An authentic
helping of funk and sweet-soul with a touch of Afrobeat, ‘Wishes & Wants’
sees London diva Shirley giving it her all, with vocals carrying scorned fury,
heartfelt longing and joyous celebration. Davis’ vocal reach, echoes the greats
of soul music such as Marva Whitney – whom Davis has sung backup vocals for –
and Gladys Knight, as well as contemporary artists such as Macy Gray and Sharon
Jones – the latter a friend and mentor to Davis and a pivotal figure in her
incredible tale.
The album
was written by Davis in tandem with the Silverbacks musical director and lead
guitarist Eduardo Martínez, plus song-writer Marc Ibarz, and it’s a welcome
new addition to the lineage of classic soul albums defined by the struggle of a
black woman in life, love and loss. Says Davis “We write together – they
understand my life story and all I’ve been through”.
Davis was
born in 1974 to Jamaican parents in northwest London – in the shadow of concert
venue Wembley Arena, a center of music superstardom that was to have a defining
effect on her life. Aged just 12 she started her “best job ever” selling
programs and tee-shirts at concerts given by Prince, Michael and Janet Jackson,
the Rolling Stones, Pink Floyd and most memorably for her, Stevie Wonder, “My
biggest inspiration”.
At the age
of just fifteen Davis fell in love, marrying a year later and subsequently
moving to the Australian outback where her new husband was from. Life was not
easy for this young, black Londoner: “I felt like an alien”. At the age of 20
she had a daughter and by 23 she was divorced, moving to Melbourne, a single
mother in a foreign land: “I didn’t know who I was”. A friend suggested she
start singing and within weeks of moving to Melbourne she landed herself a gig
as lead vocalist for a local soul and funk band: “when I started singing I
found myself – it was a life-line”.
Encouraged
to take formal singing classes, studying jazz, blues and other black music
styles Davis soon became a fixture on Melbourne’s local soul and funk scene
performing with various outfits such as Deep Street Soul and the acclaimed
Grand Wazoo – Australia’s premier retro soul and funk outfit. This led to Davis
becoming the go-to-backing vocalist for soul royalty such as Wilson Pickett,
Marva Whitney and Lee Fields – as well as contemporary soul bands such as Osaka
Monaurail – when they toured Australia.
In 2005
Australian pop-dance outfit Deepface enlisted Davis as vocalist – they
eventually signed to Warner Music, scored a few chart hits and regularly
performed to crowds over 30,000 – yet Davis’s most important musical experience
was still to come. In the crowd at a Sharon Jones show in Melbourne in 2007 she
was plucked out of the crowd by Jones to sing with her – and so began a decade
of friendship “She was a mentor to me. She told me I could sing – she
encouraged me. She had the biggest impact on my life”.
When Davis’s
daughter moved to London in 2011 Davis found herself rudderless and on the spur
of the moment quit everything and enlisted as a singer on a cruise ship,
sailing the world for three years – until a chance encounter with Jones, her
“guiding light’ changed everything. On vacation in Madrid in 2014, she went to
see Jones in concert and ended up performing alongside her. In the crowd that
night were Alberto “Tuco” Peces and Genesis Candela from Tucxone who were
floored by this voice – Davis returned to Australia yet the label tracked her
down and invited her to come to Madrid and record an album. Davis jumped at the
chance and moved to Madrid later that year. Introduced to the Silverbacks, the
connection between them was instant and after weeks of rehearsals, they
recorded their debut album ‘Black Rose’ in a few weeks late in 2015. Released
to great acclaim in 2016 the album put Davis and her band firmly on the modern
soul and funk map – yet with ‘Wishes & Wants’ they take it up a notch.
The album
opens with the gritty, righteous funk of ‘Wishes & Wants’ before moving
into the red hot soul of ‘Like Fire’. Davis channels her inner Winehouse on the
aggrieved soul stomper ‘Treat Me Better’ before turning the tables on the male
protagonist in the uptempo funky dancer ‘Kisses’ describing him as someone who
is “ugly…. but kisses so good!”. On “Silverbacks theme” Davis lets the band do
the talking on a rolling groove where organ, horns, guitar and drums battle it
out whilst “Nightlife” is a deliciously bumping slice of heavy Afro-funk and
‘All about Music” is heavenly Southern Soul of the caliber Marva Whitney was
famous for.
With ‘Wishes
& Wants’ Davis and the Silverbacks keep the torch of funk and soul burning
bright as they carve their names into the lineage of contemporary greats. “The
new album benefits from our confidence, from our mutual respect and
appreciation of each other as musicians and performers. I’m not going to get
this sound from any other band in Europe” states Shirley. “This is the only
thing I know how to do here, and this is what I believe I will do for the rest
of my life. I am meant to be the soul diva of Europe”. The spirit of Sharon
Jones lives on…
Track
Listing
“Wishes
& Wants”
“Fire”
“Treat Me
Better”
“Kisses”
“Nightlife”
“All About
Music”
“Smile”
“Trouble
& Trials”
“Woman
Dignity”
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