Norman Giscombe Jr gave up a successful football career for music,
and he has remained in the business ever since.
People all over the world knows and can sing along to his 1982 hit "Mama Used To Say",
a song which got his name known all over the planet.
That led to him getting his songs played, covered and even featured in movies like The Beverly Hills Cop.
In this interview he shares the story on how that happened.
He's still around, he still performs...
People, meet the man we all know simply as... Junior
Norman Washington Giscombe, Jr. was born on 6 June 1957 in Wandsworth, London, England, as the youngest of eight siblings, but most people will remember him as - Junior. Discoguy; I'm happy to get this chance to talk to you. First off; Norman Giscombe Jr, was there a senior as well? "Yeah, my father was the senior." I kind of guessed that, but wanted to check as I'm wondering who, came up with simply using Junior as your artist name? "Everybody called me Junior ever since I was a baby. So it just made total sense to me just to keep it going. 'Cause there was nobody out there at the time who just had Junior as the title of their name, nobody. So I thought it was unique in that regard. Because of the fact that it was others, like Sammy Davis Jr. Everybody had a first and second name, and then the junior, but nobody was known as Junior. It just seemed right! " It's really a great name! "Thank you!
So how come you started with music? Was this something you always dreamt of, or was it just something that happened, kind of? "When I was young, I really focused in on myself to know what to do. There were two things that I was very good at, that I didn't really need to work at, one was singing and the other one was playing football. I tried football, got signed to Chelsea when I was around 12-13." Wow! So, you could have been a footballer instead? "Yeah. I did that, that was great fun, but I didn't like it as much as I liked music. I was getting more into music as I was growing up. Being the youngest of eight brothers and sisters, and my brothers and sisters would be playing all kinds of music in the home.,We would listen to the radio, Pop radio, but also Reggae. My brothers would be playing Soul music. My mom was into Gospel, my dad into Jazz. So, I was hearing a lot of music, and I just love the music as it just seemed emphasis to me. So, by the time I was around 14 and 15, I knew I wanted to pursue music. I didn't know how, but I just knew I wanted to." Was this the time when you started singing in this group playing music inspired by Doo-Wop, Motown, Soul, Reggae and other things? "That's right, we were a 12-piece band if you could believe it, and then we'd go out to do Pubs, stuff like that. It was this great fun, 'cause we were learning our craft and learning that this was something that we wanted to do. To me it was, to the rest it was just... you know, we were young kids, we were having fun doing something that we liked." Did you have a group name at that time? "Yeah, we were called the Idyllics, 'cause at the time everything had a 'cs' at the end. The Delfonics, and so on. I moved on from there and started another band, a proper band this time. I was around 17 or 18 when I started this other band and we were called Atlantis. The bass player was George Anderson, George later played for Shakatak. The guitarist was a guy called Paul Gendler and he ended up playing for a band called Modern Romance.
So, you know, it was a really good little unit that we had. We had fun at 18-19 learning our instruments, learning our craft, enjoying what we were doing, trying to put a show together because we were going out and playing live at that time. And going on tying to put together shows that we hoped the people would like. But we were adamant that we were going to do our own music, so that meant that I had to start writing. Which was again a new phenomenon for me, yet again, something that I really enjoyed doing." So, was that the time when you first really started working with music? "Yeah, I pretty much started jumping in on music when I began writing songs. We were doing shows at the time, so we were going up and down the country with our little band, which was fun. But you can imagine, cramped up with all of this equipment and stuff like that. So, you're going through the motions of being a band and being able to go out and play at various venues and stuff. As I said, we wanted to ensure that we were doing our own thing. We didn't want to copy everybody. Everybody out there the time was doing Jazz-Funk. We wanted to be a bit harder, we wanted to be more of Rock-Funk band. More something that said that we were British, opposed to people saying we were American. You know. So, we started out doing as I said; Pub gigs, then we graduated to doing Club gigs and I did that for two to three years and I really enjoyed it.
'Cause as I said, I had to learn how to write songs. So, I used people like; Linda Creed, Curtis Mayfield, Marvin [Gaye], Stevie [Wonder], you know all of Holland, Dozier & Holland, just with structure and how they would write songs. I wanted to know from Smokey Robinson what the songs were about. Gil Scott Heron. You know, people who were talking about what was happening at the time. Right away across to Jamaica with Bob Marley, Peter Tosh, Bunny Wailer. All of these people were, during my youth, they were saying something! They weren't fantasying, they were talking, and I think that is what really appealed to me. I wanted to be able to write things that touched people, but also said something, which they could hold on to."
You wrote "Mama Used To Say" which was released in 1982, but before that you actually had hits with your songs "Hot Up And Heated" and "Get Up And Dance" from 1981. Those were actually recorded under your own name, so how come those came out before you were known as Junior? "That's right. At the time when I was around 22, I was asked by a friend of mine if I would help him to put an album together. By this time, I wanted to move away from just being on the road. I wanted to know more about being in studios and how music is made in the studio, how it was recorded. So, I jumped at the chance to be able to do that with him.
I wrote 'Get Up And Dance' and 'Hot Up And Heated' and we did an album. Some Stevie Wonder cover songs were on there, and some other things that I wrote during that period of time.
The company, which was called Pressure Records, they wanted to put out the full name, Norman Giscombe Junior and I was like... I want to be known as Junior. But because it was an independent label and that's what they wanted to do, I didn't mind. I just wanted to have something out there. I had worked on it in the studio, produced and written. I was really just proud of the fact of being able to have something released. I had no idea that it would be the big record as it became in France and in other parts of Europe.
I was just really grateful for it, because that opened up the door for 'Mama Used To Say'."
His very first recording was actually a cover of the Jessie Green classic - "Nice and Slow". But it was with his own written double-sided 1981 single "Hot Up And Heated"/"Get Up And Dance" things really hit off. It became a number 1 hit single in France and was a number 1 breakout record in the US, where it was picked up by the small Fire-Sign label. This led the way to Junior getting signed to Polygram Records.
Then later in 1981 the song that would change his life forever was released... "Mama Used To Say" skyrocketed all over the world and all of a sudden you were Junior with everyone! How did that make you feel? "At the time I was on tour with a group called Linx and I would go into the record company when I got back to London and they told me; 'You have sold 150,000 in Chicago, 200,000 in Detroit, 100,000 in Paris...'. It was mad, I just couldn't get my head around the figures they were throwing at me in terms of how many copies the record had sold and was selling.
I went to Cannes and just the way that all people wanted to speak to me. Then I went to America and it was the same thing and in Germany it was the same. It was a shock, because I didn't realize just how popular the record and the song was. But it was a lovely feeling, and a lovely time. Just to know that what you have done had touched people in such a way. That was definitely my dream come true!" I can understand that! As you have a very characteristic voice when you sing, do you think that that helped you to 'stand out' as well? "Yeah, I think the ground..." [starts singing with a strong voice '...and Mama Used To Say'] "I think that part was very unique to Junior. It's like anything you tried to find, you don't think about it, your brain is working so fast that you don't think about things, you just do it instinctively because you know it's the right thing to do. It was the same thing with 'Mama Used To Say'. Something which is the right thing to do. It worked, made sense, it gave an emphasis to who this artist was. Nobody else was singling like Junior, no one was gonna be out there sounding like Junior.
Sometimes it's best to not trying to complicate things in terms of what you're doing. So you're constantly going over in trying to perfect it, you know, in a way it's not perfection." Right, you're just overworking it. "Yeah! Exactly!" Still, it is your signature hit and you must have sung it like a million times already... "That's true! So, what does this song mean to you today? "I think it has more meaning to me today than it did than when I first did it. Reason being the time its been around, the affection that its gotten and the mere fact that mothers of two generations along the line have been able to tell their children to listen to that song and what it's saying. So, yeah, it has a lot more meaning to me today. Because at the time of doing it, it was something that happened in my life. My mother came out with these sayings that 'you used to say' and I should have wrote them down and used them. And, you know, I was not really thinking about the fact that mothers around the world would be saying exactly the same thing. It didn't even dawn on me until when we put the record out originally, and that was in 1981, the 27th of July. I always remember 'cause it's my sister's birthday.
First nobody wanted to play it. Saying it was too Rock'n'Roll. They plastered it. In England they just pushed it to the side. It just blew me away. Just the mere fact that when I go out now and sing 'Mama Used To Say', I can stop 'Mama Used To Say' and everybody would just sing it."
Hahaha [both laughing] "Yeah, I don't need to sing it anymore! And when you then see their faces, they're always smiling. Be it men, be it boys, be it girls, be it women. They sing the song with a smile. You know, like they remember their mothers, or they are mothers, or their mother told them... you know, that's the guy saying you told your son this or told you he told you that. It resonates more with me than it did before."
Eventually "Mama Used To Say" took off in the UK as well and became a Top 10 hit in April 1982, and it topped lists all around the world. This led to Junior to becoming the the first black British artist to perform on Soul Train, additionally Billboard Magazine honored him with the 'Best Newcomer Award', which was presented to him by none the less than the legendary - James Brown.
In the U.S. the song was remixed by DJ and remixer legend - Tee Scott. His 6:40 long version became so popular that it got released in the U.K. and Europe as the 'American Remix', while the original 4:56 version was called 'British Party Mix' on both sides of the Atlantic.
Junior's second single was called "Too Late" which made it to Top 20 in the U.K. and peaked at number 8 in the U.S. charts. Once again Tee Scott was brought in to do the U.S. 12" inch remix.
Both singles were included in his first album called Ji. The album also spawned a third, double sided, single including the songs "I Can't Help It" and "Let Me Know". Of course Tee did the 'American Remixes' the third time around! Your first album was called Ji or J-I? "Ji." So, what does it stand for? I guess I'm just curious to know if it has some meaning? "Ji was the Chinese horoscope of the year I was born. I liked it. I thought it was something which would be very classic for me. Right, so I called it Ji." Cool. I always wanted to check what it meant. It also includes your brilliant song "Too Late". I think it's wonderful as well and it's a great album. "Thank you! "
The album sold over 10 million copies worldwide and really made Norman known as Junior with the world.
1983 saw the release of Junior's second album - Inside Looking Out. Four singles were released off that album, with the U.S. hit "Communication Breakdown" being the biggest hit. The others were; "Runnin'", "Tell Me" and "Women Say It" which was flipped with the ballad "Baby, I Want You Back". On the 'Inside Looking Out' album, you have this song "F.B. Eye", I assume it's a word play for 'F.B.I.', right? "Yeah, you know!"
[Both laughing!] The same year you also released the song "Unison" which was a single release only and which was never included in any of your albums. "Right. 'Mama' had been doing well, the second album was going well. 'Women Say It' was good in Europe and everything seemed to be going really well. Then I was asked to do a song for a movie called All the Right Moves which was one of the first films with this very famous actor, what's his name.. Tom Cruise! I was asked to do a song for that. So, I was being asked to do all of these things that I've never done before, never ventured into."
The track was remixed by French born N.Y.C. club legend Francois Kevorkian. "Unison" has actually been covered by both Celine Dion and Laura Branigan. That's really impressive, so how did that make you feel? "Well that was wonderful! Come on, just listen to the artists that you just mentioned. They must have heard my version of that song and everybody jumped on it to do it. That was a joy!" How come they did their covers of your song, do you know? "I don't know. I think it was most probably either the record company suggested it to them, maybe people that they know or publishers suggested the song to them. I really don't know how both of them got the song, but it's just an amazing feeling." Yes, I get that. It probably really doesn't matter, only just the fact that they've done it it's amazing. "Yes, it's great! You know, when you've done something and then another established artist listen to it saying; 'You know what, I'd like to try that'." Yeah. It's really really great." "Thank you!"
Then, in 1984, you had your song "Do You Really (Want My Love)" on the Beverly Hills Cops soundtrack, which is a huge achievement. Did that mean something to your career to actually having a song in that hit movie? Because, the movie, the soundtrack and literally everything around it was huge! "Yeah, that took my career onto another level." How did your song end up in that movie? "I was in Texas, America, and learned that Eddie Murphy was in the room below. I had some huge speakers in my room, and I put on my second album and I turn it up really loud hoping that he would get distracted, get pissed off and come upstairs. But he never did. So when I had to leave Texas to go to New York, I put the album 'Inside Looking Out' underneath his door. I was in New York a couple days, then came back to London. When I came back to London I was told that this guy called Eddie Murphy wanted me to write a song for his movie.
I knew that the record company had no idea of whom Eddie Murphy was just by saying 'some guy called'. I did 'Do You Really (Want My Love)' in my bedroom on an 8-track. Which was fun. It was really really good fun to do. It became one of my biggest achievements because of the fact that they used the 8-track demo in the film. So, I had to then re-record the track for the album and I think it was one of the first times that Stevie Wonder had ever done a drum session, and he did it for me on 'Do You Really (Want My Love)'. So that was brilliant.
The album ended up selling something like 170 million worldwide, gaining a Grammy nomination and we won. So that was brilliant as well, so my whole career went on a completely different path in terms of... Junior was being known, but then Junior was KNOWN!
The film was the biggest film of that time. It still gets played in this country, in Europe, all around the world. Because every seventh minute somebody plays that movie. So it was an incredible thing to be a part of." I can imagine that.
The move was the highest grossing movie that year in the USA. And in 2024, it was selected for presentation in the US National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "Culturally, Historically or Aesthetically Significant".
"Do You Really (Want My Love)" was also included in Junior's 1985 album - Acquired Taste.
The first single, proceeding the album, was the song "Somebody. It was then followed by the Beverly Hills Cop single - "Do You Really (Want My Love)" and the sub-sequential singles "Oh Louise", "Not Tonight" and the song "Come On Over". Here in Sweden we had a remix services called SweMix and they released these double remix albums called Remixed Records. In 1986 Dag Volle, he's more known as Denniz Pop, he was behind the sound of Backstreet Boys, 'N Sync, Ace of Base and many others. He actually did a remix of "Come On Over". Did you know that? "It that right? I'd love to hear that! I've never heard a remix of it." I'll make you a copy of it. "Thank you! That would be brilliant."
In 1987 Junior was back scoring a huge hit together with Kim Wilde. These two characteristic vocalists joined together in the UK Top 10 hit - "Another Step (Closer To You)". Junior also joined Kim on stage for some of her European gigs as opening act to Michael Jackson on his Bad tour. "Another Step" was a great duet together with Kim Wilde. How did you two get together and end up doing this duet? "I had met Kim a few times going back and forth from doing Top of The Pops and different TV and radio shows. I just came back from France when I got a phone call from Kim saying that she liked to do a duet, would I be up for it? She would send me the song. She sent over 'Another Step' and I loved it.
At the same time, Michael McDonald and Patti LaBelle had done 'On My Own'. A classic R&B, black/white song at that time, and I wanted to do something like that. So when Kim rang it was like 'Yeah'. And then when I heard 'Another Step' being completely electro-pop I was again - 'This is great!'.
Because, instead of trying to fashion yourself into a particular thing I'd always wanted to be Junior. I just didn't want to do what everybody else was doing, as I said earlier. So doing 'Another Step', for me, was like saying, especially in Britain at the time as there was a lot of racism towards black artist. And back then, most record companies in the UK never saw a black artist pass for more than one single. You know, so I wanted to prove them wrong, I wanted to prove that we could do any style of music and still be successful, because we were doing something that was good.
So, getting together with Kim, we rehearsed the track and when we recorded it, we did two songs at that time, and everybody wanted 'Another Step'. So, we thought; 'This would be great, let's do this!'. So, we came out with 'Another Step'. The look was very hard, black and white, 'cause I wanted it, again, not to reflect the nice colorful as seen in America - it had to be British, it had to have a stamp for what we were about. Even the video.
We were in different places when the video is being made and only got together right at the end to do the dance. We were constantly trying to ensure that we kept it very very British, very very English, in the way that we approached it. So, again, just like 'Mama Used To Say' and all of those songs, that they stand out! We wanted it to stand out. We didn't want it to be just another duet, we wanted it to be a duet that was fun.
It was Kim's first song that she wrote. She was incredibly excited about being able to do it, switching it around and when you're working together and stuff, it is brilliant! We went out to South America where the record was huge. In America we just started to bubble, and in across Europe it started to happen, and then, again, taking your career to another level."
Junior also added his vocals to Kim Wilde's "Never Trust A Stranger and "Hey Mister Heartache", which both became single hits from Kim's 1988 Close album.
1987 saw the release of the singe "Yes... (If You Want Me)". The single was a U.S: Top 20 R&B single and was followed by the album Sophisticated Street the following year. The album also featured the singles; "Say That You Care" and "High Life". This was the last he would record for Polygram Records, and it was released on the London Records imprint, just like everything from his mid-80's releases with Polygram.
When entering the new decade, Junior was now signed to MCA Records. He released two albums for his new label; the 1990 release Stand Strong [where he was credited as Junior Giscombe], followed by Renewal in 1992. The latter actually included six new tracks and some of the songs from 'Stand Strong' in re-worked versions.
A couple of singles were released off these albums, songs like; "Step Off", "Morning Will Come", "Stand Strong", "Better Part Of Me", "All Over The World" and Junior's version of the Dionne Warwick & Spinners 1974 classic "Then Came You". His original mix is closer to the Dionne original, but MCA brought in two of the hottest house remixers of the time, E-Smoove and Maurice, who turned it into a dance floor smacker.
In 1993 he teamed up with Ruby Turner for her "Lysander's Theme (Lovers After All)". A song actually inspired by Jilly Cooper's book - 'The Man Who Made Husbands Jealous'
Junior returned with a new album called Honesty in 1995. The only single off that album was the song "I Like It" which was solely released as a CD-maxi in Germany.
Then we didn't hear from him under his own name until the Prisoner Of Hope album was released in 2011.
In 2013 he joined Don-E, along with other friends, on the song titled "Spiritual". That constellation lead to what would become The British Collective and included Junior, Donald McLean [Don-E], Leee John [from 'Imagination'], Noel McKoy [who had performed with groups like 'Nu Colors', 'the Pasadenas' and 'Sounds of Blackness'] and Omar Lye-Fook [mainly recording as 'Omar']. Together they released the album Vol 1: The Renaissance Begins... in 2016. The song "Romantic" was their first video off the album.
A cover of the Jacksons legendary "Can You Feel It" saw the light in 2021, where Junior performed together with Kym Mazelle and Sinitta.
In 2020 he released the album Everything Set, which is dedicated and in memory of his late daughter, who passed far too early by complications from multiple sclerosis at the age of 32.
This album is exclusively available as download via Junior's website juniorgiscombe.co.uk and includes the special album Junior In Dub, which includes re-recordings of several of his most popular songs in more of a Jamaican dub-style kind of vibe, like; "Mama Used To Say" featuring Luciano and "Step Off" with Paulette Tajah & Pinky Famous
This leading us up to today...
I just heard your latest single - "Sweet Tender Love" [2024]. It really sounds like an earlier Junior release. And there should be an extended version of this, because it's a great track. "Thank you." So, how did that come about, and why haven't I heard about it before? "I've been going back and forth to France where I met a producer, Ammarene Boualame and we stroke up a relationship, it was really cool. Boualame is a very nice guy and he always wanted to do something with me in terms of recording-wise. I'd always been too busy to sit down and do it. But during COVID, not being able to go out and whatever else, I had time to sit down and write and listen to music properly.
I got 'Sweet Tender Love' from Boualame. He sent me it and I just loved the song, loved the idea and also that it was something where I could put Junior in there, so that people knew it was me.
I recorded it for him and he then put it out. I don't think that he's had the promotion behind it for people to really know that Junior is out there and is making a new album which hopefully will being with you at the end of the year. Which was something I wanted Boualame to do with the record. But we'll see.
I'm really really pleased with it, and I know that the record label in France are too. So we'll see whether or not we'll get a 12-inch version out, because you're right, it is a very good track!" Yes it is, so I think it would do great...
Make sure to allow Pup-up's to listen to the below sings...
Regarding your releases, have you got a copy of all everything you have involved in? "Wow! Hahaha! No, not everything! I've got most of the albums. Lots of 12-inches and remixes. But just like you were saying on 'Come On Over', I don't have all of those. I have things like I've worked on with people. Ruby Turner I did a song with. Sheena Easton I wrote a song for. Kim's stuff. I have a lot of bits of work.
But more important, it's really nice to be able to go out somewhere and just sit down and your work comes up. Everybody's just there and they don't know that you wrote the song, but you see them singing along to the song. I love that!
Just being able to touch people, that was the key - Always has been and always will be!"
Junior wrote "Don't Turn Your Back" for Sheena Easton's 1985 Nile Rodgers produced Do You album. Other of his songs have been recorded by artists like; Dee C. Lee ["Hold On" 1986], Phyllis Hyman ["If You Want Me" 1986], Amii Stewart ["Don't Stop (Pushin')" & "Now That We're Here" 1993] along with "Never Ever Gonna Give You Up" and "Wherever You Are Tonight" which appears on Ruby Turner's Restless Moods album from 1994. Philip Bailey of Earth Wind & Fire recorded a cover of Junior's "Anything Is Possible" for his 1998 Life & Love album.
So, a tough one maybe... Which is your favorite song of the ones you have written or sung? "Wow! Back in the days, 'If Ever (You Passed Him By)' which is a song I didn't want to do at the time. 'Now That We're Here' which is a song I did in the 80s with Nigel Martinez and I think that is a beautiful song. Typical, because I do like them all. I listened back to 'Women Say It', which was in '83 we did that album. It was just nice to go back and hear the sounds and what we were trying to achieve with the song." Nice, are you performing these songs in gigs these days? "Yeah yeah! 'Cause it's like when I'm out now, it's not so much latent upon doing the songs that people know like the 'Mama Used To Say', 'Morning Will Come' or 'Oh Louise', all those records that were hits. So, you could put a show together with just that. Whereas now, I try to put a show together that highlights different parts of Junior, not just that. So some of the songs like; 'Living In the Right Way', 'If Ever', 'Now That We're Here', 'Then Came You'. Just mix it up so that people would get different styles from Junior. Not different styles, you'll be hearing different songs, you know, just not hearing the same again." Do you still perform occasionally these days? "Yeah. I'm at the Pizza Express in April [2025]. I'll do the Rewind Tour in May-June. I'm off to America for the first two weeks of May. I'll be there doing some dates over there. So, yeah, I still perform. I just haven't been able to come over to Sweden, that's all." We have to bring you here! "You have to bring me there! No problem!" You're keeping yourself busy, that's for sure! "Oh yes. It hasn't stopped for me. I have not sat back and just lazed down." You really don't appear like the type of guy who would just sit down and wait. "Actually, I couldn't do that. I'm still wanting to start recording maybe later on this year, for something to come out next year. And in between that, doing a lot of what I do, which is play live, interviews, doing various charity things as well. So, my life is very full."
Let me ask you another tough one... Is there any song by another writer or singer you would have loved to sing yourself? "'Brown Sugar' was one, by D'Angelo. I love that song. There was also a song by a band called Yes, I'm trying to remember the song. I would have loved to have done that song. It's a Rock thing but it was like just so good - 'Owner Of A Lonely Heart'." Yes, that was a great song. "Yes, that was a great song. I would have loved to do that song." Since my pages are mainly Disco and Funk related, do you have some favorite Disco songs except for your own work?
[Starts singing] "'...You Make Me Feel... Mighty Real'. That song you know! That's a great sone! Mmm, Sylvester. Yes, it's a fantastic song! "Luther Vandross - 'Searching'." Oh yeah! "It's a classic Disco song. Donna Summer, from the beginning, 'Love To Love You Baby' these are classics. Could be anywhere, these are classic Disco dance feel good." So did you enjoy Disco at the time? "Oh YEAH! You know, come on, you know when Diana Ross worked with Chic and you know when 'Love Hangover' came out, we were dancing forever." Which kind of music do you personally prefer these days? "Personally. I'd say most probably Jazz, because you still can improvise and just be yourself in that moment of three and a half minutes to try and develop something that nobody else has maybe heard before or done before. So, Jazz." Great. So, do you play much Jazz these days? "Not as much as I like to. I listen to, as I said, I go back and I listen to a lot of contemporary R'n'B, Disco, Jazz, Funk. Going back listening to Grover Washington 'Mister Magic' you know. Just listening to the whole vibe, production, sound. Yeah, I'm still there."
Next up... You have been sampled many times by acts like; Warren G, Heavy D and the Boyz, Jungle Brothers, Superfunk, MC Hammer, 2Pac and many others... So what do you think of sampling, and has it meant something to you to keep your music alive or something like that? "I think, firstly, 'Mama Used To Say' stands on its own merits, so I don't think it needs to be sampled to keep it in the public eye. Because if people don't know Junior, then as soon as you say: 'Oh do you know that song [starts singing] ...and Mama Used To Say?' People say: 'Yeah, yeah!'. The song itself it keeps you relevant, it keeps you bouncing, it keeps you out there.
I think the sampling side of things, where people have taken it and sampled it, it's just a way of showing you, the artist who made it, just how important that piece of work was, and is, to boost the need to sample it. You know, if you think about it, look at how many millions of records are out there, but you chose mine. So whatever touched you, you feel you could do a twist to it that will make a new audience hear it in another way. I like that. I like that idea, I like that feel. I have no problem with people using 'Mama' in terms of sampling because it's good for me, as you say, in terms of a new audience. But as just said, I just think that, as the original recorder, I wanted to touch people and it's obvious that 'Mama' touched people and that's why they sample it. I think that's the best way to put it." "Mama" was also covered, for example by your own nephew, the UK TV presenter Richard Blackwood who covered it in the song "Mama, Who Da Man". "That's right." So, how was that? Because I know you also worked on that with your nephew. "Yeah. He wanted me to manage him and I decided that I would. And because he is a comedian, a good one, we wanted to do something that would be funny, would make kids remember going back. Because the video is all about remember going back to that time in the 70's when he was a kid. Wore glasses and was a real geek. We wanted to put a song together. I didn't think about 'Mama' but that was Richard who said that we should do a spin on 'Mama Used To Say' and call it 'Mama - Who Da Man'.
But again, because it was about making people laugh and have fun, I couldn't stop laughing. 'Mama - Who Da Man' right, yeah, that's you. OK, cool. We just bouncing ideas on how people would perceive it and stuff, and that was a great record to do. We had so much fun making that record and shooting the video of him going out doing dates. It also gave me another insight to another side of the business, which was being a manager for another artist. That was a really interesting time for me, it was like you're learning your craft and you're learning the business that you're in on different levels, and that was brilliant." "Mama - Who Da Man" peaked at number 3 in the UK singles charts in June 2000. It was followed by the Top 10 hit "1-2-3-4 Get With The Wicked" and "Someone There For Me", all from the album entitled You'd Love To Hate This.
Have you got some people who have really inspired you? We discussed a little bit on the old guys from back in the days, but still, are there any special people who has inspired you in your career? "I think all the people that had over the years just inspired and keep inspiring. 'Cause I still go back and play a lot of that old music. I was listening to a young lady called Bobbi Humphries the other day. Which is an album that she did; Blacks and Blues, which was fantastic, still is. And you listen to it in the context of the time she is living, and you are hearing music that is so advanced in its idea.
So, yeah, I still get inspired by records, by songs, by not so much one particular artist, you know, I think they all - like we all are - very special beings, and if we start saying 'Oh I prefer him to him' and I confirm, that is like saying that you're not really taking on board that each has something to offer, and they do and that's the beauty of it. So, no! I'm just inspired by music - across the board." I understand what you mean, because everyone is special, they have their own talents and everything so... "I think it's wrong to turn around and say 'but this one is better than that one and this one is singing like this or this one'. Whereas, just like you mentioned 'Unison', somebody heard me singing the song and saying; 'You know what, I wanna try that I wanna do it'. So, you've inspired people. Now your record may have sold one copy and theirs sells a million, but you would be the inspiration for that to be able to happen." Definitely. "It's just like you were the call to that, so you can't turn around and point fingers."
You seem to have kept yourself really busy throughout the years, from singing and performing, to writing, producing and managing. But have you ever done anything else? I mean, worked with anything else than music, or has it always been music for you since you started? "It's always been music. I was in handmade shoes for a while. I used to make handmade shoes. I made shoes for Charles... King Charles when he was a Prince, Diana [Princess Diana], Paul Newman. So, creative work. I did that for a period. Other than that I have never worked a day in my life. [both laughing] Other than making music! It's been a beautiful life!" But that's a hard work as well, because you have to be creative, you have to be performing. "Yes, what a wonderful job to have." Yes, definitely! You're lucky to have had a chance to actually do that for a living. "Exactly, you know, as I said, when you sit back, and you look at things, you realize how fortunate you have been. 'Cause most people if they come into the industry and things don't work out, then they get a 9 to 5 job. Then they come back to the industry, but the Industry has moved on and they have not really seen the move, so they've been kind of backtracked. So I've been very fortunate for being involved in music from I was around 21-22. From when I was doing my apprenticeship with shoes, that was it! I've never done another day's work in it. It's been brilliant because it just keeps shooting the edge of it."
Finally, what's your best memory from your years in the business? "I've got a few stand outs, like being presented with an award by James Brown stands out, it's a great one for me.
Being asked by Stevie Wonder to sing on the record of his, that's another wonderful moment for me. [The song was "One Of A Kind" from Stevie's 1987 Characters album.] Going to the Soul Train Awards seeing what that was all about was another great thing. The Pop and Rock Awards, the very first time, was a real big thing for me.
And then, really, meeting all the artist that I met along the way; Rick James, Aretha Franklin, Patti LaBelle, Luther... [Vandross] And just coming from where I was coming from, that was NEVER something I thought would ever happen to me. So you know, to be able to say I know him and we speak. That was just a pipe dream. Just in your dreams you most probably thought, yeah I'm sitting down with this individual, then to live and be able to say that you actually did those things. That's fantastic!" Yes. I understand that must be amazing. That was the last question I had, but anything you think we have missed to discuss that you want to bring up? "That we've missed? No, not really. I think you've been very precise. So, not really." Then I just want to thank you, because it has been a really great pleasure to speak to you you're a lovely man and I had enjoyed every minute. So I'm really grateful that you have taken your time with me. "No that's great, thank you very much for getting in contact in the first place so we could do this. Brilliant!" Thank you Junior, and have a fantastic day ahead. "Good. Alright. So thank you very much and have a fantastic day and week and we'll speak soon I hope." Yes we definitely will. Thank You! Bye!
Junior is a lovely man whom I immensely enjoyed talking to, we both really had a great time.
With a career spanning over more than 5 decades, he has no plans to retire from entertaining and he still keeps himself busy touring and recording.
Hopefully you have learned that it's so much more to him than what "Mama Used To say".
Seems like we'll get to hear more from him over the coming year, so watch out...
As he states; "Just being able to touch people, that was the key.
Always has been and always will be!"
"Yeah, we were called the Idyllics, 'cause at the time everything had a 'cs' at the end. The Delfonics, and so on. I moved on from there and started another band, a proper band this time. I was around 17 or 18 when I started this other band and we were called Atlantis. The bass player was George Anderson, George later played for Shakatak. The guitarist was a guy called Paul Gendler and he ended up playing for a band called Modern Romance.
I wrote 'Get Up And Dance' and 'Hot Up And Heated' and we did an album. Some Stevie Wonder cover songs were on there, and some other things that I wrote during that period of time.
Eventually "Mama Used To Say" took off in the UK as well and became a Top 10 hit in April 1982, and it topped lists all around the world. This led to Junior to becoming the the first black British artist to perform on Soul Train, additionally Billboard Magazine honored him with the 'Best Newcomer Award', which was presented to him by none the less than the legendary - 
When entering the new decade, Junior was now signed to MCA Records. He released two albums for his new label; the 1990 release Stand Strong [where he was credited as Junior Giscombe], followed by Renewal in 1992. The latter actually included six new tracks and some of the songs from 'Stand Strong' in re-worked versions.
In 2020 he released the album Everything Set, which is dedicated and in memory of his late daughter, who passed far too early by complications from multiple sclerosis at the age of 32.
