POP MUSIC : Britain Turns on the Black Power

England has long been in love with American black music. The Beatles adored Little Richard. The Rolling Stones worshiped Chuck Berry. Joe Cocker idolized Ray Charles. And everyone--Elton John to George Michael--swears by Motown.

But there’s something different about a new crop of British pop stars who are enthralled with American black music. Unlike the hit-makers of the past, these artists are themselves black.

Some--notably Sade from Africa, Billy Ocean from Trinidad and Terence Trent D’Arby from the United States--are imports, but most are home-grown product: from such cosmopolitan trendoids as Loose Ends and 5 Star to a group of multiracial units that includes Working Week, Pepsi & Shirlie and the Christians.

“Blacks have been making music in England for years, but it’s only been recently that some of us have begun to take America by storm,” observed Leee (sic) John, leader of the England-based R & B/pop group Imagination. Music, he said, represents one of the most promising roads to success for blacks in a country that is plagued by high unemployment.

According to Jeff Forman, an artists and repertory director at Virgin Records in Los Angeles, the ‘80s emergence of British black performers is significant “particularly when you consider the nature of England’s economy. For many, it’s a way off the dole.” He added that the quality of black music from England doesn’t suffer by comparison to American soul: “Black people in this country can be very ethnocentric and feel that we’re the best, musically. I agree that nobody does soul music better than we do. But there is black music coming out of Great Britain that is strong and more diversified. To me, Sade is one of the most appealing artists making music today.”

The artists are black, but their music is a rainbow of stylistic diversity and includes the post-disco accessibility of Mel & Kim, the wacky eccentricity of Hollywood Beyond, the folkish sensibilities of View From the Hill, the reggae fire of Steel Pulse, the hard-core danceability of M/A/R/R/S and the sophisticated jazz stylings of Courtney Pine and the Jazz Warriors. Some of the others rating notice are as follows:

The Pop Scene

Terence Trent D’Arby: Launching his career in England proved to be a brilliant move. With his great cheekbones and flair for writing non-traditional, thought-provoking black pop, the American has become one of the most talked about figures in the industry. His debut album, “Introducing the Hardline According to Terence Trent D’Arby,” has a range and depth to it that invites comparison to Prince, but is so bullishly unique that it stands on its own merit.

Loose Ends: Whereas this style-conscious group once found it tough to crack the United Kingdom’s one national radio station and was chided in the British rock press for sounding “too American,” it had no problem riding to the top of the black charts in this country with its first single, 1985’s “Hangin’ on a String (Contemplating).”

Singer Jane Eugene has a unique and remarkably earthy, sensual vocal style. Like Sade, Anita Baker and other young female singers cut from soulful pop cloth, Eugene shows signs of becoming one of the most interesting style-definers of her generation.

On the recent album, “Zagora,” Eugene, Carl McIntosh and Steve Nichol conjure up a sound that is long on dark, jazz-rooted atmosphere. McIntosh, an equally fine singer, complements Eugene with his own vinegary, insinuatingly sly asides. That a group can seem so cool and sound so warm is no small feat. Philadelphia-based Nick Martinelli produced both albums and helped Loose Ends hone in on a sound that is wholly unique even as it borrows from American jazz/soul sources.

Five Star: Nick Martinelli produced three of the best tracks on “Luxury of Life,” this group’s 1985 debut album; those three cuts, “All Fall Down,” “Let Me Be the One” and “Now I’m in Control,” were also arranged by Loose Ends. Although 5 Star--composed of five singing siblings--has released two subsequent albums, “Luxury of Life” remains its best effort. This group has youthful exuberance, energy and a very studied penchant for looking as pretty as it sounds. That image-consciousness is at the core of its international popularity.

Pepsi & Shirlie: One group that should be an easy sell to American audiences is this interracial duo. The former Wham! back-up singers’ debut album “All Right Now” (the title track of which is a remake of Free’s 1970 rock hit) is as polished and commercial an effort as you’d expect from two young women who spent two years watching George Michael write hit after hit from close proximity. There’s a Chaka Khan-like soulfulness on the track “Heartache,” a bit of Motown-flavored guitar on “Surrender” and “Can’t Give Me Love” even sports nuances of sophisticated pseudo-jazz.

Working Week: The interracial trio’s first two albums--”Working Nights” and “Companeros”--were lushly jazz-rooted, firmly supported by the sturdy vocals of Juliet Roberts. Roberts has a voice as full-bodied and rich as Ruby Turner’s, another promising young black British vocalist. She also sounds like a jazz-tutored Darlene Love (of the ‘60s group the Crystals).

Going the Loose Ends route, Working Week recorded its third album--”Surrender”--in the United States. The result, thanks to New York-based Carl Beatty--best known for his productions with Luther Vandross and George Benson--is an album that runs the gamut from polished, contemporary R&B; (“Come to Me,” “Knocking on Your Door”) to a soaring, gospel-fired tribute to Martin Luther King Jr. (“The Doctor”). While it is radically different from Working Week’s past efforts, “Surrender” is an inviting package and a good introduction to the group.

The Social Commentators

Linton Kwesi Johnson: He is one prominent artist who has never hesitated to comment on the economic and social strife experienced by second-generation black Britons, many of them the offspring of Caribbean men and women who migrated to England in the mid-’50s and early ‘60s. Johnson, whose American counterparts would be Gil Scott-Heron and the Last Poets, writes “dub poetry”--poetry with a built-in reggae rhythm. And while he has recorded several albums, the best introduction for the uninitiated is the 1980 “Bass Culture,” which offers a fascinating glimpse at British life from a wry, unfiltered perspective.

Black Britain: This group also writes and plays music that tackles social concerns. On “Black Britain,” its 1987 debut album, the group cooked up a hearty groove on one cut, “Night People,” designed to satisfy fans of the George Clinton school of funksmanship. But while this band rocks as mightily as its American soul music cousins, it recognizes that there is life beyond the boudoir and the dance floor.

One of the most interesting tracks on the album is “Baby Baby,” a tale of a man driven to a desperate act of violence in order to keep his love supplied with the diamonds and other luxuries of life she desires. Tracks like “Ain’t No Rockin’ in a Police State” focus on police harassment, while “It’s Obvious” and “Black Britain Man” deal with second-class citizenship in one’s adopted homeland.

The Christians: This interracial trio has a sound that is no less commercially attractive than that of Pepsi & Shirlie. But its music touches on subject matter that is infinitely deeper and broader in scope and the group’s debut album, “The Christians,” has already gone platinum in the U.K. Composed of brothers Garry and Russell Christian and keyboardist Henry Priestman, the Christians make music filled with intelligence, not to mention harmonies that owe a stylistic debt to Sam Cooke, Frankie Beverly & Maze and the Persuasions.

While the richly textured harmonies are not unusual, they deliver topics not generally handled in contemporary soul music. The anti-racism stance of “Ideal World” is eloquently and clearly stated, while the religious/romantic redemption of “Born Again” is just ambiguous enough to invite a second and third listen. “Save a Soul in Every Town” is a sardonic look at the zeal that missionaries carry to the unconverted, “And That’s Why” is a dejected lover’s plea for communication.

Whereas many artists avoid controversial subjects for fear of sacrificing commercial appeal, “The Christians” has proven to be enormously commercial in the U.K. It entered the British charts at No. 2, making it the fastest-selling debut record in Island Records’ history.

There are scores of black British artists worth discovering, the above representing only a small sample. Said Imagination’s Leee John: “Black American music has a ‘home-grown’ soul to it that most of us here grew up listening to. Ours just has a bit more individualism to it. It’s different-- and it’s a difference we feel good about.”