Jaki Graham

Graham originally sang in a band called Ferrari, and then went on to the band Medium Wave, before becoming a backing vocalist for UB40. She appeared on their version of Jimmy Cliff's "Many Rivers to Cross" as well as UB40's own "Sing Our Own Song" (1986). She was also in a band called 'White Lines' with former 'Bakerloo' and 'Little Acre' sax player George Northall in 1977. She went on to achieve notable solo chart success, including two singles in which she duetted with the former Linx member, and future Fame Academy vocal coach, David Grant.

Amongst her UK chart entries were Top 10 placings for "Could It Be I'm Falling in Love" (#5), "Round and Around" (#9) and "Set Me Free" (#7). She also hit the Top 20 with her second Grant duet, "Mated" (#20), "Step Right Up" (#15) and "Breaking Away" (#16).

In 1990 she provided backing vocals on Kim Wilde's, "I Can't Say Goodbye". In 1993 she also provided vocals for "Dreams" and "Jack & Jill", two singles released by the dance music outfit, 'Essence'.

Despite her star status in the UK, Graham's success in the United States failed to cross over from the dance/club audiences. Her output beyond the 1980s has been neither as prolific or high-profile, with many of her albums seeing release only in Japan, where she remains popular.[1] Graham's biggest international success was reaching number one on the Billboard Hot Dance Club Play chart in 1994, with her cover version of Chaka Khan's hit, "Ain't Nobody".

In 2005, Graham performed on the ITV singing contest, Hit Me Baby One More Time singing her "Set Me Free" and a version of Will Young's, "Your Game". Graham's most recent single, a cover of Stevie Wonder's "Superstition", was released exclusively to HMV stores on 21 November 2005.

In 2008, EMI announced the release of expanded versions of Graham's Heaven Knows and Breaking Away albums. These versions included many 12" mixes of her singles, which until now have only been available on vinyl On 27 April 2009 her third album, 1989's From Now On, was re-released in an expanded download only version, again featuring additional bonus tracks.

On 23 October 2009, she performed at the Birmingham Town Hall with the BBC's Big Band, to perform special arrangements of Gershwin songs, in a show entitled 'Gershwin and Soul'. Due to the success of this show (which was transmitted on BBC Radio 2 in November 2009), Graham went on to perform Duke Ellington's songs on 12 March 2010. Songs from both shows will feature on her new live album, due for release in early 2011.

Cherry Pop Records re-released Graham's 1986 album Breaking Away on CD in August 2010. The album contained three additional bonus tracks that were not featured on the 2008 digital release by EMI. In October 2010, Graham's new best of album entitled, Absolute Essential - The Very Best of Jaki Graham, was released by Demon Music in the UK.