Island Records CID 505
Diane Charlemagne is one of those rare UK sparkling talents. Her voice has been described as a soulful, sensual, swooping energy to flow through an eclectic collection of music. Her songwriting claims an innocent beauty with her use of pseudonyms. Achieving stand-out in the musical genres of drum and bass, jazz, dance and pop cannot be claimed by many artists.
Diane has an exceptional flair for songwriting, and so it comes as no surprise the majority of the material she appears on has in fact been both arranged lyrically and melodically by herself. She writes carefully crafted lyrics and beautifully balanced melodies - often shaded by the twinkling stars of leading artists.
Her roots began in Manchester's Moss Side in the early 80s scene. Starting off in a battle of the bands scenario Diane soon became an associated member of legendary R'n'B group
52nd Street. Diane continued her early successes with the band to include
Tell Me How It Feels (coming soon) which went on to tear up the US Billboard Charts reaching number 15.
The early nineties saw Diane working with
Howie B and
Dobie (Soul II Soul),
Howie B & Dobie were offered a deal with
Island Records. Along with Charlemagne they, allegedly, recorded an album as
Nomad Soul. After only one single,
Candy Mountain, Dobie apparently left because he wasn't happy with where things were heading.
I was also under the impression she was the vocalist with
Cool Down Zone but she doesn't record it in
her discography? Then came the monumental breakthrough of
Inner City Life by
Goldie.
The mid Nineties engaged Diane's voice with
Urban Cookie Collective, releases include
The Key, The Secret. Since then Charlemagne has progressed on the dance scene and moved into house and garage. Working and writing with artists such as
K-Klass, Satoshi Tomiie, Mutiny UK, Santos and
Judge Jules, prior to being invited to tour as a singer with
Moby. Touring for over 3 years, Diane gained worldwide recognition.
Recent years have seen the soulful diva signed with Chrysalis Music and continuing to work with respected acts such as, collaborations with
London Electricity,
2020Soundsystem and
Prayer Box. Diane was part of The Gospel Choir performance of
Cry Of Innocence - the opera in respect of the tragic death of 19 year old
Stephen Lawrence.
OK, so this is a request and I found it in the crates. The SIIS boys get a little quirky on this oddball leftfielder. Using that guitar sample that I know so well but can't put a name too, this avoids a pigeonhole by standing firmly astride the Jazz & Soul division. Hard to choose between the Radio Mix and the Nellee Hooper Mix but both work well.
The Download Link is here:
DownloadFilename: Nomad Soul.rar Filesize: 27.31 MB
