- Michael Grant - born 7 January 1969, Ontario,
Canada
- keyboards, vocals
- Kelvin Grant - born 9 July 1971, Birmingham
- guitar,
vocals
- Dennis Seaton - born 2 March 1967 - lead
vocals, percussion
- Patrick Waite - born 16 May 1968 – died 18 February 1993 - bass, vocals
- Freddie "Junior" Waite - born 23 May 1967 - drums,
vocals
Biography
Although schoolboys, the group managed to secure gigs at
certain Birmingham pubs and released a single, "Political" /
"Generals", on a local record
label, 021 Records. An appearance on BBC
Radio 1 disc jockey John
Peel's evening show brought further attention to the group, and they
were signed to MCA Records.
By that time, founding father Frederick Waite had backed down, to be
replaced by Dennis Seaton as lead singer.During the autumn of 1982, the group issued one of the fastest-selling
singles of the year in "Pass the Dutchie". Based on the Mighty Diamonds "Pass The Koutchie" (a song about cannabis), the title had been subtly altered to feature the patois "dutchie",
referring to a type of pot used for cooking.
This idea is reinforced throughout the political and economic overtones
throughout the song about extreme poverty and Musical Youth asking the
question "How does it feel when ya got no food?"[citation needed] The record went to Number 1 in the UK Singles Chart in October 1982.It went on to sell over four million copies,and was nominated for a Grammy
Award. A U.S. Top 10
placing also followed in the Billboard Hot 100 chart.The accompanying video made them the first black
artists to be played on MTV.
The follow-up, "Youth Of Today", reached number 13 in the UK Singles
Chart, and early in 1983, "Never Gonna Give You Up", climbed to UK
number 6.Minor successes with "Heartbreaker" and "Tell Me Why", were succeeded
by a collaboration with Donna
Summer on the UK Top 20 hit,
"Unconditional Love".
A revival of Desmond Dekker's "007" saw them back in the
Top 30, but after one final hit with "Sixteen", they fell from
commercial grace.
They subsequently split up in 1985 when Seaton left the band.
The Grant brothers remained involved in the music industry, while Seaton released a solo album in 1989, before going on to form his own band,
XMY.
Plans to re-form were initially scotched when on 18 February 1993,
Patrick Waite, who had gone on to a career of juvenile crime, died in Birmingham,[5]
aged 24, of natural causes (hereditary heart condition), whilst
awaiting a court appearance on drug charges[1].
He is buried at Brandwood End Cemetery. In 2001,
Musical Youth reformed. They were set to perform on the 'Here & Now'
tour, which was to feature performances by
other musicians
from the 1980s. However, because of the 11 September terrorist attacks in New York,
the tour was cancelled.
However, by 2003 Musical Youth were back, appearing in a 1980s
nostalgia tour. By 2005, now reduced to just a duo of Michael Grant and Dennis Seaton,
they performed at the Wiesen festival in Austria. |
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