David Grant (born August 8, 1956) – Rise And Shine (1980)

Co-written and produced by Linx co-founders Grant and Peter “Sketch” Martin, this superb upbeat jam inexplicably failed to chart.

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Singer/songwriter and producer David Grant rose to fame as the lead vocalist and co-founder of the early eighties Britfunk group Linx.

Born in Kingston, Jamaica, Grant moved to the UK as a child in the late fifties. He and bassist Peter “Sketch” Martin formed Linx in 1979 after working together at a shop selling high-end audio equipment.

After adding Canute Edwards on guitar, Bob Carter on keyboards and drummer Andy Duncan, they released their debut single “You’re Lying” in a private pressing of 1,000 copies. Co-written by Grant and Martin, it was sold exclusively through City Sounds, a London record store that specialized in funk records. The record turned into a club hit, and the group quickly became favorites in the emerging Britfunk scene. They attracted the attention of Chrysalis Records who re-released the single, and were the first Black group on that label. It went to #15 on the UK charts in October, 1980.

When Linx memorably performed the track live on Top Of The Pops that year, they had a vibe reminiscent of beloved international funk stars Heatwave, although it was a lip-synched and mimed performance.

Their follow up single was the superb, upbeat jam “Rise And Shine,” which Grant and Martin again co-wrote and produced along with keyboardist Bob Carter.

Despite the breakout success of “You’re Lying” and their prominence as one of the leading Britfunk groups, “Rise And Shine” inexplicably did not chart.

The single’s B-side was a superb dub version of their laid back jam “I Won’t Forget,” although it was labeled as an instrumental.

The full vocal version of the track later appeared on their debut LP Intuition, released the following year in 1981.

According to session musician Andy Cave, he was the uncredited drummer on Intuition after the drum tracks needed to be re-done and the group’s new drummer Andy Duncan (who supposedly did not play on the original mix) recommended him for the job:

“Every drummer in London turned down the re record of the drum track…except me…I was young enough, "Dumb" enough and needed the money…so I went into Good Earth studio (in the west end) and re recorded all the drum tracks in one day.”

In 2019, Grant was named a Member of the British Empire (MBE) by Queen Elizabeth II.

#soul #funk #boogie #disco #Britfunk #Linx #DavidGrant