Nick Hooker + Grace Jones

Nick Hooker

+ about him: http://www.nickhooker.com/



Grace Jones

Jones secured a record deal with Island Records in 1977, which resulted in a string of dance-club hits and a large gay following. The three disco albums she recorded—Portfolio (1977), Fame (1978), and Muse (1979)—generated considerable success in that market. These albums consisted of pop melodies set to a disco beat (such as "All on a Summer's Night" and "Do or Die,") and standards (such as "What I Did for Love," "Autumn Leaves," and "Send in the Clowns").

During this period, she also became a muse to Andy Warhol, who photographed her extensively.[citation needed] Jones also accompanied him to famed New York City nightclub Studio 54 on many occasions.

Toward the end of the 1970s, Jones adapted the emerging New Wave music to create a different style for herself. Still with Island, and now working with producers Chris Blackwell, Alex Sadkin and the Compass Point All Stars, she released the acclaimed albums Warm Leatherette (1980) and Nightclubbing (1981). These included re-imaginings of songs by Sting, Iggy Pop, The Pretenders, Roxy Music, Flash and the Pan, The Normal, Ástor Piazzolla, and Tom Petty.

Parallel to her musical shift was an equally dramatic visual makeover, created in partnership with stylist Jean-Paul Goude, with whom she had a son. Jones adopted a severe, androgynous look, with square-cut hair and angular, padded clothes. The iconic cover photographs of Nightclubbing and, subsequently, Slave to the Rhythm (1985) exemplified this new identity. To this day, Jones is known for her unique look at least as much as she is for her music. Her collaboration with Blackwell, Sadkin and the Compass Point All Stars continued with the dub reggae–influenced album Living My Life.

In the mid-1980s, she worked with Trevor Horn for the conceptual musical collage Slave to the Rhythm and with producer Nile Rodgers for Inside Story (1986)—her first album after leaving the Island Records label. The well-received Slave to the Rhythm consisted of several re-workings of the title track (the single of which hit #12 in the UK), while Inside Story produced her last Billboard Hot 100 hit to date, "I'm Not Perfect (But I'm Perfect For You)," one of several songs she co-wrote with Bruce Woolley.[6] Bulletproof Heart (1989) spawned the #1 U.S. Hot Dance Club Play hit "Love on Top of Love" / "Killer Kiss", produced by C+C Music Factory's David Cole and Robert Clivilles.

Although she has yet to become a truly mainstream recording artist in the United States (with the exception of her featured work on the Arcadia hit single "Election Day"), much of her musical output is still popular on the Billboard's Hot Dance Club Play and Hot Dance Airplay charts, and many of her songs are regarded as classics to this day. Jones was able to find mainstream success in the United Kingdom, scoring a number of Top 40 entries on the UK Singles Chart. To date, she has officially released 49 commercial and/or promotional singles (not including re-releases), including several non-album tracks.