Now the revivalists are having a revival of their own. Having sold out the Royal Albert Hall earlier this year, 2026 will see the Brand New Heavies playing venues including the 5,000-capacity Hammersmith Apollo. “It has just completely blown up,” says Levy, of the group’s renewed popularity. “I think people hanker for things that hark to pre-that horrible moment in history – C-O-V-I-D – where everything was happy and funky, and everyone was dancing and raving.”
Ronson and Jagger aside, the band have had several other celebrity admirers. When still called Brother International in 1987, they supported their idol James Brown at Wembley Arena. “We started sound-checking, and he, in his green suit, stood at the side of the stage, listening,” says Levy. It’s perhaps the ultimate compliment that the Godfather of Soul then tried to steal the band’s horn section. “They were really good, and obviously he thought that if you have a local brass section [for future UK shows], you save money on flights,” the bassist explains. Brown’s attempt failed.
Then there was Prince, who saw the Brand New Heavies perform three times. “I was scared to talk to him because we were still in our 20s, and to have an icon like that…” says Levy. “I remember shaking his hand just before I walked on stage, and I thought, ‘Jesus Christ, I can’t play now. He’s going to be looking at my fingers and judging me.’”
Not to mention Stevie Wonder, who playlisted their track Never Stop on his KJLH radio station. They later encountered him at a TV special celebrating Ray Charles’s career. Everyone was wearing penguin suits while the Heavies were in “all this 70s gear”, says Bartholomew. “Backstage, someone said, ‘Do you want to meet Stevie Wonder?’ So we met him and he sang our song [Never Stop] back to us.”
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.telegraph.co.uk ’
