(* ...featuring Rose Windross )
Chart entered : 21 May 1988
Chart peak : 63
Number of hits : 15
Soul II Soul were a sound system collective originating in London in 1977 which explains their fondness for the "featuring" credit and the difficulty of determining exactly who was in the group over the years. The main man was undoubtedly Trevor "Jazzie B " Romeo ( born 1963 ) a DJ, producer, night club proprietor and clothes seller. He was accompanied by Philip "Daddae" Harvey , a multi-instrumentalist from London., DJ Aitch B, programmer Jazzi Q and vocalists Doreen Waddell, Rose Windross and Caron Wheeler. Caron was considerably more experienced than the others* having been making records since the late seventies, first with female reggae trio Brown Sugar, then with session backing vocalists Afrodiziak. They can be heard on major hits such as Beat Surrender and Nelson Mandela.
By 1988 Jazzie had decided it was time to make his own records and "Fairplay" was the group's first release on 10 Records. Rose wrote most of the song with some help from Jazzie who produced it alongside his Bristol-based rival Nellee Hooper .The lyric bewails the fate of an abandoned lover before switching to an advert for the group's Sunday shows and similarly the music mixes soulful singing with hip hop beats, a marriage that would become the group's lasting legacy. Understated keyboards keep the song accessible. Rose's vocal certainly merits the featuring credit, ranging from near-rap to Mnnie Ripperton swoops. Although very similar in sound the song lacks the killer hooks of their big hits the following year.
* Rose's wikipedia entry currently says she's the same person as reggae singer Rosemarie Walters who cut an album in 1983 but I can't find any confirmation for this claim.
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