Last nite Ali & John took Malayka, Che and I out as a treat to see Ola Onabule. As you do on these occassions, we sort of said OK why not, not really knowing what we were going to hear or see.
Ola is a singer from London, some of you may remember him from the early 90's when his first release made some waves on the modern soul scene 'You'd better believe', always did well in the modern room at Bretby when I was running it back then .
Well to say we were blown away would be an understatement, I went with Malayka and my son Che, so with my self included a wide range in age to keep happy. He did this in spades, even with a fairly poorly promoted event, in the theatre of a private school, in Cheltenham. Maybe about 65 people in the house or as Ola said at one stage "80 people to keep my ego happy", but he had them on their feet rockin' and clapping. He did a 2 hour set backed by a very tight band, that complimented his style so well.
You can hear the influence of one of his hero's, Frank Beverly in his vocals, but his range is much more than that, old school soul singer, jazz interrpupter, a class comtemporary act.
Che had come a little under sufference, a big hip hop fan, but as we walk he turned to me and said "now that was really good dad". Some of you may well already know him, some of you may not, but have listen to a great comtemporary soul singer.
I will put up his first, release and a few tracks from his new album, to follow.
If you see he is on locally, see him
His new album-buy it
Promotors looking for a modern act for a venue or weekender book him
Dave