Sharon Forrester

Sharon Forrester - Sharon - Ashanti

After having a small hit with ‘Silly Wasn’t I’ Ashanti thought it might be a good idea to produce an album.

The tune was strong enough to warrant an album. Produced by Geoffrey Chung - it had a good mix of a strong reggae rhythm from Now Gen of course - but a nice arrangement of horns - giving the whole thing a jazz flavour.

The album should have been recorded in Jamaica - but a musicians strike meant that the

production was switched to London and Chalk Farm studio over in Camden.

Geoffrey and Mikey Chung were teamed up with the Bailey brothers Richard and Robert from the Afro Rock band Osibisa. An interesting

concept that was designed to make the album appealing to a rock audience and a jazz audience.

Yet what is always missing with these album is a big budget. Without it, these kind of albums never reach the people who they are made for.

The choice of songs was also something that needed to be better. ’Silly’ still remains the

best track on the album. A few years after the release the same kind of vocal style was applied to much simpler songs and rhythms and was called ’Lovers Rock’.