100% Lovers Rock Covers | Funky Fasching

In this 100% episode, we're gonna dive deep into the wonderful world of lovers rock covers (and beyond).

Lovers rock emerged as a reggae sub-genre in London in the mid-70s under the influence of Afro-Caribbean immigrants. The name itself comes from a record label, on which the new music was released.

As so often in music history, new musical ideas were tested and developed in clubs. The beginning of lovers rock was not different: at some point, the owners of soundsystems started cutting romantic ballads with young females singing, which was laying the foundation to this new genre. At the same time, the dancefloor opened up to a more female audience and singers like Janet Kay and Carol Thompson conquered the stages. The lyrics were mainly about romance, love and relationships, and some even suggested that lovers rock "has the power to open the lower chakras." However, it was a welcome addition to the rougher and more political-content focused reggae from Jamaica.

Of course, new music was also created and composed in lovers rock, but it all started when producers and musicians were crafting their own reggae cover versions out of contemporary R&B, motown and Philadelphia soul ballads.

That’s one of the reasons why lovers rock has so many of these timeless and brilliant cover gems to offer. A hand-picked selection will be presented in this show.