The lively stage presence, instrumental talent and the genuine vocal gift of Leee John make Imagination one of the country’s most gifted soul bands. Leee John and the Imagination band offer a mind-blowing dedication to the craft.
For 3 decades, multi-award-winning British soul group Imagination & Leee John have released a multitude of classic hits that still resonate with people today. Songs that offer nostalgia when they are played together with the infectious energy that this group undoubtedly bring, and an emotional connection is established with this band as soon as they take to the stage.
Just An Illusion, Flashback, Body Talk, Music & Lights and Changes helped secure the Imagination band’s power and dominance over the charts in the 80s. From the beginning to the end of the decade the band spent an incredible 107 weeks in the UK singles charts and a further 100 weeks in the album charts.
With sales in excess of 30 million albums, Imagination presented perfect Brit Jazz/Funk songs and established their position as the essential 80’s crossover group. The soul-dance hit-makers became influential artists for future generations of pop stars.
Though the band were largely soulful they were considered genre-defying, which is down to their musical style fusing funk and soul with jazz and post-disco.
Even today, the story of Imagination’s music continues in the form of a long list of samples, remixes and adaptations by major contemporary stars such as Destiny’s Child who sampled Just An illusion on their 1998 self-titled debut album. Also by Leee himself who featured on DJ Dero’s 2005 rendition of the song.
The same year saw Mariah Carey reuse the track on her top ten single Get Your Number and Flashback was sampled by Boards of Canada, Music & Lights by Tiger & Woods and All Night Loving by 88 Keys featuring Kanye West.
It’s fair to say founding member and songwriter Leee John is one of the hardest working men in music. Touring internationally both with Imagination and as Leee John in his ever-popular solo performances, Leee shows his continuous diversity across multiple genres including pop as well as his more classic presentation of jazz. None better reflect this than with the release of his last critically acclaimed solo album Feel My Soul.
