Christine McNabb 'Love You' / 'Combination' 12"
Christine McNabb's UK Lovers' 12" soul rarity originally self-released in 1981, featuring backing from Caron Wheeler, Black Slate's rhythm section and the in-house musicians at Eve Studios in Brockley, South London. This 12” features the full vocal version of ‘Love You’, coupled with the heavyweight ’Combination’ dub, with label illustrations by Lee Ifill.
Christine Mcnabb: “C.B. Music was the family label. My mum gave us the money to make those records. The initials were my brother's and his girlfriend's at the time. He put the musicians together and named them Lions. Ras Elroy from Black Slate was playing bass and Caron Wheeler did the backing vocals. I wrote that track when we still lived on Waddon Road in Croydon.”
Born in Kingston, Jamaica, McNabb lived in Allman Town with her great-grandmother before migrating to England at age thirteen: “I would always be listening to the radio and dancing and singing for grandma back in Jamaica. I used to listen to Miriam Makeba because my hair was short like hers and everyone knew me for that. I grew up listening to love songs. Rocksteady, ska, downbeat... Duke Reid... I’d always danced outside Duke Reid’s in Jones Town.”
In the mid-70s, McNabb formed a female vocal group with her sister Wraydene and their friend Sonia Williams. “Sonia would come over to our parent's house in South Norwood and we’d practice in my brother's bedroom. We had all these posters on the wall, The Jackson Five, Alvin Stardust, Isley Brothers, Danny Osmond and Marie. Music has always been in me you know, we’d have my friends over from school and practice to The Three Degrees songs, 'When Will I See You Again’ and ‘Dirty Ol' Man'." The trio entered a local talent contest held by Coxsone and Castro Brown at the Georgian Club in Croydon, performing as the Gorgon Sisters.
“Dennis Brown was there with his mum. I sang Louisa Mark's ‘Caught In A Lie’ and we won the competition. Dennis was hoping we’d win so we could get things rolling with Morpheus.” explains Christine. On the advice of promoter and Morpheus record shop owner Castro Brown, the group changed their name to 15-16-17 (reflecting the girls’ ages). “I was 16!” says Christine.
Cashing in on the emerging UK Lovers’ market, Castro Brown produced their recordings ‘If You Love Me Smile’ and ‘Black Skin Boy’ for his Morpheus label with Dennis Bovell leading the backing band. “‘Black Skin Boy’ was a playground thing I wrote for my boyfriend at school at the time. I just came up with the lyrics like that. I sang the song to Morpheus (Castro Brown) and it started from there. We’d rehearse after school with the Equators band in the basement of a gambling house on Kingsland Road in Hackney.” explains Christine.
Her sister Wraydene recollects on the early days spent learning the ropes at Castro Brown’s ‘one-stop’ shop, Deb’s Records in Battersea Rise: “We all worked behind the counter there. Castro had a tape machine and cutting lathe in the back room that cut dubs for all the sound systems. He’d get us to operate it when he wasn’t there.” Christine expands: “They had a music room upstairs with a piano and we’d be up there laying down backing vocals for Black Harmony. I’d been doing backing sessions already from way back. Dennis Brown would always ask me because I could cover alto, tenor and soprano, often it was just me doing all the parts. Dennis Brown was my childhood friend from way back in Jamaica, he used to come up to my grandma’s gate and we’d go to church together... We’d be around the studios like Dynamic and Coxsone Dodd's place. I sang on Dennis’s ‘Little Green Apples”.
By the late 70s, 15-16-17 had disbanded and Christine focused on her solo career. “Our first release on C.B. Music was ‘Promise To Love You’ as 16-17 because it was just Wraydene and I. Then I followed up with ‘Love You’. I always wanted to sing soul records too. My brother didn’t think it was strong enough at the time being a soul cut but it got support from Robbie Vincent and here we are.”
