Imagination (band)

imagination
Imagination and Others (1984)
General information
Genre (s)	Funk , post-disco , soul , dance
founding	1981
resolution	1992
Last occupation
singing	John Lesley "Leee John" McGregor
Guitar , bass	Ashley Ingram
Drums	Errol Kennedy

Imagination was a British band and was formed in 1981 by the three musicians Leee John (vocals), Ashley Ingram (guitar, bass) and Errol Kennedy (drums). In the early 1980s, the group had three top ten hits with Body Talk , Just an Illusion and Music and Lights .

biography

Leee John and Ashley Ingram were previously background singers for soul bands such as the Velvelettes, Chairman of the Board, The Elgins and The Delfonics. They met the drummer Errol Kennedy through the band Midnight Express. Shortly afterwards, Midnight Express disbanded and the way was clear for the three musicians to work together. They gave themselves the band name Imagination based on John Lennon's hit Imagine .

In April 1981, the band released their first single, Body Talk , which entered the UK top ten and stayed in the top 50 for 18 weeks. This success is all the more astonishing when you consider that the song was initially completely ignored by radio stations. For this it was very often put on in the clubs and spread in this way. Four months later it was in the charts and sold over 250,000 copies.

In the same year two more hit singles were released from the debut album Body Talk: In and Out of Love (in September) and Flashback (in November), both of which reached number 16 in the UK charts.

Imagination's biggest hit Just an Illusion reached number 2 on the UK charts in April 1982, followed by Music and Lights (number 5 in July), In the Heat of the Night (number 22 in October, this was also the title of the second album) and Changes (31st place in January 1983).

At the same time, a sold-out concert tour through Europe took place, 22 of which took place in Great Britain. The trio has appeared repeatedly on BBC's Top of the Pops and other popular music programs. It was distinguished by an exotic costume style reminiscent of Roman senators, harem guards, and slaves. Leee John made a detour into acting and had several guest appearances on the Doctor Who series .

In 1983 the band was again represented in the charts with two more hit singles: Looking at Midnight and New Dimensions . With their fourth album Scandalous they achieved another gold record. This was followed by two more chart entries, State of Love and Thank You My Love (from the Trilogy album ).

In mid-1984 Imagination played at the Royal Albert Hall. This was followed by an appearance in a stadium in Algeria with over 100,000 spectators and a one-month tour through Spain. In 1985 the band toured the UK, Europe and the Far East. In 1986 the band celebrated its fifth anniversary. This event was celebrated on May 15th at the Royal Albert Hall.

In 1987 Imagination signed with RCA. They produced and recorded the album Closer in the USA, together with producers Arthur Baker , Preston Glass, Nick Martinelli, Ron Kersey and Robert Kraft.

In 1988 the band spent some time in the United States, where they appeared on television and radio. In the summer they had a number 1 hit on the Billboard Dance Charts with the single Instinctual from the album Closer .

The group's last album was released in August 1989 and was titled Like It Is and peaked at number 4 on the UK album charts. It was awarded double gold status within twelve weeks and stayed in the UK top 100 album charts for 38 weeks.

The album Like It Is / All the Hits entered the charts in several European countries. The single Megamix was first released in France in June 1989 and stayed in the French top ten for four months. On September 2, 1989, a six-month world tour began. The opening concert took place in Dunkirk, France, in front of 42,000 spectators. This was followed by appearances in Germany, Switzerland and France. In December, the band played seven times in the UK, including a sold out Christmas show at the Hammersmith Odeon.

Due to Imagination's immense popularity, the tour has been expanded beyond the original six months. Within six weeks 31 concerts took place in Russia, India, Sri Lanka, Angola and Réunion. With the release of the long-awaited new album Fascination of the Physical , new appearances took place in Europe, Japan and America.

In 1991 Ingram decided to leave Imagination and work as a composer and producer. Errol Kennedy was replaced in the summer of 1987 by the singer Peter Royer, Ashley Ingram by Segun. However, there were no further successes, so that the band broke up in 1992.

The group is now on tour again and plays a.o. a. at festivals.

Band members

Leee John was born John Lesley McGregor in Hackney, London, on June 23, 1957. He went to school in New York and later studied dramaturgy at the Anna Scher Theater School.

Ashley Ingram, the guitarist / bassist, was born in Northampton on November 27, 1960.

Errol Kennedy was born on June 9, 1953 in Montego Bay, Jamaica. After school he trained as a drummer.

Discography

→ Main article : Imagination (band) / discography

Studio albums

year	title	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes)					Remarks
		DE	AT	CH	UK	R&B
1981	Body talk	DE37 (9 weeks) DE	-	-	UK20th gold (51 weeks)UK	R&B46 (14 weeks) R&B	First published: October 1981 Producers: Steve Jolley, Tony Swain
1982	In the heat of the night	DE6 (19 weeks) DE	AT16 (6 weeks) AT	-	UK7th gold (28 weeks)UK	R&B45 (11 weeks) R&B	First published: August 1982 Producers: Steve Jolley, Tony Swain
1983	Night dubbing	DE33 (12 weeks) DE	-	-	UK9 gold (20 weeks)UK	-	First published: May 1983 Producers: Steve Jolley, Tony Swain, remix album
	Scandalous (EU) New Dimension (US)	DE49 (3 weeks) DE	-	-	UK25th gold (8 weeks)UK	R&B44 (8 weeks) R&B	First published: October 1983 Producers: Steve Jolley, Tony Swain

gray hatching : no chart data available for this year

More studio albums

• 1986: Trilogy
• 1987: Closer
• 1992: The Fascination of the Physical

swell

1. ↑ Imagination ( Memento of the original from April 13, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . Origin of the band name. Retrieved June 20, 2010.  
2. ↑ Just an Illusion . Top 40 in the UK charts. Retrieved June 20, 2010.
3. ^ Music and Lights . Top 40 in the UK charts. Retrieved June 20, 2010.
4. ↑ In the Heat of the Night . Top 40 in the UK charts. Retrieved June 20, 2010.
5. ↑ Changes . Top 40 in the UK charts. Retrieved June 20, 2010.
6. ↑ Instinctual . Top 40 in the UK charts. Retrieved June 20, 2010.
7. ↑ Tour Dates
8. ↑ Chart sources: DE AT CH UK US
9. ^ Joel Whitburn : Top R&B Albums 1965–1998, ISBN 0-89820-134-9 .

Web links

• Official website
• Imagination at Allmusic (English)
• Imagination at Discogs (English)