Soul II Soul

Setting up a sound system to play dance records at house and street parties in North London led to unexpected opportunities for founder Jazzie B, whose experiments with dub sounds ultimately resulted in the chart-topping Soul II Soul. Their first singles flopped but they hit it big in 1989 with the irresistible dance floor groove and compelling Caron Wheeler vocals of "Keep On Movin'" and "Back to Life", a UK Number 1 for four weeks. Debut album Club Classics Vol. I topped the UK album charts and, with the Funki Dred clothing line, they had a huge impact on youth black culture in Britain. Using a fluid line-up, second album Vol. II: A New Decade included two more Top 10 hits, "Get a Life" and "A Dream's a Dream" and with third album, Vol. III, the single "Just Right" became another best-seller, while they also topped the US dance charts. By the mid-1990s, however, sales declined and Soul II Soul split in 1998. They reformed for selective shows in 2009 as the Soul II Soul Sound System featuring Carol Wheeler while Alexandra Burke - the daughter of one of their former members Melissa Bell - became a superstar. Several appearances followed along the 2010s, including a new single with "A New Day" (2016) and the live album Origins: The Roots of Soul II Soul that year. In 2017, the band performed with Caron Wheeler and Charlotte Kelly as lead vocalists, before the death of Melissa Bell on August 28, 2017. A new live album, Live at Roundhouse, was released in 2025.