Savage Progress
| Savage Progress | |
|---|---|
| Origin | London |
| Genres | Pop, dance, synthpop |
| Years active | 1982–1985 |
| Labels | Ten Records/Virgin Records |
| Associated acts | Roxy Music, Thompson Twins, Indigo Girls |
| Past members | Glynnis Rik Kenton Ned Morant Carol Isaacs Andrew Edge |
Savage Progress was a pop group in the 1980s from England that had hits in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. The band was founded by Rik Kenton (b. 31 October 1945, in Nottingham, Nottinghamshire, England) Glynnis (voc) Ned Morant (perc.) Carol Isaacs (keyboards/background vocals) and Andrew Edge (drums). They were a mixed-race group of musicians who used traditional pop styles as well as reggae, Caribbean dance rhythms and African rhythms.
Savage Progress joined the Thompson Twins on the "Into The Gap" tour of Britain (February 1984) as support act. Savage Progress' biggest hit was "My Soul Unwraps Tonight", which was written by Kenton, a former member of Roxy Music.
The band started with the meeting of Kenton and Glynnis in 1982. They later recruited Morant, who was not a professional percussionist, but was eager to learn and fitted in with the visual style of the band. They recorded a few basic demos over Christmas in 1982, at The Point studio in Victoria, London, with a young tape operator called Danny Hyde, who used the free time he was allowed by the studio to record four basic tracks. At that time the Point studio was under the control of Rupert Merton, who owned the Point Music publishing company. After hearing their demos he asked them to record more songs. Merton was then the Thompson Twins publisher, and later signed Freur/Underworld.
As Savage Progress had no drummer at that time, they invited Edge to join. Edge had rehearsed in The Point studio a few years before with the Thompson Twins, and was a friend of Alex Burak, the chief engineer. Edge had previously played with David Lloyd in Uropa Lula, and later introduced Isaacs to Savage Progress, as they had both previously worked together in Uropa Lula, which had been signed to Arista records the previous year.
The racial mix within Savage Progress was never fully stressed in the media, but had a definite effect on their music: Glynnis was born in Zimbabwe to mixed race /African parents, Kenton is from Nottingham, Isaacs is English-Jewish, Morant has Indian parentage, and Edge is from Leeds, in northern England. This mix of differing cultures proved to be advantageous for Savage Progress' music, as Kenton infused their songs with as many cultural influences as possible. Larry Heard commented on his early influences, which include the Savage Progress song, "Heart Begin To Beat".
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