Lighting the Funk

In the late 70's, Jean-Paul "Bluey" Maunick and Paul "Tubbs" Williams formed a band called Light of the World (LOTW). Inspired by Earth, Wind & Fire, Lonnie Liston Smith, Roy Ayers, Herbie Hancock and the Weather Report, Bluey and Tubbs took the funk of the 70's a step further. In 1977, they released their debut album, 'LOTW', which featured their minor breakthru hit 'Swinging'. Around 1980 came the album 'Round Trip' including the songs 'London Town', 'Time' and the cover of 'I shot the sherrif', which came to be their biggest UK hit.

LOTW had moderate commercial success but a big cult following. So, in 1980, Bluey and Tubbs decided to start over with a new musical project. They named the new group Incognito. Naturally, the Incognito crew was mixed with old LOTW members, but Bluey and Tubbs was the driving force. Their first 12" release was called 'Parisienne girl', which was followed by their debut album, Jazz Funk, in 1981. The following year, another 12" was released, called 'North London boy'.

Later the same year, Incognito re-appeared under the name The Warriors. They released the album called 'Behind The Mask', featuring the British jazz funk classic 'Destination'.

Talkin' Loud: The Rebirth of Incognito

During the following years, both Bluey and Tubbs were busy with other projects outside Incognito; Tubbs left for Finland and later worked with Working Week & co, Bluey was involved in a few production projects, continuing to write material for his musical dream, Incognito.

At the time, the famous London DJ called Gilles Peterson was in the process of setting up the Talkin' Loud label for Polygram. Gilles heard some demo tapes that Bluey had been doing and signed him up for his new label.

In 1991, the first single from the "new" Incognito was released. 'Can you feel me' unfortunately didn't become any greater success. Then the album Inside life was released. Vocals were performed by Bluey and Linda Muriel (who appeared on early recordings with the Brand New Heavies). 'Inside Life' also featured a cover of Always there, originally made by Ronnie Laws. With Jocelyn Brown on vocals, this song came to be their biggest hit ever, being a club classic in its own time.

Positive Vibes

After their breakthrough in 1991, the group was re-organized, and Bluey was in search of a new lead singer. The talented Maysa Leak was asked to join the group. She had previously worked as a background singer, with among others, Stevie Wonder.

In 1992 Incognito released the album Tribes, Vibes and Scribes which stayed in the Billboard Contemporary Jazz Top 25 chart for 16 weeks. The new album featured a cover of Stevie Wonder's old classic Don't you worry 'bout a thing, which of course was a major hit for the group.

Later the same year, the old 'Jazz Funk' album was re-released on CD, this time featuring their first single 'Parisienne girl' (which didn't appear on the first release).

Two years later, 1994, the Positivity album was released. It was their first own production with no cover versions. 'Positivity' achieved gold or silver status in 11 countries worldwide, reaching #2 on the Contemporary Jazz chart where it stayed for over a year. It showed Maysa's great maturity as a vocalist capable of commanding performances from the hit 'Deep Waters' and 'Still A Friend Of Mine'. Maysa, understandably, became the focal point of Incognito's live shows converting audiences worldwide with her vocal strength and her own distinctive emotive style, encapsulating soul, jazz and a hint of the blues.

Maysa's Resignation

After the success of Positivity, Maysa left the band for a solo career. Her album, simply called 'Maysa', was released in 1995 on Blue Thumb/GRP Records. She co-wrote several of the songs on the album together with former Incognito writer/programmer/musician Richard Bull. Not very surprisingly, parts of the Incognito crew was involved in the making of the album as well.

Bluey took the chance to change the sound of Incognito, towards a more orchestral approach with less brass and more strings. As for the vocal side, Bluey also wanted to change it to a more aggresive sound, like Jocelyn Brown on 'Always There'. Gilles Peterson out of the blue suggested Joy Malcolm and Pamela Anderson (cousin of Carleen and sister of Jhelisa), which together brought the Incognito tradition one step further.

The outcome of the new Incognito formation could be heard on their first single, Everyday, which was released in the summer of 1995. Following the success of 'Everyday' was the album called 100° and rising, relased later the same year. The album was followed by the hits 'Spellbound and Speechless' and 'I hear your name'.

Incognito in the Mix

Remixing Incognito was something that many DJs had always wanted to do. In 1996, their dream came through, when some of the best DJs and remixers around were asked to contribute to the new album. The first single from the album, however, was a completely new song called 'Jump to my love', wich was a catchy piece of work, especially written by Incognito for a Japanese Toyota TV advertisement. Remixed, the album entirely consisting of old and new remixes of classic Incognito songs was released in March 1996 and became a dancefloor hit.

1996: The Return of Maysa

In May 1996, Bluey announced that Incognito was in the studio recording a new album which would feature the return of Maysa. In September the same year, the first single called Out of the Storm was released. There was no doubt that Incognito was back with yet another strong release! New additions to the front vocals were Chris Ballin and Imani, both putting their personal 'touch' to the sound. The album called Beneath the Surface was released in late October 1996. Their 1996/1997 world tour kicked off in South America in October and was followed by performances in the UK and the rest of Europe. Dates in the US, Asia and Australia are expected to follow.

Thanks to the following people for having contributed with information in one way or another: Dave Laws, Mark Allerton, Polygram and members of the Incognito digest.