Eddy Grant

Eddy Grant was born in Guyana in 1948 and made his name in Britain, first as one of the founders of the Equals, among the earliest British bands to mix Black and white players. He wrote their best-remembered hit, "Baby, Come Back", in 1967, and played lead guitar and sang backing vocals on it too. Singer, songwriter, producer and multi-instrumentalist, he would go on to invent a genre of his own, ringbang.

Going solo, Grant built a sound that stitched reggae to pop and kept a socially conscious eye on the world. Killer on the Rampage, in 1982, carried "Electric Avenue", a sleek, bubbling synth-and-bass groove that became his biggest international hit, going platinum and picking up a Grammy nomination. "I Don't Wanna Dance" came the same year. Going for Broke in 1984 brought "Romancing the Stone", and File Under Rock in 1988 held "Gimme Hope Jo'anna", a buoyant, bouncing anti-apartheid anthem that tucked its anger inside an irresistible beat.

He recorded for Epic and for Ice Records along the way, and rock radio has never really let go of "Electric Avenue".

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.