Junior

Junior Giscombe ignited the British R&B and pop wave that reached American shores in the 1980s with his enduring single “Mama Used to Say.” Although Sade, Loose Ends, Soul II Soul, and Billy Ocean later scored more hits, Junior had already introduced U.K.-rooted R&B/pop material to listeners abroad roughly a decade earlier. Numerous recordings from his catalog appear on the 1995 Mercury collection The Best of Junior.

Born in London, Junior Giscombe absorbed his older siblings’ record collection as a child, which held doo-wop by the Moonglows and the Dells, early Motown sides, Otis Redding, and reggae from Toots and the Maytals and Bob Marley. He fronted a local band during his teenage years, yet music remained a pastime until he committed to it full time after finishing college in the mid-’70s. His chief inspirations were the Philly soul team of Thom Bell and Linda Creed along with Gene McFadden and John Whitehead.

A British independent label issued his first single, “Hot Up & Heated,” but Phonogram, a Polygram subsidiary, granted him his initial major-label deal. The move paid off when the infectious “Mama Used to Say” became a significant U.S. hit in 1982, holding the number-two R&B position for two weeks and peaking at number 30 on the pop chart. Its follow-up, the number-eight R&B smash “Too Late,” joined it on his album Ji. The 1983 follow-up Inside Looking Out featured “Communication Breakdown” and the popular ballad “Baby I Want You Back.”

In 1984 Junior collaborated with producer Arif Mardin on Acquired Taste, which yielded the singles “Somebody,” “Oh Louise” (Top 20 R&B), “Look What You’ve Done for Me,” and the robust, funky “Tonight.” One track, “Unison,” landed on the soundtrack for About Last Night and became a major dance hit. That same year he wrote and recorded “Do You Want My Love” for the multi-platinum Beverly Hills Cop soundtrack tied to the Eddie Murphy blockbuster. His largest European success arrived in 1987 with the duet “Another Step” alongside Kim Wilde, the first of several joint performances with the singer. Late that year he finished his fourth and final Polygram album, Sophisticated Street, which included the hit “Yes If You Want Me.”

Following a stretch of personal reassessment, Junior partnered with producer Alan Glass, Soul II Soul’s Simon Law, Robbie Taylor, and Greg Smith to create his 1991 MCA debut Stand Strong. Although the project did not achieve strong sales, its highlights encompassed the title track, the jazzy “Morning Will Come,” the gritty “You Can’t Have What You Can’t Get,” and the steppers and boppers favorite “Stop Fanning the Fire.”