Much of it was conceptualised and recorded well before Nora Jones, Joss Stone, Corinne Bailey Rae, and most particularly Amy Winehouse, all hit with basically the same thing. Everyone involved with making it, believed the Ebony album to be utterly wonderful, and they are all so proud of it.
It initially took a year and a half to make the first draft, and now a further three years to fine tune, change and add new tracks until it felt like a complete masterpiece, and the legendary A&R genius, Muff Winwood, oversaw it all personally.
"Walk Away And Never Look Back", was the first song recorded.
Ebony was introduced to the soul scene by reactivating the old classic Okeh label, owned by Sony, and pressing up tiny limited edition batches of three different singles on the Okeh label. These were produced on seven inch vinyl and "Walk Away And Never Look Back" was the first of the three singles to be released.
Renowned producer Ian Levine has always had the ultimate faith in Ebony's artistry. As he wrote in an article in 2002:
“Ebony Alleyne had become slightly legendary in the music business already. At 19 years old she'd had one of the highest advances, in a bidding war where every major UK record company wanted to sign her…. When she performed at Togetherness I've never seen a standing ovation like it, even for Phillip Mitchell or JJ Barnes, and this was an artist the audience hadn't seen before.
Ebony Alleyne has arrived. Without wishing to pat myself on the back, I was so proud to be part of something that truly justifies my working in this sometimes miserable business.
The Ebony Alleyne album is, to me, the finest point of a career that now spans 27 years of producing records, but I've never had a chance with a budget like this, or with a voice like this, to really go to town and make the kind of records that I always longed to make all of my life.”
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