Greetings on this Waybackayard Wednesday. 4 years ago today Eddy Amoo co founder of the early 1960s teenaged Doo Wop group The Chants and a fully fledged member of The Real Thing since the early 1970s sadly passed away. Eddy was featured in a Soul Survivors Magazine issue 29 for April & May 2011 and gave us an incredible insight into life in Liverpool, impressing the Fab 4 The Beatles to becoming part of the other pioneering black Fab 4 The Real Thing.
With his brother Chris he co wrote the universal world wide child poverty anthem 'Children Of The Ghetto' which has been recorded by Courtney Pine and Mary J Blige to name a few. In 2017 we decided to honour The Real Thing at our awards for their over 40 years as a soul surviving UK soul band. I was able to present the award to Eddy Amoo in July 2017 at their packed Jazz Cafe date, where he shared that the award was the first they had been given of recognition by the industry. Since Eddy's passing there has been a documentary 'Everything' currently showing on BBC I player which you should watch if you already haven't and it is so insightful.
Chris Amoo and Dave Smith the two surviving original members are still performing and have a new album out 'A Brand New Day' which is flying high in the album charts, with an updated Chris Amoo vocal of 'Children of The Ghetto'. So if you got any Real Thing tracks handy..played them loud today as a homage to Eddy'Doo Wop' Amoo a true soul survivor RIP.
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