Latin Quarter

Latin Quarter are a British pop rock, reggae rock and reggae-pop group, with pop, rock, folk and reggae also associated with their sound. They form in the United Kingdom in 1983 and remain active.

Overview

The group is noted for protest songs. Its best-known song is Radio Africa, first released in 1984 and later re-released several times; it reaches number 19 in the charts in 1986. The act’s original core includes Steve Skaith, Mike Jones and Richard Wright, and later line-ups include Yona Dunsford, Greg Harewood, Carol Douet and Martin Lascalles. Other members listed include Steve Jeffries.

Career

Latin Quarter releases a run of albums through the 1980s and 1990s, including Modern Times in 1985, Mick and Caroline in 1987, Swimming Against The Stream in 1988, Long Pig in 1993, and Bringing Rosa Home in 1997. The compilation Nothing Like Velvet appears in 1990, alongside later reissues of earlier albums and a Radio Africa compilation in 1997. Ocean Head follows in 2012.

After limited UK success and poor support from their record company, the group moves to RCA Germany in 1989. Internal problems lead to the departure of Dunsford and Harewood in February 1990. Around this period, manager Marc Russel leaves to support Oasis. Latin Quarter then releases Nothing like velvet, a compilation of new material, demos, remixes and B-sides.

Breakup and reunion

The group stops in 1998. Steve Skaith moves to Mexico in 1999 and forms the Steve Skaith Band with local musicians, continuing to write songs to Mike Jones’s lyrics. He later records a solo album, Mexile, which includes re-recordings of three Latin Quarter songs, and then returns to England in 2007 to record Latin Quarter Revisited, a set of reworkings of 11 Latin Quarter songs.

Latin Quarter reunites in 2011, bringing together Yona Dunsford, Greg Harewood, Mike Jones and Steve Jeffries from the original 1985 line-up, and resumes activity with Ocean Head.

Notable collaborations and related work

In 1991, a new version of Radio Africa featuring the Bhundu Boys from Zimbabwe is released as a single. In 1992, Skaith and Wright tour in Germany in support of Amnesty International. Long Pig is produced by Skaith and Wright, and Yona Dunsford contributes vocals to several songs.