Jaki Graham

Jaki Graham (2014)

Jaki Graham (born September 15, 1956 in Birmingham ) is a British soul singer . Between 1984 and 1995 she had numerous hit singles in the UK charts . Round and Around and Set Me Free also made it onto the German charts in 1985 and 1986, respectively.

biography

Jaki Graham's parents were from Jamaica and moved to Handsworth , Birmingham, where Jaki was born and raised in the 1950s . At the age of 15 she met Tony Ormsby, the brother of footballer Brendon Ormsby , who was to become her husband in 1976.

Graham's first band was called One Night Affair. After that she was also a member of the SRO band and Ferrari. After recording with a jazz - funk group called Medium Wave band was discovered by a talent scout. So it came to a record deal with EMI in 1983 and the single Heaven Knows from the debut album of the same name , which was produced by Derek Bramble , followed. The second single was called What's the Name of Your Game? and made possible the first television appearance on the show Crackerjack .

Several hits in the British single charts followed by 1986, including Could It Be I'm Falling in Love? and Mated , two duets with David Grant . That was a Guinness World Record for the first black British singer to score six top 20 hits in a row. When Michael McDonald was looking for a duet partner for his hit On My Own for his UK tour , he chose Jaki Graham. This resulted in a friendship that continues to this day.

In the 1990s, Graham was particularly successful in Japan . She sold 800,000 copies of her album Real Life in less than four weeks, and her accompanying tour sold out in 20 minutes. But there was also success in the USA when Ain't Nobody reached number 1 on the Billboard Dance Charts . In Australia and Japan there was a gold record for the cover version of the Chaka Khan hit .

In 1992 Graham formed the duo Kiss the Sky with Paul Hardcastle . The track Living for You , which included samples of Minnie Riperton's Loving You , was the only notable release by the two artists.

Discography

Albums

year	title	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChartsChart placements (Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes)	Remarks
		UK
1985	Heaven Knows	UK48 (5 weeks) UK	First published: September 1985 Producer: Derek Bramble
1986	Breaking away	UK25th silver (5 weeks)UK	First published: September 1986 Producer: Derek Bramble

More albums

• 1989: From Now On
• 1994: Real Life
• 1995: Hold On
• 1996: Rhythm of Life
• 1997: Don't Keep Me Waiting
• 1998: My Life

Compilations

• 1996: The Very Best (with David Grant )
• 2004: The Best Of (with David Grant and Linx )
• 2007: Just the Two of Us (12 MPEG-4 files)
• 2010: Absolute Essentials - The Very Best Of (2 CDs)

Singles

year	Title album	Top ranking, total weeks, awardChart placementsChart placements (Year, title, album , rankings, weeks, awards, notes)					Remarks
		DE	CH	UK	R&B	Dance
1984	Heaven Knows (Feels so Good) Heaven Knows	-	-	UK59 (8 weeks) UK	-	-	First published: July 1984 Author: Derek Bramble
1985	Could It Be I'm Falling in Love Heaven Knows	-	-	UK5 (12 weeks) UK	R&B60 (8 weeks) R&B	-	First published: March 1985 with David Grant Authors: Marvin Steals, Melvin Steals Original: The Spinners , 1972
	Round and Around Heaven Knows	DE23 (8 weeks) DE	-	UK9 (11 weeks) UK	R&B85 (3 weeks) R&B	-	First published: June 1985 Author: Derek Bramble
	Mated Breaking Away	-	-	UK20 (11 weeks) UK	-	-	First published: November 1985 with David Grant Author: Todd Rundgren Original: Utopia , 1985
1986	Set Me Free Breaking Away	DE47 (11 weeks) DE	CH11 (10 weeks) CH	UK7 (13 weeks) UK	-	Dance15 (11 weeks) Dance	First published: April 1986 Author: Derek Bramble
	Breaking Away Breaking Away	-	-	UK16 (8 weeks) UK	-	-	First published: August 1986 Author: Derek Bramble
	Step Right Up Breaking Away	-	-	UK15 (13 weeks) UK	-	-	First published: November 1986 Author: Derek Bramble
1987	Still in Love Breaking Away	-	-	UK83 (2 weeks) UK	-	-	First published: February 1987 Author: Derek Bramble
1988	No more tears	-	-	UK60 (3 weeks) UK	-	-	First published: June 1988 Authors: Derek Bramble, Jimmy Scott
1989	From Now On From Now On	-	-	UK73 (3 weeks) UK	R&B88 (4 weeks) R&B	-	First published: June 1989 Authors: David Gamson, Porter Carroll
	The Better Part of Me From Now On	-	-	UK79 (3 weeks) UK	-	-	First published: August 1989 Authors: Derek Bramble, Jimmy Scott
1990	Every Little Bit Hurts From Now On	-	-	-	R&B79 (5 weeks) R&B	-	First published: January 1990 Author: Ed Cobb Original: Brenda Holloway , 1964
1994	Ain't Nobody Real Life	-	-	UK44 (2 weeks) UK	-	Dance1 (12 weeks) Dance	First published: July 1994 Author: David J. "Hawk" Wolinski Original: Rufus & Chaka Khan , 1983
1995	You Can Count on Me Real Life	-	-	UK62 (2 weeks) UK	-	-	First published: January 1995 Authors: Marcella French, Rod Gammons, Toby Baker
	Absolute E-Sensual Real Life	-	-	UK69 (1 week) UK	-	Dance3 (13 weeks) Dance	First published: June 1995 Authors: Rod Gammons, Andrew Klippel, Toby Baker, Matt Nelmes

More singles

1984: What's the Name of Your Game 1984: Once More with the Feeling 1985: Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas (with David Grant) 1986: The Megamix 1989: Watching You, Watching Me (with David Grant) 1991: Touch Me (When We're Dancing) 1992: Band of Gold 1995: Style 1995: Heaven 1995: Hold On 1995: Christmas Song

1996: The Only Love 1996: You're One Desire 1996: Seek & You Will Find 1997: Don't Keep Me Waiting 1997: Walking on Water 1997: You and I 1998: The Look of Love 1998: I Wish (with Mariko Ide) 1999: Lovely Place (with Charlotte Roel ) 2005: Superstition

Video albums

• 1986: Set Free

literature

• Frank Laufenberg: Frank Laufenberg's Rock and Pop Lexicon Vol. 1 , ISBN 3-612-26206-8 .

swell

1. ↑ ^{a b} Chart sources: Singles UK US
2. ↑ ^{a b} UK gold / platinum database
3. ^ Joel Whitburn : Hot R&B Songs 1942–2010: 6th Edition, ISBN 978-0-89820-186-4 .
4. ^ Joel Whitburn : Hot Dance / Disco 1974-2003, ISBN 978-0-89820-156-7 .

Web links

• Jaki Graham at Allmusic (English)
• Jaki Graham at Discogs (English)
• Official website of Jaki Graham
• Biography at Taurus Press