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Sugar Simone

 


Keith Foster (Sugar Simone) was born in Jamaica in 1948 but emigrated to the UK in 1961. He became a recording engineer for a music publishing company who were among the backers of a pirate radio station called Radio Atlanta. Their Carnival Records released some singles by “Sugar and Dandy”. At least one of these tracks, “What a life” (Carnival CV 7015,1964) were Dandy Livingstone double tracked. Keith Foster joined Livingstone for public performances as "Sugar". The song "What a Life" was composed by Robert Livingstone Thompson (Dandy) and published by Merit Music, owned by Australian businessman Alan Crawford, a backer of Radio Atlanta, which merged with Radio Caroline in 1964.

Sugar Simone’s recording "Suddenly"/“King Without a Throne” was issued on the Sue label in 1967; it remains Sugar Simone’s best known recording. The sound quality of the Sue single might indicate that it had been produced from a vinyl demo rather than direct from master tape. It is not known for certain whether the original recording is a US or a UK recording. 

Keith Foster also recorded under the names "Tito Simon" and "Lance Hannibal", and had recordings issued on the Trojan and other labels. As "Tito Simon", his recording of "This Monday Morning Feeling" was the most successful, reaching no. 45 in the UK in February 1975. His current whereabouts and activity are unknown.

Image: WTM Radio

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