Released: 1970
They say when you’re looking for inspiration that you should always steal with pride. By the end of a decade in which she’d become increasingly engaged in America’s Civil Rights movement, Nina Simone had been firstly saddened, then energised by the premature death of her friend and mentor Lorraine Hansberry in 1965.
Moved by a phrase Hansberry had used to address a group of students, she and bandleader Weldon Irvine wrote Young, Gifted and Black in her memory, the singer then going on to perform a stunning version of it during 1970’s Harlem Culture Festival.
Bob Andy and Marcia Griffiths meanwhile were both searching for a way to spark their careers. The former had been a member of Kingston rocksteady outfit The Paragons – whose single The Tide is High would subsequently be covered by Blondie – whilst the latter had recorded several duets for Clement Dodd’s Studio One label.
It wasn’t until producer Harry ‘J’ Johnson (Who’d struck gold with Liquidator the previous year) turned the deeply soulful original into something more dance floor ready that everybody knew they had a hit on their hands. Still powerfully affirmative, the new ska friendly version chimed with Britain’s new found love of Caribbean music and transported the duo into the top five. Stolen? Definitely? Proud? Absolutely yes.
This post is dedicated to the memory of David Oluwale.
The Voice Of Unreason 