In the 1970s and 80s he enjoyed success as a solo artist with hits including Electric Avenue, I Don’t Wanna Dance and Do You Feel My Love.
His latest venture sees him working as a DJ on the new internet station United DJs. Eddy, who turned 70 this month, lives in Barbados with his wife Anne and has four children.
“I was born in Guyana and from the age of two I showed a love for music. My father was a fantastic musician and used to take me along to his rehearsals, but he thought I would go on to be a doctor. I heard so much about how a doctor saved my life from diphtheria and so that became a dream and fixation.
“At 12 I moved to England to join my parents, who by then had moved to London. I was playing trumpet in the school orchestra, but rock ’n’ roll had started, so I decided to put the trumpet aside for the guitar. I went to see Chuck Berry – I’d never seen anything like that and I decided I wanted to be like that guy.
“When I was 17 and still at school, I formed The Equals. We had two hit albums and in 1968 we reached No 1 with Baby Come Back. We became really good performers and The Equals became a household name. Everything I do in life I try to do well, so the success wasn’t wholly unexpected, but it broke my father’s heart that I wasn’t going to be a doctor.
“I wasn’t into chasing girls or drugs and I sunk myself into music, but when I was 23 I suffered a heart attack and collapsed lung. I was teetotal, vegetarian and a sportsman, so it was a huge shock. It’s a genealogical issue and I’ve learned to live with it, but it took a year to recover and led to my departure from The Equals in 1972.
“After that, I acted, I danced and I had a radio programme on the World Service. I also built my own music studio at my home in north east London and began producing other people.
“I released a couple of albums, then in 1979 my single Living On The Frontline made the Top 20. I had several other big hits, including I Don’t Wanna Dance and Electric Avenue, and I was appearing on Top Of The Pops, but I’ve never been one for extravagance and the success didn’t go to my head.
“In 1988 I released the anti-apartheid single Gimme Hope Jo’anna. Nelson Mandela was still in prison and the song was banned by the South African government. I’m immensely proud of the fact that, 30 years later, it is my most popular song worldwide and in 2008 I was invited to perform at his 90th birthday party concert – one of my career highlights.
“In the 1990s I got into archiving old Caribbean music – finding the songs and purchasing the rights to them.
“Last year I released a new album, Plaisance, in thankfulness to the village in which I was born. Recently Guyana issued four Eddy Grant stamps, which has never before been done in the history of my country.
“I live in Barbados now. I moved back to the Caribbean in 1982 – I can’t handle the cold! I also wanted to give my children an opportunity to see the kind of life I led growing up.
“Now I’ve started as a DJ on the new internet radio station United DJs. Retiring from music is not an option for me. Even today my guitar is never any more than three feet away from me – it’s my life’s work.”
