LondonBeat Band

Londonbeat is a British-American dance band who scored a number of pop and dance hits in the early 1990s.

Band members are American Jimmy Helms (who also had a successful solo career and sang radio jingles for Radio Hallam and Hereward Radio in the UK); Jimmy Chambers (born 20 January 1946), from Trinidad, and Myles Kayne.

Band members include Americans Jimmy Helms and George Chandler with Jimmy Chambers from Trinidad and Tobago and multi-instrumentalist Willy M. Their follow-up single “A Better Love” became a Hot 100 Top 20 hit, and they returned to #1 on the dance chart with “Come Back” (Hot 100 #62).

Former members include multi-instrumentalist William Henshall, UK (credited as Willy M); George Chandler (formerly a founding member and frontman of The Olympic Runners) and Marc Goldschmitz (subsequently a member of the band Leash).

A demo of “I’ve Been Thinking about You” surfaced on audio cassettes and circulated amongst record companies around the time Londonbeat released their début in 1988. “I’ve Been Thinking about you” was originally intended for release on Speak.

However, record labels advised the band to hold off releasing the song on their debut LP so that the band could, as labels said, “find its footing; develop an audience”.

The demo recording, originally completed in late 1987, is currently circulating on the internet, and originally brought to public attention in a link on a German message board in 2006.

The first joint tour of artists was held in the Netherlands in 1990.

Immediately after it the owner of a popular music label «Anxious» Dave Stewart decided to sign a contract with the talented guys to release a debut music album.

Using this chance, Jimmy and his team promoted a hit «9PM», composed in 1988. And shortly after they recorded a LP called «Speak» that easily entered all the charts, like Тор20 of Great Britain.

Deciding not to rest on one’s oars, the music project «London Beat» released a hit «Falling In Love Again».
At that time very talented and artistic Antony Blaze and Charles Pierre took the place of Henshall and Chandler.

It became a momentum for creativity, and in the same year «London Beat» released «In The Blood» at a music label «BMG», including a single «I’ve Been Thinking About You», that made it to №2 in European charts in 1990.

A little bit later the band released singles such as «A Better Love», «You bring On the Sun», and a cover version «No Woman No Cry» and they carried on up until 2001 when new members came on board again.

In 1995, Londonbeat entered the UK heats of the Eurovision Song Contest with “I’m Just Your Puppet on a … (String)”, however they were not selected to go to the main contest (losing out to rap group Love City Groove) and the single limped in at Number 55.
In 2003, Londonbeat re-grouped with a new line up and signed to German record label Coconut.

An album called Back in the Hi-Life featured re-recordings of “A Better Love” and “I’ve Been Thinkin’ About You” among the new tracks.