This US rock band was originally formed by Vernon Reid (b. 22 August 1958, London, England; guitar), Muzz Skillings (bass) and Will Calhoun (b. William Calhoun, 22 July 1964, New York City, New York, USA; drums). Reid had studied performing arts at Manhattan Community College, having moved to New York at the age of two. His first forays were in experimental electric jazz with Defunk, before he formed Living Colour as a trio in 1984. Both Skillings and Calhoun were experienced academic musicians, having studied and received acclaim at City College and Berklee College Of Music, respectively. The line-up was completed by the induction of vocalist Corey Glover (b. 6 November 1964, New York City, New York, USA), who had just finished a role in Oliver Stone’s movie Platoon, and whom Reid had originally encountered at a friend’s birthday party.
Living Colour’s first major engagement came when Mick Jagger saw them performing at CBGB’s and invited them to the studio for his forthcoming solo album. Jagger’s patronage continued as he produced two demos for the band, which secured them a contract with Epic Records. Their 1988 debut, Vivid, earned them early critical acclaim and rose to number 6 in the US charts. Fusing disparate black musical formats such as jazz, blues and soul, alongside commercial hard rock, its diversity was reflected in the support slots the band acquired to promote it, Cheap Trick, Robert Palmer and Billy Bragg among them. Musically, the band was most closely aligned to the first of that trio, although their political edge mirrored the concerns of Bragg. In 1985, Reid had formed the Black Rock Coalition pressure movement alongside journalist Greg Tate, and Living Colour grew to be perceived as their nation’s most articulate black rock band.
The subsequent singles, ‘Cult Of Personality’ (which included samples of John F. Kennedy’s speeches and won a Grammy Award) and ‘Open Letter (To A Landlord)’, were both provocative but intelligent expressions of urban concerns. The ties with the Rolling Stones remained strong, with Reid collaborating on Keith Richards’ 1988 solo debut Talk Is Cheap. They also joined the Rolling Stones on their Steel Wheels tour. After sweeping the boards in several Best New Band awards in such magazines as Rolling Stone, Time’s Up was released in 1990, and afforded another Grammy Award. Notable contributions, apart from the omnipresent Jagger, included Little Richard on the controversial ‘Elvis Is Dead’. In 1991 worldwide touring established Living Colour as a highly potent force in mainstream rock. Following Skillings’ departure, bass player Doug Wimbish (b. 22 September 1956, Hartford, Connecticut, USA) from Tackhead joined them for Stain, which added a sprinkling of studio gimmickry on a number of tracks.
Despite their growing stature, the band announced its dissolution early in 1995; Vernon Reid stated: ‘... Living Colour’s sense of unity and purpose was growing weaker and fuzzier, I was finding more and more creative satisfaction in my solo projects. Finally it became obvious that I had to give up the band and move on’. An excellent retrospective, Pride, was released following their demise. Reid released an impressive solo debut in 1996, a path followed by Glover two years later. Calhoun and Wimbish worked together in Jungle Funk, while the former’s jazz quintet issued their debut Live At The Blue Note in 2000. Calhoun, Wimbish and Glover teamed up in the early years of the 21st century in a new outfit, Headfake, and after they were joined on stage by Reid the seeds of a Living Colour reunion had been planted. The quartet relaunched the band in summer 2001 for a tour, before entering the studio to record a new album for Sanctuary Records. The highly experimental Collideøscope was released in late 2003.
