Shakatak are an English

jazz-funk Jazz-funk is a subgenre of jazz music characterized by a strong back beat, electrified sounds, and analog synthesizers. The integration of funk, soul, and R&B music and styles into jazz resulted in the creation of a genre that ranges from ...

band founded in 1980 by Bill Sharpe, Nigel Wright, Roger Odell and Keith Winter. An initial

white label White label may refer to: * White-label product, a permitted replication and rebranding of a product * White label record, records with plain white labels attached. * White Label Music, an independent record label based in the United Kingdom * ''Wh ...

release, "Steppin", caught attention by Passion records label owner Les McCutcheon and Northern Soul DJ Kev Roberts. The band's name was created by them and derived from the name of a record store in Soho, London called "Record Shack". Shakatak scored a number of

chart A chart (sometimes known as a graph) is a graphics, graphical representation for data visualization, in which "the data is represented by symbols, such as bars in a bar chart, lines in a line chart, or slices in a pie chart". A chart can repres ...

entries, including two Top 10

hits Hits or H.I.T.S. may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music * '' H.I.T.S.'', 1991 album by New Kids on the Block * ''...Hits'' (Phil Collins album), 1998 * ''Hits'' (compilation series), 1984–2006; 2014, a British compilation album s ...

in the UK Singles Chart, " Night Birds" (1982) and " Down on the Street" (1984), plus a further 12 entries in the ''

Guinness Book of British Hit Singles ''British Hit Singles & Albums'' (originally known as ''The Guinness Book of British Hit Singles'' and ''The Guinness Book of British Hit Albums'') was a music reference book originally published in the United Kingdom by the publishing arm of ...

''. The group is still active and popular throughout the world, particularly in Japan and the Far East, and generally produce a new album every two years on

JVC Records is a subsidiary of JVCKenwood that produces and distributes music, movies and other entertainment products such as anime and television shows in Japan. It is known as JVC Entertainment in countries where Sony Music Entertainment operates the RC ...

. From their first release in August 1980 (the Bill Sharpe composition "Steppin'" on the

Polydor Polydor Limited, also known as Polydor Records, is a British record label that operates as part of Universal Music Group. It has a close relationship with Universal's Interscope Geffen A&M Records label, which distributes Polydor's releases in ...

record label), and their first 1981 album, '' Drivin' Hard'', the band's

singles Singles are people not in a committed relationship. Singles may also refer to: Film and television * ''Singles'' (miniseries), a 1984 Australian television series * ''Singles'' (1992 film), written and directed by Cameron Crowe * ''Singles'' ...

and albums have entered the charts regularly.

Career

It was the release of the 1981 single "Easier Said Than Done" that gave the band the radio exposure needed for their first top-twenty hit. This record introduced their

instrumental An instrumental or instrumental song is music without any vocals, although it might include some inarticulate vocals, such as shouted backup vocals in a big band setting. Through Semantic change, semantic widening, a broader sense of the word s ...

-unison vocal sound to a much wider audience, and the track stayed in the UK Singles Chart for seventeen weeks. The follow-up, "Night Birds" (1982), was their first single to reach the top ten and it also peaked in Australia at number 92. The album of the same name gave Shakatak their first

gold album Music recording certification is a system of certifying that a music recording has shipped, sold, or streamed a certain number of units. The threshold quantity varies by type (such as album, single, music video) and by nation or territory (see ...

, entering at number four and remaining in the charts for twenty-eight weeks. Jill Saward (formerly of

Fusion Orchestra Fusion Orchestra was a British progressive rock band active between 1969 and 1975.Fusion Orchestra off ...

, Brandy and Citizen Gang) became their sole lead singer to make Shakatak's fifth album, ''Down on the Street'' (1984). The band gained a huge popularity in Japan, were they released a series of largely instrumental albums such as ''Da Makani'' (1988) exclusively for the Japanese market. ''Manic & Cool'', featuring the night club and chart hit "Mr Manic & Sister Cool" was released internationally in 1988. In the 1990s, the band achieved success in the US when their 1992 album ''Open Your Eyes'' went to No 1 in the contemporary jazz charts. The 1997 album ''Full Circle'' expanded their sound with

hip hop Hip-hop or hip hop (originally disco rap) is a popular music genre that emerged in the early 1970s from the African-American community of New York City. The style is characterized by its synthesis of a wide range of musical techniques. Hip- ...

-beats. Still active, the band has released and number of albums in the 2000s and celebrated their thirtieth anniversary year in 2010, marking the occasion with the release of the album ''Across the World'' the following year.

Independent projects

Bassist George Anderson released his second solo album, ''Expressions'', on 3 September 2012 through

Secret Records Secret Records is a British independent record label founded in 1980 and based in London. The label specializes in a number of genres including blues, reggae, rock 'n' roll, psychedelic, soul and punk. The label's roster includes releases by ...

. Coming three years after his first 2009 album ''Positivity'', this album again had Anderson writing, arranging and producing all of the tracks. The albums ''Body and Soul'' (10 March 2017) and ''Songs From Tomorrow'' (5 March 2021) followed, again through Secret Records. Keyboardist Bill Sharpe worked with American

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

pianist

Don Grusin Donald Henri Grusin (born April 22, 1941) is an American jazz keyboardist, composer, and record producer. He is the younger brother of Dave Grusin. Career Don Grusin grew up in Littleton, Colorado. His father, a native of Latvia, was a classica ...

on a joint project called ''Geography'' released in 2007. Sharpe's second collaboration with Grusin, ''Trans Atlantica'', was released on 3 September 2012. It was also issued through Secret Records, and included ''Geography'' as a special 2-CD package. On 23 February 2024 Leee John and Bill Sharpe released the album ''Intimate Glow''. Drummer

Roger Odell Shakatak are an English jazz-funk band founded in 1980 by Bill Sharpe, Nigel Wright, Roger Odell and Keith Winter. An initial white label release, "Steppin", caught attention by Passion records label owner Les McCutcheon and Northern Soul DJ ...

has released three albums with his band

Roger Odell's Beatifik Roger is a masculine given name, and a surname. The given name is derived from the Old French personal names ' and '. These names are of Germanic languages">Germanic origin, derived from the elements ', ''χrōþi'' ("fame", "renown", "honour") ...

: ''The Blue Window'' (2000, Passion Jazz), ''Intrigue'' (15 November 2015, Secret Records) and ''The Long Drive Home'' (2019, Secret Records as Beatifik). These albums feature Jacqui Hicks (lead vocals), saxophonist Mornington Lockett as well as Roger's wife Larraine Odell (vocals) and son Jamie Odell a.k.a.

Jimpster Jimpster (a.k.a. Audiomontage, a.k.a. Franc Spangler, real name Jamie Odell) is a Great Britain, British deep house record producer, producer and disc jockey, DJ. Together with Tom Roberts, he founded the record label, labels Freerange Records and ...

(keyboards, vocals, producer).

Personnel

File:2014-09-19 Shakatak 013.jpg, Bill Sharpe File:2014-09-19 Shakatak 040.jpg, Jill Saward File:2014-09-19 Shakatak 002.jpg, George Anderson File:2014-09-19 Shakatak 039.jpg, Roger Odell File:2014-09-19 Shakatak 060.jpg, Debby Bracknell (Tour) ;Current members * Jill Saward – vocals, percussion, flute (1980–present) * Bill Sharpe – keyboards (1980–present) * Roger Odell – drums (1980–present) * Keith Winter – guitar, backing vocals (1980–1989, 2023–present) * George Anderson – bass (1981–present) ;Touring musicians * Jacqui Hicks – backing vocals, sax & flute * Debby Bracknell – backing vocals, flute ;Former members * Jackie Rawe – vocals (1980–1983) * Nigel Wright – keyboards (1980–1982) * Steve Underwood – bass guitar (1980–1981) *

Tracy Ackerman Tracy Ackerman is a British singer and songwriter. She works with several other British songwriters including Andy Watkins and Paul Wilson of Absolute and Mark Taylor. Ackerman has written for artists including Geri Halliwell, Cher, Boyzone, Tina ...

– vocals (1980s–1990s) * Lorna Bannon – vocals (1982) * Norma Lewis – vocals (1983) * Friðrik Karlsson – guitar (1990s–2000s) * Alan Wormald – guitar (1995-2023; his death)

In studio

Dick Morrissey Richard Edwin Morrissey (9 May 1940 – 8 November 2000) was a British jazz musician and composer. He played the tenor saxophone, soprano saxophone and flute. Biography Background He was born in Horley, Surrey, England. Dick Morrissey emerged ...

– saxophone *

Mornington Lockett Mornington Edward Lockett (born 19 November 1961) is an English jazz saxophonist. Career Lockett began playing clarinet at the age of 14 while he was a student at Cowes High School, before switching to tenor saxophone. He studied at Dartington ...

– saxophone * Derek Nash – saxophone * Malcolm Tagg-Randall – saxophone * Fridrik Karlsson – guitar *

Roberto Tola Roberto Tola (born August 5, 1966) is an Italian jazz guitarist and composer. Biography Tola began studying music when he was just six years old. In 1976 studies cello in the Conservatory of Music in Sassari. Four years later continues his s ...

– guitar *

Kazumi Watanabe is a Japanese guitarist. Other guitarists such as Luke Takamura and Sugizo have cited him as an influence. Career Watanabe learned guitar at the age of 12 from Sadanori Nakamure at the Yamaha Music School in Tokyo. He released his first album ...

– guitar

Discography

References

External links

Shakatak official website

Shakatak biography by Jason Ankeny, discography and album reviews, credits & releases
at

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

Shakatak discography, album releases & credits
at

Discogs Discogs ( ; short for " discographies") is a database of information about audio recordings, including commercial releases, promotional releases, and bootleg or off-label releases. Database contents are user-generated, and described in ''T ...

Shakatak albums to be listened
as stream on

Spotify Spotify (; ) is a List of companies of Sweden, Swedish Music streaming service, audio streaming and media service provider founded on 23 April 2006 by Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon. , it is one of the largest providers of music streaming services ...

{{Authority control Musical groups established in 1980 English boogie musicians English funk musical groups English jazz ensembles English jazz fusion ensembles English post-disco music groups Smooth jazz ensembles Crossover (music)