»Easily one of the seven world wonders of the world, the vocally gifted Davenport doesn‘t just sing lyrics, she inhabits them .. a soulful delivery with spirited, funk-kissed rhythms. This is the real deal, Heavies new again!«  Billboard

“They are back with a vengeance.” So said The Hollywood Reporter’s Craig Rosen in his glowing May 2006 review of The Brand New Heavies’ sizzling performance at the legendary Roxy Nightclub in Los Angeles, USA, their first US performance in nearly a decade.

The Heavies’ triumphant return marks the re-emergence of one of the most innovative, influential, R&B and funk groups of the last 15-plus years. In the mid-1980s, after bonding over their love of American funk and soul music - notably James Brown and the Meters - Simon Bartholomew, Jan Kincaid and Andrew Levy formed The Brand New Heavies as an instrumental outfit. Based in West London, the band fitted perfectly into the rare groove and then acid jazz club scenes at the time, which also became associated with other notable long standing career artists such as Jamiroquai and Incognito.

In 1990, the Heavies found its voice with the addition of N’Dea Davenport, introduced to the band via their hot US label, Delicious Vinyl. In 1991, the group scored a US No. 3 R&B hit with “Never Stop,” a highlight from its self-titled debut album. In the UK the debut album was receiving rave reviews and spawned further hits in “Dream Come True” and “Don’t Let It Go To Your Head”.

Heavy Rhyme Experience: Vol. 1, the Heavies second album, featured the group pairing with such red-hot rappers as Grand Puba, Kool G. Rap and Gang Starr’s Guru, among others. The album solidified the group’s standing in both the rap and R&B worlds

Brother Sister, the third album released in 1994, continued the momentum with big crossover hits “Dream On Dreamer,” “Midnight At The Oasis” and “Back To Love.” A tremendous run of critical acclaim and four Top 20 hits -- “Never Stop,” “Stay This Way” (1991), “Dream on Dreamer” (1994) and “Sometimes” (1997) - established the Heavies as a creative and commercial force whose influence helped birth the neo soul movement, the acclaimed artistic explosion of the mid 1990s that included D’Angelo, Erykah Badu, Jill Scott and a host of others.

At the peak of their success in the mid 90’s N’Dea Davenport decided to leave pursue a solo career. The Heavies replaced N’Dea with a succession of talented vocalists but none could quite capture the magic that the band created with their original lead singer. Their fourth album, Shelter, was released in 1997, and spawned the hits “Sometimes” and “You are the Universe”, amongst others, and featured the vocal talents of Siedah Garrett.

Since leaving Warner Music in 2000, the band have largely existed under the radar of the hit obsessed music industry, continuing to record, tour and promote, with consistent demand for them to appear all over the world. In 2002 they released a Japan only new album We Won’t Stop, now a sought after fan rarity, and in 2004 returned to the UK after a prolonged absence with AllAbouTheFunk, which was critically well received by the media, but didn’t repeat their earlier commercial success.

And after a decade apart the original Heavies are back!

Get Used To It, the return to form new studio album, was initially released in the US in June 2006, via their long standing relationship with Delicious Vinyl, and supported by Starbucks as well as traditional retail distribution. It was subsequently made available around the world via a variety of license and distribution deals.

Meeting with universal acclaim from media and fans alike, 2006 went by in a blur with touring and promotion happening in USA, UK, Europe and Japan, including TV performances in the US on Conan O’Brien and Jimmy Kimmel, and in the UK on Charlotte Church, performing a killer version of White Stripes’ Seven Nation Army.

The band are also having ongoing success with music synchronizations, more recently for Chris Rock’s movie “I Think I Love My Wife”; Scholl’s Party Feet UK TV ad; US and UK box office no.1 smash movie Happy Feet, which features Jump N Move from the classic Brand New Heavies album The Heavy Rhyme Experience – Volume 1. And in 2008 with Lancome – see below. Which demonstrates the Heavies music is as relevant as its ever been.

In February 2007 The Heavies completely sold out The Barbican in London as part of the BBC’s Soul Britannia TV series. In May the band headlined the prestigious 40th Anniversary of the infamous Southport Soul Weekender, and in June headlined the last night at the Capital Jazz Festival in Washington DC. They also performed across Europe throughout the summer.

In August 2007 the band returned to the US for their third nationwide tour in a year – a co-headlining tour with Macy Gray, which proved to be a treat for fans of both acts. The album continued to do well, re-awakening the band’s fanbase who have waited so long for N’Dea to re-join. The band finished the year in November with its second tour of Japan/Korea within the space of 12 months – back due to popular demand. In between The Heavies started writing towards their seventh studio album.

Fast forward to 2008 and, after a short time off, the band returned to perform in LA before the 50th Grammys, which they attended, in February, with a stellar turn out for a unique show which featured guest performances from Grammy nominated Vikter Duplaix and the legendary Caron Wheeler from Soul 11 Soul. Prince turned up and watched the whole show, his second visit to a Heavies concert in a decade!

In June 2008 The Heavies were chosen by French cosmetics brand Lancome to record a new version of a Cole Porter Classic, C’est Magnifique, for a new TV advert that was being created for a brand new perfume launch called Magnifique, with the TV ad featuring Anne Hathaway, of Devil Wears Prada fame. The campaign is massive and global, and runs in 65 markets from August 2008, and gives the band an unprecedented level of exposure around the world, with the objective to deliver a top 10 selling global brand.

The Heavies started touring again in summer 2008 doing European Summer Festivals, as well as performances before the Formula One Grand Prix in Singapore, and the Capital Jazz cruise in Bermuda. In October 2008 they do they begin their first UK and European tour for almost a decade, and the first since N’Dea rejoined the group. And to round off the year they will visit again one of their favourite places, Japan, in December, before a well earned break ahead of an intensive writing and recording schedule early in 2009.

N’Dea comments “Its been interesting coming back after being apart…its like riding a bicycle but our different interests since we last worked together now have an opportunity to flourish. We were going in different directions but I think we are now right back where we should be with this new album”.

The original Heavies are back!