Joan Armatrading - Self Title
1976 A & M Records Inc.
Joan Armatrading moved with her family to Birmingham, England in 1958. Her first job was working at Rabone Chesterman (makers of fine engineering tools), in Hockley, Birmingham. She was sacked from this job because she insisted in bringing her guitar to work, and playing during tea breaks. In the early 1970s she moved to London to perform in a repertory production of Hair (musical). There she met Pam Nestor, with whom she began writing songs. They worked together on the album Whatever"s for Us, released on the Cube label in 1972. Cube, however, considered Armatrading to be the more likely star material and the album was credited to her alone. These events produced a tension which resulted in the breaking up of this musical partnership, and resulted in a period of inactivity for Armatrading while she extracted herself from her contract with Cube Records.
It was only in 1975 that she was free to sign for A&M, and issued Back to the Night, which was promoted on tour with a six-piece jazz-pop group called The Movies. Joan credited up and coming UK singer Elkie Brooks on the sleeve notes as she had cooked for Joan and the band in the studio while making the album, which was produced by Elkie"s then husband Pete Gage. A major publicity relaunch in 1976 and the involvement of producer Glyn Johns propelled her next album, Joan Armatrading, into one of the top best sellers of the year, and spawned the hit single Love and Affection. The album mixed acoustic work with jazz-influenced material, and this style was retained for the 1977 follow-up Show some Emotion, which was also produced by Glyn Johns as was 1978"s To the Limit. These albums included songs which continue to be staples of Armatrading"s live shows, including Willow, Down to Zero and Kissin" and a Huggin. A live album Steppin" Out in 1979 showcased her well-honed stage act.
She gained a new audience following her writing and performing The Flight of the Wild Geese, which was used during the opening and end titles for the 1976 war film The Wild Geese.
In 1980 Armatrading radically revised her playing style and released Me, Myself, I, a harder pop-oriented album produced by Richard Gottehrer, who had also worked on albums by Blondie and Robert Johnson. The same pop style was also evident on the 1981 album Walk under Ladders and 1983"s The Key which produced a hit in the single Drop the Pilot.
She made a vocal cameo appearance on the 1986 Queen album A Kind of Magic during the song Don"t Lose Your Head, recorded for the film Highlander.
She has mixed eclectic musical styles over decades of recording and performing. She has scored several UK hit singles, the biggest of which were Love & Affection, Me Myself I and Drop the Pilot. Generally, her music is mostly pop with forays into rock, folk, jazz, and even reggae. Her popularity is primarily as an album artist and as a singer-songwriter.
Armatrading"s latest album, Into the Blues, is scheduled for release in the United States on May 1, 2007. A video for the first single, A Woman in Love, is circulating on YouTube and similar sites. The album, which Armatrading calls the CD I’ve been promising myself to write for a long time, has a strong blues-rock feel.
Title:
Down to Zero – 3:51
Help Yourself – 4:04
Water With the Wine – 2:48
Love and Affection – 4:28
Save Me – 3:35
Join the Boys – 4:48
People – 3:30
Somebody Who Loves You – 3:33
Like Fire – 5:12
Tall in the Saddle – 5:43
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Joan Armatrading.
