Ruby Turner - Livin' A Life Of Love: The Jive Anthology 1986-1991 [2CD] (2017)

As part of its much acclaimed anthology series, SoulMusic Records is very proud to present “Livin’ A Life Of Love – The Jive Anthology, 1986-1991” a wonderful retrospective covering much-loved, Jamaican-born, British-based Ruby Turner’s five-year tenure with Jive Records. Ruby spent her formative years in Birmingham and began her recording career in 1980, cutting singles for the independent Sunflower label. Building a reputation for herself as one of the foremost singers and performers on the British soul scene, Ruby signed with Jive Records, cutting her first LP, “Women Hold Up Half The Sky” in 1986 which included her Billy Ocean-produced duet with Jive label-mate Jonathan Butler on a cover of The Staple Singers’ 1973 hit, ‘If You’re Ready (Come Go With Me)’. The LP yielded three further UK charted singles including ‘In My Life (It’s Better To Be In Love)’, written and produced by Monte Moir (formerly of The Time); a rare extended version of the track is included here along with the 1987 charted single version of ‘I’d Rather Go Blind’, a constant show-stopper in Ruby’s live shows. Lovingly compiled by renowned US musicologist and writer Justin Kantor (who provided stellar liner notes with extensive 2017 quotes from Ruby herself).