Biography
Stephen Jameson came into the world in London, England in 1949. His initial breakthrough arrived via the duo Truth, whose cover of the Beatles ‘Girl’ reached the UK Top 40 on Pye in 1966. During the early 70s he cut solo sides for Pye and its Dawn imprint, both under his own name and under the alias Nosmo King (No Smoking!). Executives at the label decided ‘Goodbye Nothing To Say’, the b-side of an earlier Nosmo King single titled ‘Teenage Love’, had northern soul potential; they therefore dispatched promo copies to clubs credited to the Javells, fostering the notion that the act was American. The ruse propelled Jameson to instant prominence on the northern soul scene, prompting the swift formation of a trio that performed as the Javells in those venues. Produced by Roger Greenaway, the single climbed just short of the UK Top 20. Subsequent releases in a similar vein met with no success, and the phantom group vanished as abruptly as it had surfaced. Returning to his own name, Jameson cut further material for Decca Records in 1977, yet none of it charted.