Biography
Since the middle of the 1980s this British ensemble has fused reggae and ska rhythms with longstanding English folk melodies, launching first as Edward II And The Red Hot Polkas and later operating as e2K. The collective assembled in London’s Notting Hill neighborhood during 1985, its founding roster comprising Tom Greenhalgh on guitar and vocals, Jon Moore likewise on guitar and vocals, Barney Stradling on guitar, John Gill on bass, Steve Goulding at the drums, Danny Stradling on percussion, Rod Stradling at the melodeon, and Dave Haines also handling melodeon. Cooking Vinyl Records issued the band’s debut album Let’s Polka Steady! in 1987, yet the group built its following chiefly through a string of high-energy festival appearances throughout Britain and the continent. Late-decade arrivals to the ever-shifting personnel included Neil Yates on trumpet, Lorna Bailey supplying vocals, John Hart on trombone, Gavin Sharp on tenor saxophone, and Alton Zebby on drums; these musicians made their first collective appearance on the album Two Step To Heaven, the second release produced for the band by the Mad Professor.
At the outset of the 1990s the group adopted the abbreviated name Edward II, with Moore, Yates, and Zebby now joined by Tee Carthy on bass, Glen Latouche on vocals, Rees Wesson on melodeon and accordion, and rapper McKilla for the 1991 album Wicked Men. Mid-decade addition Simon Care, previously of the Albion Band and contributing melodeon, appeared on the studio albums Zest and This Way Up. Following the release of the latter, Zebby, Latouche, and Carthy chose to exit, marking the close of Edward II’s classic configuration. Moore, Yates, and Care subsequently revived the project in the new millennium under the e2K banner, pursuing a stronger African direction with the addition of Kwame Yeboah and Albion Band vocalist Kellie While.
At the outset of the 1990s the group adopted the abbreviated name Edward II, with Moore, Yates, and Zebby now joined by Tee Carthy on bass, Glen Latouche on vocals, Rees Wesson on melodeon and accordion, and rapper McKilla for the 1991 album Wicked Men. Mid-decade addition Simon Care, previously of the Albion Band and contributing melodeon, appeared on the studio albums Zest and This Way Up. Following the release of the latter, Zebby, Latouche, and Carthy chose to exit, marking the close of Edward II’s classic configuration. Moore, Yates, and Care subsequently revived the project in the new millennium under the e2K banner, pursuing a stronger African direction with the addition of Kwame Yeboah and Albion Band vocalist Kellie While.