Born in Guyana in 1948, Eddy Grant was the former singer with 60s band The Equals.
After suffering a heart attack in 1971 he seemed to gain a new lease of life, setting up his record label, Ice, and having hits throughout the 1980s like Do You Feel My Love, Electric Avenue, the disingenuously titled #1 I Don’t Wanna Dance and the anti-apartheid protest song Gimme Hope Jo’Anna.
A multi-instrumentalist, Eddy performed everything on his hits, which led to problems with TV performances and the need to hire some stooges to mime on the instruments for him.
In 2001, the (predominantly black) London suburb of Brixton was featured in an English Heritage advertising campaign. One full-page advert showed Eddy Grant leaning against a wall in Brixton’s Electric Avenue, accompanied by the slogan “English Heritage – It’s Mine”.
Video
