MEMORIES OF BRITAIN
ALL THINGS BEING EQUAL
Eddy formed The Equals in 1965 with drummer John Hall, vocalist Derv Gordon and two rhythm guitarists, Pat Lloyd and Lincoln Gordon.
Eddy Grant pictured in 1982 during a shoot for his Killer On The Rampage album cover
Though he was born in Plaisance, British Guiana, in 1948, Eddy Grant moved to the UK in 1960. His parents had emigrated a few years earlier, working over here and sending money back to Guyana for their son’s education. Arriving in Britain aged 12, Eddy initially lived with his parents in Kentish Town, going to school at the Acland Burghley Secondary Modern in Tufnell Park. He remembers his first impressions of the UK: “I just remember how dark it was even in the middle of the day,” he laughs. “And the smell – England smelled different. I could say it smells nasty, but nasty is a relative term. Britain had just come out of the war, and it had been bombed to hell. People were just finding their feet and they’re having to burn coal, which they’ve probably burned since the Middle Ages. All of these things have an impact on how one can describe England. The song Jerusalem perfectly describes it.”