Arm Trading, Joan

Joan Armatrade (b. December 9, 1950, Buster , St. Kitts Island, West Indies) - British vocalist, guitarist, pianist, composer, songwriter, producer. ^[2] .

Joan Armastrading
basic information
Date of Birth	December 9, 1950 ( 1950-12-09 ) (68 years old)
Place of Birth	Buster , Saint Kitts , Saint Kitts
A country
Professions	, , , ,
Years of activity	- present time
Singing voice
Instruments	, and
Genres
Labels	, , , and
Awards
joanarmatrading.com

Born on the island of St. Kitts, British West Indies, was the third of six children ^{[3] [4]} . Her mother was from Anguilla , her father from St. Kitts ^[5] . The Arm Trading family arrived in Birmingham in 1958, where Joan learned to play the guitar and piano and in the late 1960s, through the mediation of another Caribbean immigrant - Pam Nestor - she was faced with the world of pop music. In the early 1970s, both debuted in the London version of the musical Hair , and also composed songs together. However, their paths diverged when in 1972 producer Gus Dudgeon chose Joan as the main vocalist of the debut album Whatevers For Us, a repertoire for which both girls wrote. However, this disc, on which the vocalist was accompanied by guitarist Dave Johnston and drummer Ray Cooper, despite favorable reviews, did not become a bestseller. The company Curb , which released this album, decided to "sell" the performer to the American concern A & M. In 1975, Joan entered into an agreement with A&M, and Pete Gij became her first producer at the new company. The result of their collaboration was the album Back To The Night , and although such musicians as Andy Summers and Gene Rossel took part in the recording, the records were not in great demand.

The turning point in Joan's career was 1976, when her first of four albums, produced by Glyn Johnson, Joan Armatrading , hit the British Top 20 longplay, and Love & Affection hit the top ten singles. The albums Show Some Emotion and That The Limit sold even better than the previous one, but did not have hit singles. 1979 1979 Longplay Steppin 'Out , recorded during concerts in the USA, crowned the fruitful collaboration of the singer and her producer, but this work was rather coolly received both in Britain and in America.

For a short time, Armatrade worked with producer Henry Dewey, but this did not bring much success to the performer. The single Rosic only hit the bottom of the chart, and the How Cruel mini-album was only released in the USA and continental Europe. Another producer Joan was Richard Gotterer, a former member of The Strangeloves and producer of the first album by Blondie . This time the choice was successful. The 1980 album Me, Myself, I entered the American Top-40, and the single All The Way From America from this album received moderate popularity in the UK.

In 1981, under the direction of Steve Lilliwight, the album Walk Under Ladders led the singer to the famous rhythm section (from Bob Dylan's work) from Jamaica: Sly Danbury (drums) and Robbie Shakespeare - bass player, as well as Andy Partridge - vocalist of the XTS group and Thomas Dolby on keyboards. With this disc, which has become popular in the United States, and less in Britain, the single-works I'm I'm Lucky and No Love have been produced. The 1983 Keyplay of The Key was also produced by Lilliwight, although the director of the single hit Drop The Pilot and What Do The Boys Dream was Wal Gerey. This disc, as well as the Track Record collection, consolidated the artist's high positions in Britain. Joan became a performer who has her own circle of fans, not very big, but very devoted.

The 1985 Secret Secrets record was produced by Mike Howlett, however, while the single Temptation was still modestly successful, the album itself, even though the photographer Robert Mapplethorpe was popular with the cover, was a fiasco in the United States. The next work, the album Sleight Of Hand , Armastrade produced herself, but the result was again bad. In 1988, the singer managed to invite such recognized instrumentalists as Mark Knopfler from Dire Straits and Mark Brezhiski from Big Country to the studio, but this did not affect the success of The Shouting Stage . The differences in the style of Armature trading with the tastes of the mass consumer were confirmed by the failure of the Hearts & Flowers album. However, Armastrading still achieved professional stabilization somewhere on the border of the first and second league of British rock, its records, although regularly received critical reviews from critics, were not always liked by the audience. The charity concerts organized by the Royal Family and Amnesty International , and in 1988 by supporters of Nelson Mandela returned some fame to the singer. Armastrading has always kept its distance from politics, but in 1992, it sharply protested when it saw its name on the list of celebrities supporting the conservative party of Great Britain. However, no matter how popular Joan Armaging was, she still remains the first black singer who managed to get the same high positions in Britain as white performers. She received the Ivor Novello Awards in 1996 ^[6] and the Order of the British Empire in 2001.