GRACE JONES – FAME LP – Nr MINT A1/B1 UK FUNK SOUL

Grace Jones – Fame
(Island Records  1978  ILPS9525)
Matrix No’s: A1/B1 – UK Pressing

G&L Gatefold Sleeve in Nr MINT condition
– back has a little rubbing at the bottom

Vinyl in Nr MINT condition
(there are some surface marks visible on the vinyl when held up to the light but they don’t affect the sound quality)

Grace Jones (born 19 May 1948) is a Jamaican singer, songwriter, lyricist, supermodel, record producer, and actress. She was born in Spanish Town, Jamaica, and raised by her grandparents. At 13 she moved with her siblings to their parents’ home in Syracuse, New York. Jones started out as a model, initially in New York state, then in Paris, working for Yves St. Laurent, Claude Montana, and Kenzo Takada, and appearing on the covers of Elle, Vogue, and Stern working with Helmut Newton, Guy Bourdin, and Hans Feurer.

In 1977 Jones secured a record deal with Island Records; she moved into dance, new wave, and reggae music, often collaborating with the Compass Point All Stars. She scored Top 40 entries on the UK Singles Chart with “Pull Up to the Bumper”, “I’ve Seen That Face Before”, “Private Life”, “Slave to the Rhythm” and “I’m Not Perfect”. Her most popular albums include Warm Leatherette (1980), Nightclubbing (1981), and Slave to the Rhythm (1985).

She appeared in some low-budget films in the US during the 1970s and early 1980s. In 1984 she made her first mainstream appearance as Zula in the fantasy-action film Conan the Destroyer alongside Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sarah Douglas, and subsequently appeared in the 1985 James Bond movie A View to a Kill as May Day. In 1986 she played a vampire in Vamp, and acted in and contributed a song to the 1992 Eddie Murphy film Boomerang. She appeared alongside Tim Curry in the 2001 film Wolf Girl.

In 1983, Jones’ One Man Show was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Long-Form Music Video. For her work in Conan the Destroyer, A View to a Kill, and Vamp, she was nominated for Saturn Awards for Best Supporting Actress. In 1999, Jones ranked 82nd on VH1’s 100 Greatest Women of Rock and Roll, and in 2008, she was honored with a Q Idol Award. Jones influenced the cross-dressing movement of the 1980s and has been an inspiration for artists including Annie Lennox, Lady Gaga, Rihanna, Lorde, Róisín Murphy, Brazilian Girls, Nile Rodgers, Santigold, and Basement Jaxx.

Fame is the second studio album by Jamaican singer and songwriter Grace Jones, released on 7 June 1978 by Island Records.

After relative success with her debut release, Grace Jones and Tom Moulton delivered a rapid follow-up album to Portfolio. Fame, recorded in Sigma Sound Studios in Philadelphia, consisted of a set of mainstream-oriented disco tracks and repeated the scheme of the previous album. Like on Portfolio, side A was a continuous medley, and side B again opened with a re-interpretation of a French classic, this time it was Jacques Prévert’s “Les Feuilles mortes”, sung in English as “Autumn Leaves”. The album was “dedicated with love to a true Artist, Jean-Paul Goude”, as Jones put it in the liner notes.

The Canadian edition of the original vinyl album included another French language track, “Comme un oiseau qui s’envole”, which replaced “All on a Summers Night” and, in most other territories, was issued as the B-side of the single “Do or Die”. On the Japanese version of the album “Comme un oiseau qui s’envole” replaced “Below the Belt”, which in turn in Italy was omitted in favour of an Italian song, “Anema e core”. A number of songs from the album, including “Anema e core”, have been performed in Italian TV show Stryx, which ran in late 1978.

The album was a hit on the North American club scene, and the “Do or Die”/”Pride”/”Fame” side reached top 10 on both the U.S. Hot Dance Club Play and Canadian Dance/Urban charts. Fame also charted respectably in Italy and Sweden which were Jones’ most successful markets during the disco era

Track listing

Note: Tracks from side A are a non-stop medley, with the total playing time 18:47.

Standard release

Personnel

• Keith Benson – drums
• Richard Bernstein – artwork design
• John Davis – arrangements, keyboards
• Grace Jones – lead vocals
• Francis Jug – photography
• Sonia Moskewitz – photography
• Moto – tambourines
• Piggy Pigerino – violin
• Don Renaldo – strings, horns
• José Rodriguez – mastering
• Darrell Rogers – recording and mixing assistance
• Arthur Stoppe – recording and mixing engineering
• Sweethearts of Sigma (Carla Benson, Yvette Benton, Barbara Ingram) – background vocals
• Neil Terk – art direction
• Larry Washington – congas, percussion
• Jimmy Williams – bass guitar