UNITED KINGDOM: DAVID MCALMONT RETURNS AFTER TWO YEAR ABSENCE WITH HIS NEW SINGLE "LOOK AT YOURSELF"

Record ID: 190070

  • Title: UNITED KINGDOM: DAVID MCALMONT RETURNS AFTER TWO YEAR ABSENCE WITH HIS NEW SINGLE "LOOK AT YOURSELF"
  • Date: 30th July 1997
  • Summary: (RTV) MCALMONT SPEAKING ABOUT BEING GAY, SAYING, "IT'S INTERESTING BECAUSE I'M BLACK I THINK. IT'S NOT REALLY ANY GREAT SHAKES IF SOMEONE IS WHITE AND GAY NOW. IT'S SOMETHING EVERYONE'S BEEN ABLE TO DEAL WITH, YOU KNOW, BOY GEORGE, FRANKIE GOES TO HOLLYWOOD, JIMMY SOMMERVILLE. THAT LIST IS ENDLESS AND THEY PROBABLY WOULD HAVE LEFT ME ALONE IF I WAS WHITE BUT THE FACT I WAS BLACK WAS UNUSUAL FOR POP MUSIC AT THE TIME. TO HAVE AN OUTSPOKEN BLACK GAY MAN IN POP MUSIC SORT OF FREAKED EVERYBODY. I DIDN'T EXPECT IT TO. THE REASON I WAS OUT IN THE FIRST PLACE WAS BECAUSE I THOUGHT IT WASN'T ANY GREAT SHAKES" (ENGLISH)
  • Embargoed: 14th August 1997 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: LONDON, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM
  • Country: United Kingdom
  • Topics: Entertainment
  • Reuters ID: LVAC4K1NPECHIFW95REPISC2S9NW
  • Story Text: David McAlmont, the British crooner with the famed vocal range, is back after a two-year absence with a new single and upcoming album.

    The single "Look At Yourself" was released last week (July 28).

    McAlmont describes it as "very in your face".

    In McAlmont tradition, it fuses symphonic soul with spikey rock that has music critics raving.

    The Croydon-born and Guyana-bred soulster started singing in the mid-eighties. His regular gig was singing in a Guyana church choir. That gospel influence is still strong in his music.

    "It's how I started singing so there's that raw sort of spirit," McAlmont says of his new release.

    But his days in the church choir came to an abrupt end when he announced he was gay and he was rushed off to an exorcist.

    The experience led to McAlmont fleeing to London where he formed the indie/soul duo Thieves.

    The established music press tipped them as the next big thing.

    It didn't happen.

    Instead, McAlmont went on to release a solo album in 1994 that again saw music hacks searching for superlatives to describe his voice. Again, the album did little on the charts.

    Enter guitarist Bernard Butler, the former Suede member who had just left the band and it looked like McAlmont's luck was about to change. For a time, it did.

    The McAlmont/Bulter collaboration spawned the hit single "Yes" and it looked like his time had arrived.

    The album "The Sound of McAlmont and Bulter" sold well but turned out to be their swansong.

    The partnership folded when McAlmont accused Butler of homophobia.

    Now, it's McAlmont, minus the Butler but still more of the soulful tunes and powerful voice.

    McAlmont, who has often played up his campness and flouted his sexuality, says his gayness attracted so much attention because he is black.

    "It's not really any great shakes if someone is white and gay now," he said.

    "They probably would have left me alone if I was white. To have an outspoken black gay man in pop sort of freaked everybody out." The singer is next taking to the road for a series of eight concerts around Britain with Lisa Stansfield.

    "Communication", McAlmont's second solo offering, will be released in October.
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