Liam Bailey

Liam Bailey distinguishes his output through emotive songcraft and textured vocal delivery, whether operating inside folk, soul, and reggae conventions or aligning with dance-music producers as both collaborator and solo performer. He first surfaced as part of the Accidental, earned Amy Winehouse’s regard, and reached the upper reaches of the UK singles chart by co-writing and singing on Chase & Status’s “Blind Faith” in 2011. On his own recordings he formed close working relationships with Salaam Remi and Leon Michels for the 2014 debut Definitely Now, with Michels later returning for Ekundayo in 2020 and Zero Grace in 2024.

Born in Nottingham to an English mother and Jamaican father, Bailey absorbed an eclectic range of sounds from his parents’ Bob Marley, Stevie Wonder, and Jimi Hendrix albums. Throughout the 2000s he belonged to the hip-hop collective 1st Blood and to the folk group the Accidental, whose 2008 album There Were Wolves preceded his independent path. A bidding war among labels led to a Polydor contract in early 2010; that year he also issued the EPs 2am Rough Tracks and So, Down Cold on Amy Winehouse’s Lioness imprint. While developing his debut with Salaam Remi, he supported Ellie Goulding on her UK tour and appeared on the number-five UK hit “Blind Faith.” The planned solo album Out of the Shadows, slated for later in 2011, was ultimately withdrawn by the artist.

Subsequent collaborations included further work with Chase & Status as well as recordings with Delilah and Shy FX. Signed to Salaam Remi’s Flying Buddha label under Sony Masterworks, Bailey released Definitely Now in 2014, producing most tracks with Remi while Leon Michels handled a re-recording of “So, Down Cold.” After issuing standalone singles as both headliner and featured artist, he rejoined Michels for the reggae-oriented Ekundayo, issued on the Big Crown label in 2020 and followed in 2021 by the dubbed-out collection Ekundayo Inversions. Teaming with producer St. Francis Hotel, he self-released the 2023 project Enfant Terrible, steeped in the spacious textures of roots reggae and dub. For Zero Grace in 2024, Bailey again worked with Leon Michels on material that echoed Definitely Now’s fusion of soul, reggae, and folk yet adopted a leaner, more immediate approach.