Jeremy Williams, Arts Correspondent
Leee John: Still Learning, Still Creating, Still Proud and Bold
Leee John
He has just performed the night before and has been flying around the place, with the constant changes in weather beginning to catch up with him. “One minute it’s hot, one minute it’s cold, one minute it’s so… a little bit snizzly this morning,” he says. “But I’m still on that train of life.”
That, perhaps, is the best way to describe Leee John right now. After decades in music, the frontman of Imagination remains firmly on that train, still recording, still performing and still finding new people and new sounds to work with. His latest collaboration, Proud and Bold, with Byron Stingley, is an uplifting, soulful track that carries a message as much as it carries a groove. And it is just one part of a creative life that currently includes jazz, reggae, film, documentaries and further collaborations.
But before getting into all that, there is a dinner party to arrange.
If Leee John could invite three people, living or dead, to dinner, the first guest comes to him immediately: God.
“I’d want to know why he created the Earth the way he created it,” he says, “and anything he can do to change things now, to make it a better place. You know, the balancing.”
The second would be Martin Luther King. John is struck by the continuing relevance of the struggles King and others fought through, particularly when it comes to racial integration and equality. “It’s so important, and today it’s like their fight didn’t even exist, you know, what’s going on in the world today.”
He is quick to point out that he rarely goes into politics, but his music does sometimes carry that sense of social consciousness. “I’ve got a track called Proud and Bold, and it’s, for me, I did it because I feel we need more upliftment.”
The third guest is a tougher choice. He has to decide between Luther Vandross and Marvin Gaye, two artists with whom he has personal memories rather than merely an admiration from afar.
With Marvin Gaye, there was an encounter backstage on Soul Train. John remembers asking him why he had never released Keep a Light in My Window, a duet with Diana Ross. Gaye didn’t remember the song, so John ended up singing it to him.
Then there was Luther Vandross, whom John met through some of his backing singers. “He sang Just an Illusion to me,” he says. “So those are real magic moments.”
For such a distinguished guest list, the food would have to be equally special. John would draw on his Caribbean heritage, with dishes inspired by St Lucia, where his parents are from. There would be steamed yams, seasoned with herbs, plantain, sweet potato and turkey steaks, prepared with fruit, garlic, chillies and plenty of seasoning. A large mixed salad would follow, with lots of cucumber, before pineapple, mango and other fresh fruit for dessert.
“And plenty of champagne,” he adds, before remembering his own preference: “And sparkling water with lemon, which is what I drink a lot of.”
The conversation then turns to the beginning of his career and what advice he would give his younger self if he had the chance.
“Keep learning,” he says. “Keep educating yourself.”
It is something that has become a personal mantra. Around 15 or 20 years ago, John says, he decided he needed to return to something from his pre-Imagination days — not physically, but psychologically. Before Imagination, he had been involved with three different bands, constantly gigging and moving between projects and musical styles.
“I said, you know what, that concept was really great, let’s go back to that.”
Since then, he has deliberately continued to work across different genres and with different musicians. Jazz, reggae, dance music — all of it has become part of the journey. The point, he says, is to keep expanding your grounding.
“I would go back to myself and just say, 'keep on doing what you’re doing. Keep learning. Don’t stop.'”
That curiosity also informs his answer when asked which song he wishes he had written. There are plenty to choose from, but one comes to mind: The Greatest Love of All.
“I think that’s such a beautiful song,” he says. “The lyrics are so enlightening.”
John is fascinated by the history behind the music, particularly the stories that can get lost over time. He talks about Linda Creed, who co-wrote the song, and her wider work as a songwriter. He also points out that The Greatest Love of All was originally associated with The Greatest, the film about Muhammad Ali.
It is this kind of musical archaeology that John has always loved. As a young man, he would study the backs of albums, looking at who played what, who wrote the songs, who produced them and who worked on the artwork.
“I loved music,” he says. “I love the industry and what I’m doing.”
There was something else going on, too. As a young Black person growing up in Britain — and having spent time living in America with his father — he was drawn towards anything that reflected Black culture and identity.
“Anything that had any blackness, you just gravitate to,” he says. “Because you want to see yourself out there.”
That desire to connect and reflect something meaningful is also at the heart of Proud and Bold, his collaboration with Byron Stingley.
The story goes back to the late 1980s, when Imagination was touring America. John met Stingley at a record shop signing in Chicago, where Stingley worked. The young Byron told him he wanted to become a singer, and John encouraged him.
Years later, they were brought back together through mutual friends, eventually leading to John writing Give Into Love. The song found its way to producer Peter Rohoff, who intended to record it for Ten City. Byron eventually sang it.
John still wanted to create something directly with him. Both shared a love of Eddie Kendricks, and after discovering that Byron had already covered many of the Kendricks songs they discussed, John decided there was only one thing left to do.
“I thought, you know what, I’m going to write a song in that sort of style, but I want it to be uplifting and a message song that we can all relate to.”
He wrote and produced Proud and Bold, bringing in DJ Destruction to work on the mix, with Boogie Back and Eddie McCone also contributing. The recording has an organic quality that John particularly values, with musicians including Tony Baker on keyboards, Izzy on bass and Eve Everson on guitar.
“I wanted to go for that kind of uplifting sound,” he says. “And it’s really had some strong response from all the DJs.”
That instinct for collaboration has been a constant throughout his career, although John admits there is no simple formula for knowing when two artists will work well together.
“You never know,” he says.
Sometimes it is about an existing friendship. Sometimes it is simply about being curious enough to try something. His work with Plastic Patron from Belgium came about through their existing relationship and shared sense of humour. His collaboration with the Gorillaz was similarly organic.
Damien and the Gorillaz live near John, and they invited him to come in and work with them. He arrived expecting to put his “writer’s hat” on, only to discover that they already had strong memories of Imagination from Top of the Pops.
Then he started experimenting with his voice.
“As soon as I went into my falsetto voice, they went, ‘That’s it, that’s it!’”
The collaboration went on to become much more than a studio encounter. John has appeared with the Gorillaz on stage and was recently brought out as a surprise guest at one of their shows.
He also looks back particularly fondly on his work on The Lost Chord, where he played a protector of the sea. The visual transformation involved hours of makeup and costume work, with several directors and animators working to incorporate his movements into the finished piece.
“It was like one of the highlights of my career doing that,” he says. “I enjoyed it.”
And if John’s career has always been about movement, there is no sign of it slowing down. He has been exploring jazz, including a recent EP, Jazzz, and recalls recording Blue Skies with Hélène Delmas, who was 86 at the time.
“She still sounds amazing,” he says.
He has also recorded Visions with Mike Lindup of Level 42 and worked on a smooth-jazz album with Bill Sharpe of Shakatak. The lockdown brought an unexpected new challenge when he was forced to record his own vocals without his usual engineer.
“I’m very lazy when it comes to all that,” he laughs. “I go, ‘Oh, let me do it.’ But I had to do everything myself.”
The result included Take Me Back, which became a number-one soul track.
There is reggae work with Dennis Bovell, more collaborations on the horizon and further projects that continue to move him into new territory. He is also working on film and documentary projects, including Flashback, a long-running project exploring British Black music for which he has conducted more than 100 interviews.
His connection to St Lucia has also inspired I Love St Lucia, a documentary looking at the island through the eyes of people who live and work there. Another project grew from his concerns around knife crime among young people, following his version of Police and Thieves.
John has even found himself portrayed on screen. His story and that of his family intersect with Steve McQueen’s Small Axe series, with Tyrone Huntley portraying John and his mother also appearing in the story.
Leee John
And so does the desire to keep moving.
Proud and Bold is the immediate focus, with another round of remixes on the way. John has even decided to release the acapella for DJs after repeatedly being asked if they could work with the vocal.
“Everybody was saying, ‘Oh, can I do it, can I do it, can I do it?’” he says. “So I thought, you know what, I’m going to do a special thing where you can go online and get the acapella.”
After everything — the music, the collaborations, the documentaries, the acting, the travelling and the endless new ideas — John is still on that train of life.
Still learning. Still experimenting. Still looking for the next thing.
And, as the title of his latest collaboration suggests, still proud and bold.
For all new music, videos and live tour dates check out: www.leeejohn.com