| True Spirit |
| "...Carleen Anderson's star qualities...attended London's Jazz Cafe...was undoubtedly one of the performances of the year." MUSIC WEEK |
| Biography |
| Carleen grew up in Houston, Texas, who was raising by her very religious grandparents. Her grandfather was a pastor in the church and they used to pray several times a day. She went to church six times a week and she also was singing in the church. Carleen was 21 years when she had a son, Bobby, and got married to the younger brother of the bass player in James Brown's band. But he left her when Bobby was 18 month old which was a very difficult time for her. Staying again with her grandparents, she won a music teaching scholarship at the University of Southern California. Sleeping just for a few hours a night while she was raising her son and had to study. And on one day in 1988 mother Vicki Anderson and her stepfather Bobby Byrd invited Carleen to do an one-off show with them at London's TOWN & COUNTRY CLUB. The both Top Funk DJ's, Femi Williams and Marco Nelson witnessed her guest appearance on the JB's show as well. So she got asked by them to to sing a couple of songs on their own YOUNG DISCIPLES project. TALKIN' LOUD RECORDS liked those songs so much they asked them to go ahead to record a whole album. Finally their '92 album entitled ROAD TO FREEDOM, became a milestone in British soul music. The album also features guests like the great Johnny Lytle, Paul Weller, Maceo Parker, Fred Wesley, Pee Wee Ellis, Jacko Peake and Spry from Galliano. ROAD TO FREEDOM includes the massive club hits APPARENTLY NOTHING, GET YOURSELF TOGETHER and the three-part epic track FREEDOM SUITE. After leaving the YD's in 1993 she got signed to CIRCA RECORDS where she released her first solo single DUSKY SHAPPO EP. This title related to an 18th century African sleeve girl called Phyllis Wheatley. She became a poet but because she wasn't allowed to publish her work in USA so she went to England where she became famous. Carleen could identify with her own life, the seperation from her parents, not being accepted by your country and having to seek your future elsewhere. 'Cause she knew her country wasn't interested in what she had to offer. "Singing is what I do for a living. It helps give me a reason to put up with all the other stuff, because when I sing in front of an audience I get something back." told she once in an interview. In 1994 Carleen ahd released her very first solo album entitled TRUE SPIRIT. And of course the expectations after the successful DUSKY SAPPHO EP were high. So the question was simple, what will Carleen serve us? In collaboration with the British producer Ian Green, came she up with a modern danceable solo album. Some tracks on TRUE SPIRIT have already been showcased on the EP and the single MAMA SAID was the closest thing to the street soul vive of APPARENTLY NOTHING. For exemple MORNING LOVING is deep and thoughtful about personal feelings where the Young Disciples delivered warnings about the poisoning of our planet. An other standout track was NERVOUS BREAKDOWN, which also got a single release, an edgy and disjointed funker with superb funky horns. On her second album BLESSED BURDEN, Carleen showed us her great talent in writing songs. Tracks like LEOPARDS IN THE TEMPLE and PEACE IN THE VALLEY are simply beautiful. Her remake of Paul McCartney's MAYBE I'M AMAZED got heavy airplay on various radio stations European-wide. Well selected guest musicians like Brian Auger, Matt Deighton from the Acid Jazz/Folk outfit Mother Earth, Ernie McKone from Galliano andl Mick Talbot & Paul Weller as well gave this album a great contribution. Also the wide range of musical styles from funky grooves to ballads makes BLESSED BURDEN to an unmissable milestone. Between ROAD TO FREEDOM and those both solo albums Carleen got also a name as a much booked background singer. So her outstanding voice can be heard on albums by Bryan Ferry, Guru's Jazzmatazz Project, Omar, Brand New Heavies etc., just to name a few. Please have a look at the RELEASES section for more details. |
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