk classic line up with Incognito, Beggar & Co, Dave Joseph (Hi Tension), Junior Giscombe, Leee John (Imagination) and Second Image in celebration of 30 years of Brit Funk.
Videos to learn from:
Laurie Maitland tells the story about Central Line's 1981 tune, "Walking into Sunshine"
Central Line - Central Line - album review
