Rhythm & Brits

Abstract

A close look at recent US pop and R&B surveys shows that UK R&B acts rarely make the US charts. One exception was Mark Morrison's major breakthrough with "Return of the Mack."

Headnote

U.K. IS BLUE OVER U.S. RADIO'S RELUCTANCE TO BREAK ACTS

LONDON--Spotters of British R&B talent on the Billboard charts of late might be tempted to conclude that Mark Morrison is not just a soul success story but our sole success story.

Closer examination of the U.S. pop and R&B surveys of the past year reveals a somewhat brighter picture of the U.K.'s transatlantic crossings, but still confirms that Morrison's major breakthrough with "Return Of The Mack" (on the Atlantic label) remains an unusual occurrence.

Check closer still, and it becomes clear that British acts of an R&B persuasion sometimes find a warmer welcome outside of the format's radio fraternity than within it.

CRAZY FOR MORRISON

Morrison's "Return Of The Mack" album is certified platinum in the U.S., but he struggled to follow through on the single's momentum when the next single, "Crazy," stopped short of the Hot 100. Morrison's much-publicized imprisonment in the U.K. can hardly be viewed as a smart career move, but by this April, he had secured a lower Hot 100 placing for another single, "Moan & Groan," which was also halfway up the Hot R&B Singles chart by mid-April.

One of the brightest new British acts of the 1997-98 season has been London's All Saints, whose first two domestic smash hits, "I Know Where It's At" and "Never Ever," bridged the pop-soul divide across Europe. In the U.S., where the group appears on London/Island, early acceptance came largely at pop radio, helping "I Know" to No. 36 on Billboard's Hot 100 Singles chart in March.

London did not push "I Know Where It's At" at R&B radio, recognizing that, for all its soulful feel, it was essentially a pop single. Says London U.S. president Peter Koepke, "Nobody felt that 'I Know' was a track that could sustain life at black radio, but everyone feels that 'Never Ever' is." That song was being worked at pop by the label at press time, but Koepke notes the early interest of several R&B programmers.

The London Records executive feels that the infrastructure of urban radio in the U.S. continues to make it hard for intemational acts to jump into that market right out of the box.

"I think you'll find most European artists in the [U.S.] R&B market will first have to have pop success to get noticed in that format. It's generally very hard for [British] artists, no matter whether they're black or white, to have black success. I can't think of too many that have. It's more to do with the programmers of R&B radio, who feel culturally, I guess, not as familiar with R&B from England."

Some U.K.-based R&B acts have been able to boost their international credibility by having American talent in the ranks. The Brand New Heavies, signed in Britain to ffrr/London, have used the services of two consecutive American vocalists, N'Dea Davenport and Siedah Garrett. The latter's assured, authentic tones on the group's 1997 set, "Shelter," helped the group's U.S. label, Delicious Vinyl/Red Ant, take the album to No. 29 on the Top R&B Albums chart, while cuts such as "Sometimes" took the band into the Top Club Play chart; that song also climbed to No. 20 on the Hot R&B Singles chart.

JAMIROQUAI BREAKTHROUGH

Perhaps the most notable breakthrough of the past year for British R&B-influenced music on the American scene has been that of Jamiroquai. Long a European success story for the Sony S2 label, the group once accused of being a mere Stevie Wonder soundalike has grown into its own style and added a substantial American audience in the process.

Jamiroquai had previously enjoyed a measure of U.S. acceptance, notably on the Club Play chart with "Space Cowboy," from its 1994 album "Retum Of The Space Cowboy," but nothing on the scale of its third album, 'Traveling Without Moving." Released in the U.S. on Work/Epic, the album spent more than a year on The Billboard 200 and is certified platinum.

But Jamiroquai's belated American achievements cannot be claimed as the triumph of R&B radio, according to the band's London-based press representative, Dave Woolf, who has worked with the band since the earliest days. "They've had a lot of attention through their black-music peers, in things like Vibe magazine," says Woolf, "but their success in the States is chiefly through MTV. 'Virtual Insanity' [the lead track from 'Moving'] wasn't released as a single, but it was heavily rotated on MTV and went on to win four MTV [Video Music] Awards."

Woolf feels that promotional avenues such as video channels often offer better support for acts, such as Jamiroquai, that not only have their European-ness held against them in some quarters but also fall between the cracks of the mainstream U.S. radio formats.

"It's to do with the structure within labels," he says. "The general rule is that black-music departments work black acts."

ALI FOR ONE

One Londoner who has steered his ship at least some distance through the difficult waters of R&B radio formatting of late is Island Records artist Ali. His "Love Letters" single was in rotation at 23 reporters to R&B Airplay Monitor's radio panels by early April, including mainstream R&B outlet WZHT (Hot 105) in Montgomery, Ala., where the song shared airspace with the likes of Boyz II Men, Aretha Franklin and Next.

"A record is a record," says the station's PD/MD, Michael Long, pointing out that he tries never to prejudge a new artist.

Long was not told in advance of Ali's national origins and says it is unlikely to be a positive marketing ploy for labels to do so when they have a Britsoul act on their hands. "Just keep your mouth shut," he says. "I didn't realize Mark Morrison was from the U.K. at first."

In London, Dave Woolf is now co-managing a Midlands-bom contemporary-soul chanteuse who is undergoing a major-label career relaunch. Beverley Knight, previously signed to Dome Records, is now signed worldwide to EMI and will have her first single for it, "Made It Back," released this spring on Padophone's Rhythm Series label, with the album "Prodigal Sista" to follow in August.

British fans have long held Knight in the vanguard of British soul talent, thanks to singles such as the U.K. top 40 entry "Flavour Of The Old School" and, with domestic media interest rebuilding around her, believe that she might be the next artist to give domestic R&B some American profile.

"She's probably got the best shot out of a lot of U.K. R&B acts," says Woolf, "but to break a [British] act in the States you have to have them out there and work very, very hard."

FOREIGN MARKETS

WZHT's Long also feels that "the almighty dollar" will continue to speak persuasively when it comes to the marketing budgets required to take new soul artists to an environment that is foreign in more ways than one.

At London Records, Koepke concurs with the programmer's earlier point about Mark Morrison and suggests that the British soulsters most likely to win the backing of R&B radio programmers could be the ones who do not wear their nationality on their sleeve.

"People don't even think of [Morrison] as English," says Koepke. 'They don't know where he's from. With R&B radio, it's not a global thing; they're very reluctant to play anything that's happening outside their community."