After three years of silence, one of the most successful, distinctive and admired voices in UK pop music history is about to make itself heard again. Tunde Baiyewu, whose rich and soulful tone led Lighthouse Family through three multi-platinum albums, sell-out tours all over the world and to a shelf full of awards, will release his debut solo work, 'Tunde', in October.
The project, which was co-written and arranged by Tunde himself, has taken in excess of 18 months to complete. And, says Tunde, it's been the culmination of a dream he first had... well, in the shower, actually:
"Until Lighthouse Family, it was the only place I ever sang! But to do what we did in the group and then to go on and have the chance to make my own record was what I always really wanted to do. In fact, I've been actively planning it for a while: I've felt the need to express myself more for some time."
Indeed, some of the material Tunde originally came up with while still part of LF, but for various reasons felt it didn't fit the band's established formula. Having said that, the album's first single, 'Great Romantic', sounds for all the world like the last big hit that the Family never released, its funky bottom and soaring melody placing Tunde right where his fans have loved him best. In the rest of the album, though, you'll find some real artistic growth.
Says Tunde: "For me, it was all about the songs. They reflect a lot of the stuff I've been through over the past four years, plus my Nigerian heritage is in there too. The lyrics are very personal. I think I'm doing things with my voice now that people won't have heard before; it's more expressive. Playing safe would have been… too dangerous."
As things stood, Tunde could easily have made his solo jump with the label that had launched Lighthouse Family. But when they suggested he try an album of cover versions, our man decided to stand firm for the new material that he believed in. Now with RCA Records, Tunde is confident that he has begun developing a sound that will win new fans as well as welcome back the old ones.
Mike Peden, who produced the first Lighthouse Family album, also produced 'Tunde'. The mood was set, however, when Tunde and his sometime writing partner Sebastian Rogers of Floetry penned the beautiful ballad 'Miles Ahead Of Me' out in the wilds of Norfolk.
"I wrote and demo'd nine of the 11 songs with Sebastian out at his studio near Diss," explains Tunde. "It's in this old mill right in the heart of the countryside, so that gave the whole thing a real atmosphere".
Other key songs include 'Our History', in which Tunde sings about his feelings towards Nigeria, the country of his father's birth and where he was brought up for most of his childhood, and the incredibly moving 'Anaesthetic', an extremely personal song written after the death of his mother some four years ago.
"That was the most difficult song I have ever written," says Tunde. It actually took me about two years before I could even go there lyrically. Sebastian helped bring that out of me – he's become a very good friend. There's a line in the song, in Nigerian, where I say, 'Oluwa Shanu-Mi', which means, 'Lord have mercy on me'. That was what my mother was screaming in the hospital as she died. Very harrowing."
'Letting Me Down Gently', introduces a female vocalist who will be new to many outside the Californian singer/songwriter circuit: Catherine Feeny. Her answer vocal on what is being lined up as the second single fits Tunde's frontline performance perfectly. 'Passing The Hours', which kicks off the album is the fruit of an unlikely collaboration with former Grant Lee Buffalo frontman Grant Lee Phillips. " I just clicked with Grant right away", says Tunde, "and I think this is one of the best songs on the album."
In the end, the only cover is the album's closing song, 'Long Way Home', which Tunde first heard in a Los Angeles club, being performed by the man who wrote it, one Jim Bianco. Travellers both metaphorical and actual, from Cairo to the waiting room at Crewe station, will recognize its horn-soaked embrace.
As for Lighthouse Family, well, Tunde remembers many great, utterly unexpected times since he first ran into Paul Tucker at a party whilst attending college in Newcastle during the early nineties. Tunde and Paul's first recording was, 'Ocean Drive' and the duo were signed in the strength of the demos alone.
The rest, as they say, is recording history: their first album, named after the tune that brought them together, sold over 3 million copies in 1995; it's follow-up, 1997's 'Postcards From Heaven'chalked up over four million sales; the third set, 'Whatever Gets You Through The Day' made it three multi-million selling albums in a row. And all out of nowhere, riding on the back of no musical trend or copying anyone else's recipe for success. With Lighthouse Family Tunde travelled the world, turning from a shy guy who had never heard the sound of his own voice played back to him in a professional studio, to the polished, insightful and assured solo vocalist and songwriter that he is.
"Basically," he concludes, "I wanted my first solo album to be a record that was full of classic songs and no filler… like when you pick up a Marvin Gaye or an early Michael Jackson album. You always wonder whether or not you can achieve something like that, but I think I have."
Source: http://www.click2music.co.za/
