Tyson

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• Peter Elliott
• Eileen Mulligan

Tyson isn't referencing the 80s with his first solo project - he is recreating them with original tracks that explode with an authenticity and attitude that less considered, commercial acts could only dream of.
A talented songwriter with a unique voice, the 27-year-old Londoner looks set to blast his way onto dance floors this summer and cement himself as one of the UK's most exciting new artists.

The path into the world of music has been a long, but seemingly natural process for Tyson. With a large family who all had an appreciation for music, Tyson gained an early exposure to recording studios, musicians and world tours courtesy of his father who was a member of Misty In Roots - arguably the UK's biggest reggae band who were championed by John Peel and continue to record and tour to this day.

"I was born a Rastafarian," Tyson reveals, having taken after his father as a child sporting dreadlocks (until his mother cut them off when he was five). And although his current music doesn't incorporate Jamaican sounds, Tyson can't deny these early memories left an unavoidably lasting impact. "Genetically," he begins, "and because I was there, I got the whole musicality from that kind of music and I think it came through in that I wanted to make base heavy music."

Along with a musician father and musically supportive family, growing up in West London also nurtured Tyson's talents, as music and singing were something everyone just did. "Now kids are hanging out on street corners looking to rob people - we never did that," he explains. "We stood on the corner and someone would beat box and you either did some dancehall mc-ing or some jungle or you sung the hook on the tune. That's what we did."

It was singing alongside his friends that awakened a competitive side to Tyson's personality that would see him perfecting his own abilities. "I was never the best singer in the band and that upset me. So I went home and practiced every day until my throat was literally bleeding. I watched videos and did vocal exercises and gargled with salt water, keeping it a secret until I felt confident enough. Then when the time came to sing lead vocals I was like 'let me have a go,' and I went in there and killed it."

Vocally, Tyson developed a distinctive sound that he attributes to listening to female vocalists like Millie Jackson and Tina Turner, along with the likes of disco legend Sylvester. "I thought I'll let my thing be to sing falsetto, because no one sings in falsetto," he explains. "I'm just trying to be original and when you hear that you'll know it's me."

The practicing paid off and by the age of 17 Tyson had bagged his first record deal having been headhunted by top A&R executive Muff Winwood - who has worked with everyone from Marianne Faithful to Sade to Jamiroquai as part of harmonising group 'Street Symphony'. "You always wanted to get signed for some strange reason," ponders Tyson. "I don't know what it meant to me, I just believed if you got signed you'd be a big superstar." Although the group were short lived, Winwood had offered Tyson his first taste of success and also saw the young musicians potential, remaining in contact to provide the encouragement and advice that spurred on his talents.

Subsequently Tyson expanded his writing skills setting out to create an ambitious concept project which he intended to be like a British version of Outkast that incorporated the sound of 80s bands like The Human League. The resulting outfit was electro funk group Unklejam who were signed to Virgin in 2006 and although Tyson put the group together and wrote their material, it was never his intention to be part of the group itself.

Conceding to the record labels request that he join the band on the strength of his vocals, Unklejam celebrated chart success with their fresh sound that layered soulful RnB vocals over electro beats - however the overall project was not what Tyson originally intended. Despite being singled out as something of a pioneer for the current surge in electro RnB acts that occupy the charts today, the experience of developing something under the instructions of others had left Tyson greatly disheartened. "Music was dead to me," he states, revealing he experienced a period of depression after leaving the group and refusing to accept offers to work on new projects. "I wore black. I couldn't bear to make music. But then one day I had an epiphany. I realised I needed to make music for me."

Now signed to Back Yard Recordings - one of the UK's premier independent famed for developing and breaking artists such as Gossip and Chromeo - Tyson has been given the freedom to create music that he himself is proud of. "This is an art," he says of music making. "You need to understand your art and stick by it and it doesn't matter what anyone says because it's yours. Someone will paint a picture and you're not going to say 'put a red dot here.' That is the key and I think a lot of musicians have lost that ideal. I've always wanted to do something that I want to do and I never had anyone allow me to do what I want and Back Yard promised I could do that."

With the backing of the label, Tyson was determined to learn from his past experiences to create his finest work to date. "I tried to work with a few people but it never really worked out," he says of his decision to work primarily alone on the record. "I need to know why something does or doesn't sound right. And if you do it yourself you can't be let down, can you?" The process of making the record also proved to be cathartic in reconnecting with music. "It's an honest record. It's one of those that when you listen to it, it will make you cry and every tune you will feel in your gut. There are no lies. No 'let me try and write a hit today' - none of that. It's real. Natural songs like how people used to make songs."

The pulsating electro of the record hints to the 80s icons that Tyson admired as he taught himself to sing and new single 'Out Of My Mind' has a remarkable alikeness of the era. "Who's going to make 80s music that actually sounds 80s?" he ponders noting that the current resurgence of electronic music in the charts often tries to hark back to the period.
"What they do is take that and make it sound modern," he observes. "I didn't want that. I want it to sound like a record I missed back in the day."

Tyson's admiration for iconic singers has served as a drive in his own writing as he has endeavored to create something that will similarly stand the test of time. "There's a difference between making a hit and a song that will last forever," he notes. "My focus is to make a song that'll last forever and that's what I'm trying to do to get to that stage where you can sit down with the greatest. If I can do that, I'll be happy."