lovers rock
Lovers' rock is a style of reggae music noted for its romantic sound and content. While love songs had been an important part of reggae since the late 1960s, the style was given a greater focus and a name in London in the mid-1970s.Larkin, Col ...
singer, best known as the "Queen of Lovers Rock"
Biography
Thompson was born in England and is of Jamaican descent.
Thompson undertook classical piano training on the piano and sang in school and church choirs as a girl, but initially studied for a career in
pharmacy
Pharmacy is the science and practice of discovering, producing, preparing, dispensing, reviewing and monitoring medications, aiming to ensure the safe, effective, and affordable use of medication, medicines. It is a miscellaneous science as it ...
. She began working as a backing singer at several recording studios after auditioning for
Frank Farian
Frank Farian (born Franz Reuther; 18 July 1941) is a German record producer, musician, singer and songwriter, who founded the 1970s disco-pop group Boney M., the Latin pop band No Mercy and the pop band Milli Vanilli. He frequently created voc ...
's Sugar Cane group.
Eventually, Thompson embarked on a solo career, with early successes in the shape of
Lovers rock
Lovers' rock is a style of reggae music noted for its romantic sound and content. While love songs had been an important part of reggae since the late 1960s, the style was given a greater focus and a name in London in the mid-1970s.Larkin, Col ...
singles "I'm So Sorry" (produced by the now London-based Leonard Chin) and "Simply In Love" both self written topping the reggae chart in 1981, the same year seeing the release of her independent debut album '' Hopelessly in Love'' selling over a million copies worldwide. She won two GLR Reggae Awards in 1982, for Best Female Performer and Best Song (for "Hopelessly In Love"). In 1983, she won further awards, again winning Best Female Performer at the GLR awards. She also recorded duets with Sugar Minott ("Make It with You") and Trevor Walters ("Love Won't Let Us Wait"), as well as continuing with regular solo reggae chart hits.
Thompson opted to join the Sheffield-based jazz-funk aggregation Floy Joy in 1984 where she featured on one album and scored two minor hits with the soul ballad " Until You Come Back to Me" (#91 UK pop) and " Operator" (#86 UK pop). In 1987 she duetted with Aztec Camera's Roddy Frame on the song "One and One" from the album ''
Love
Love encompasses a range of strong and positive emotional and mental states, from the most sublime virtue or good habit, the deepest Interpersonal relationship, interpersonal affection, to the simplest pleasure. An example of this range of ...
''.
Following Floy Joy, her releases dwindled reviving in 1990 when she provided lead vocals on a version of
Diana Ross
Diana Ross (born March 26, 1944) is an American singer and actress. She rose to fame as the lead singer of the vocal group the Supremes, who became Motown's most successful act during the 1960s and one of the world's best-selling girl groups ...
's "I'm Still Waiting", recorded with
Aswad
Aswad are a British reggae group, noted for adding strong R&B and soul influences to the reggae sound. They have been performing since the mid-1970s, having released a total of 21 albums. Their UK hit singles include the number one " Don't ...
and
Courtney Pine
Courtney Pine, (born 18 March 1964), is a British jazz musician, who was the principal founder in the 1980s of the black British band the Jazz Warriors. Although known primarily for his saxophone playing, Pine is a multi-instrumentalist, also ...
, which was a
UK Singles Chart
The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...
hit. She also enjoyed chart hits that year with Movement 98's "Joy & Heartbreak" and "Sunrise". In 1992, her "Let the Music Play" was included on the Oscar/Grammy nominated and BAFTA winner soundtrack to the film '' The Crying Game'', and in 1993, she worked with Neil "Mad Professor" Fraser on the album ''The Other Side of Love''.
In 2018, Thompson recorded an album of
Phyllis Dillon
Phyllis Dillon (27 December 1944 – 15 April 2004) , ''
songs as a tribute to the late singer, set for release in 2019.
Thompson has worked as a session singer with
Michael Jackson
Michael Joseph Jackson (August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009) was an American singer, songwriter, dancer, and philanthropist. Dubbed the " King of Pop", he is regarded as one of the most significant cultural figures of the 20th century. Over ...
,
Stevie Wonder
Stevland Hardaway Morris ( Judkins; May 13, 1950), known professionally as Stevie Wonder, is an American singer-songwriter, who is credited as a pioneer and influence by musicians across a range of genres that include rhythm and blues, pop, s ...
,
Natalie Cole
Natalie Maria Cole (February 6, 1950 – December 31, 2015) was an American singer, songwriter, and actress. She was the daughter of American singer and jazz pianist Nat King Cole. She rose to success in the mid-1970s as an R&B singer with the h ...
,
Pet Shop Boys
The Pet Shop Boys are an English synth-pop duo formed in London in 1981. Consisting of primary vocalist Neil Tennant and keyboardist Chris Lowe, they have sold more than 50 million records worldwide, and were listed as the most successful duo ...
,
Robbie Williams
Robert Peter Williams (born 13 February 1974) is an English singer and songwriter. He found fame as a member of the pop group Take That from 1990 to 1995, and achieved commercial success after launching a solo career in 1996. His debut stud ...
,
Boy George
George Alan O'Dowd (born 14 June 1961), known professionally as Boy George, is an English singer, songwriter, DJ, author and mixed media artist. Best known for his soulful voice and his androgynous appearance, Boy George has been the lead singe ...
,
Maxi Priest
Max Alfred "Maxi" Elliott (born 10 June 1961), known by his stage name Maxi Priest, is a British reggae vocalist of Jamaican descent. He is best known for singing reggae music with an R&B influence, otherwise known as reggae fusion. He was one ...
,
Sting
Sting may refer to:
* Stinger or sting, a structure of an animal to inject venom, or the injury produced by a stinger
* Irritating hairs or prickles of a stinging plant, or the plant itself
Fictional characters and entities
* Sting (Middle-earth ...
Chaka Khan
Yvette Marie Stevens (born March 23, 1953), better known by her stage name Chaka Khan (), is an American singer. Her career has spanned more than five decades, beginning in the 1970s as the lead vocalist of the funk band Rufus. Known as the " Q ...
,
Aswad
Aswad are a British reggae group, noted for adding strong R&B and soul influences to the reggae sound. They have been performing since the mid-1970s, having released a total of 21 albums. Their UK hit singles include the number one " Don't ...
and
M People
M People (stylised as ''M''People) is an English dance music band that formed in 1990 and achieved success throughout most of the 1990s. The name M People is taken from the first letter of the first name of band member Mike Pickering, who form ...
. Composer for documentaries Comedy Central US. Channel 4. Musical director/ composer of ''
Babymother
''Babymother'' is a 1998 British musical comedy drama film directed by Julian Henriques and released by Channel 4 Films. It is considered to be the first Black British musical and captures the British Caribbean dancehall cultural scene of Londo ...
''. She is also the co-founder (with Adebayo) of Colourtelly, Britain's first black interest internet TV station.
Personal life
Carroll is married to
Radio 5 Live
BBC Radio 5 Live is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that broadcasts mainly news, sport, discussion, interviews and phone-ins. It is the principal BBC radio station Broadcasting of sports events, covering sport in ...
presenter
Dotun Adebayo
Oludotun Davey Moore "Dotun" Adebayo (born 25 August 1959) is a British radio presenter, writer, and publisher. He is best known for his work on '' Up All Night'' on BBC Radio 5 Live, as well as the obituary programme ''Brief Lives''.
Early ...
.
Discography
Albums
*'' Hopelessly in Love'' (1981) Carib Gems ( UK Indie Albums #22)
*''Carroll Thompson'' (1983) Carousel
*''The Other Side of Love'' (1993) Ariwa
*''Collectively'' (1998) Boot Street
*''The Ultimate Collection''
*''Love Songs'' Victor
*''Flying'' (2008) Victor
*''Feels So Good'' (2011), Heritage
Singles
*"Just a Little Bit" (1982)
*"Smiling in the Morning" (1982)
*"Make It with You" (Carroll Thompson and Sugar Minott, 1983)
*"Strangest Love Affair" (1986) (UK #121)
*"Love Without Passion" (1987)
*"Joy and Heartbreak" (Movement 98 featuring Carroll Thompson, 1990) (UK #27)
*"I'm Still Waiting" (Courtney Pine featuring Carroll Thompson, 1990) (UK #66)
*"Sunrise" (Movement 98 featuring Carroll Thompson, 1990) (UK #58)