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- artist:Shirley Davis & The SilverBacks
- region:Madrid
- release year:2018
- style(s):Soul
- country:Spain
- formats:Audio File / Digital, CD (Compact Disc), LP / Vinyl
- record posted by:Tucxone Records
- label:Tucxone Records
- publisher:Tucxone Records
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Davis was born in 1974 to Jamaican parents in northwest London - in the shadow of concert venue Wembley Arena, a centre 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 teeshirts at concerts given by Prince, Michael and Janet Jackson, the Rolling Stones, Pink Floyd and most memorably for her Stevie Wonder: “My biggest inspiration”.
Aged 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”. Aged 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 comtemporary soul bands such as Osaka Monaurail - when they toured Australia. “Marva Whitney thanked me for singing these songs to audiences,” says Davis.
In 2005 Australian pop-dance outift 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 imapct 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 was XX from Tucxone who was floored by this voice - Davis returned to Australia yet Genesis and Alberto, from Tucxone Records, 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 months 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.