Liberty was formed by a group of school friends who wanted to write & perform the kind of music they loved, like Cameo, George Clinton, Prince, Zapp and The Time. Things progressed onto the London gig circuit where they were playing venues such as The Hippodrome, Powerhaus, Mean Fiddler and The Limelight (hosted by DJ Gary Crowley). At one Rock Garden show they performed at a private party with James Brown�s J.Bs at the request of the management who were impressed by previous appearances there.
Their first foreign shows were in Cyprus where they spent a month touring clubs on the island. It ended in a midnight dash to the airport as the promoter disappeared leaving unpaid accommodation bills.
- Click here to read a Sept 2002 interview with Liberty by The Cyprus Weekly about this tour
Back in London Liberty were gaining a celebrity following. Prince�s band The NPG, Mica Paris, Juliet Roberts, Heatwave and The Christians were just some of the names now spotted at the boy's gigs. They were now often playing at Xenon's nightclub and other London venues such as The Orange, WKD's, Funk Uncut at Dingwalls, Oxygen, Knee Deep at Ormonds (four bands played including Jamiroquai) and The Grand in Clapham (televised on ITV).
One of Liberty's performances at Xenons in London was filmed by a Japanese music television show complete with an aftershow interview for broadcast in Japan.
Competition Winners
Liberty then won the Capital Radio/Coca-Cola �Young Band of the Year� Competition (the first one ever). Over 2000 bands sent in their demos but only four were chosen to play live in the final at Capital Radio. Among the judges were DJ David Jenson, top record producer Martyn Ware and other representatives from the press and music industry. Liberty�s performance was fierce and they won. Nick Coleman, then of Time Out who was one of the judges later said in an interview on Capital Radio "They are one of the most exciting British bands I�ve seen in the last year or two." Another judge, Bill McAllister who was the editor of Exposed magazine wrote in his next issue "they are part of contemporary music in this country and deserve all the support we can give them".
Liberty were interviewed on Capital Radio as their Band of the Year and went on to play at The Capital Music Festival which was broadcast live (the festival was headlined by Prince and Lenny Kravitz). Later that year they were asked to support Wet Wet Wet on their two sold out dates at Wembley Arena where they also held their first UK television interview backstage on ITV�s The Big City. A week later the boys were in Lille, France playing to a packed venue at the �Festival Rap n Funk Style�. Liberty also went on to support Heatwave in concert at The Ritzy in Streatham, London promoted by a London wide poster campaign with adverts in The Sunday Express and Evening Standard.
Albums & Singles
This period of live success also saw the release of Liberty�s critically acclaimed debut album 'Special Edition' in the UK and Europe via a small independent label, Sounds Of Urban London owned by Byron Byrd (producer and founder member of the band 'Sun' from Dayton, Ohio, USA). He became a huge fan of the band and also took on a management role. The first single release from the album was 'Who Is She?'.
- Click here to read reviews and album details
The second single released from the album was to be the track My Girl (written by Liberty). The band recorded and produced 8 different versions of the song for release and record producer and founder member of Heaven 17 and The Human League, Martyn Ware produced one remix. He had just finished an album for Erasure that was number one in the charts and had wanted to work with Liberty since meeting them at Capital Radio.
Liberty�s next tour abroad was to The Canary Islands where they were to support Latoya Jackson and perform at The Festival Deksi Tenerife, a concert in Santa Cruz's 100 year old ex-bullring arena filmed for Spanish and Russian television. Once again, at the end of the tour a vanishing promoter left Liberty and their equipment stranded without return air tickets. They were, however, getting more television coverage in the UK and Europe.
Liberty's profile was growing steadily with interviews on Kiss 100 FM and more on Capital Radio as well as Liberty competitions on Jazz FM and Choice FM. They were also featured in music publications such as Melody Maker and Blues & Soul and national press such as The Sunday Express and The Sunday Mirror.
At an interview on Kiss100FM, Lindsay Wesker (DJ and Head Of Music Of Music) was so impressed with Liberty that when he left the station a few weeks later he approached the band with a view to management. Along with Alan Whitehead (ex Marmalade drummer and now table dancing club owner) they went on to advise and liaise with the band in a semi-management role.
The next single to be released was the self-financed �A Rose By Any Other Name�. It led to their breakthrough onto BBC Radio One. Steve Edwards, the show�s DJ said on air "Liberty are one of the funkiest band�s in the UK". One of the mixes also appeared on the European compilation album �Denz Da Denz�.
Liberty International
Liberty's debut UK/European album was then released in America by label 'Century Vista' under the new title 'Real Funk'. Their first US single taken from the album was the ballad 'Destiny'.
Liberty's track �Tabatha C� featuring Donna Gardier (of 'Raw Stylus' fame) on vocals was the next single but due to problems with Jetstar, the record company they used, it is yet to be released.
Liberty started being asked to work on sessions and tours as well as writing and producing for other artists both collectively and individually. The boys have worked around the world with artists such as Basement Jaxx (those funky backing vocals on �Red Alert� single which reached to no.4 in the UK charts), Blue, Westlife, Eternal, Rose Royce, Dave Stewart, Alexander O�Neal, Shola Ama, Sounds of Blackness, Dr Roberts, Paul Weller, Bond and many more.
- Click here to read full details of other artists Liberty have worked with
On one occasion Liberty were invited to perform at 'In The City' held in Manchester but due to various technical issues they pulled out of the show during soundcheck and drove back to London. The band now felt that they needed a high profile single or album before they would play live again.
They spent the next year writing and recording songs for a new Liberty album at their London studio, collaborating with various UK and US artists. All the while they were contacting the industry to try and secure a new record label for the next album and management for the project.
Liberty In Court
Then in May 2001 Liberty found out that Richard Branson's record company V2 had signed the 'losers' from the Popstars tv show and called them Liberty (the winners were Hear'say). The band immediately contacted The Band Register who had just previously advised V2 not to use the name ( V2 had contacted The Band Register to clear use of the name, a common practise in the industry). V2 had ignored that advice. They also refused to change the name despite countless letters from Liberty. The Musicians Union refused to support Liberty's claim because members of V2's band had just joined the Union (even though our boys were members for many years) so an injunction in the courts was the only avenue left open. A successful High Court name trial followed in Jan 2002 in which our Liberty won the injunction and V2 were forced to change the name of their band (now Liberty X).
- Click here to read more: "What Was That Name Trial Against Liberty X All About"
- Click here to read numerous articles by the legal world posted on the internet about the case
Media Madness
2002 saw Liberty on television as guests on The Big Breakfast, interviewed on Liquid News and featured in news items on the BBC and London Tonight. They merited a dedicated discussion programme on Radio One and were interviewed on Capital Radio and Choice FM. They have been featured in The Times, The Guardian, The Sun, The Mirror, Daily Sport, Daily Star, Evening Standard and many other publications.
- Click here for our 'media coverage' page with links to Liberty articles in the national press
Since the trial, Liberty have picked up where they left off before the legal nightmare and finished a new collection of songs including a Liberty remix by top Kiss 100 FM DJ Chris Philips. With their profile raised as a result of the case, Liberty are back in rehearsals and sounding awesome ahead of live shows in Spring 2003 and they are back on the radio with their new material. Keep an eye on this website for details.
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