Liam Bailey and the Soul Singer Who Pulled His Own Album

In 2010, a young singer from Nottingham released two EPs on Amy Winehouse's own label, Lioness Records. Liam Bailey recorded the first, 2am Rough Tracks, entirely alone with his guitar, and its three songs included a take on “I'd Rather Go Blind”. The second, So Down, Cold, followed in November. That same year he signed to Polydor, and a promising start seemed to be written.

Success arrived through a different door. Bailey began performing around the world with Chase & Status, and he co-wrote and sang on their single “Blind Faith”, which debuted at number five in the UK in January 2011. A second collaboration, “Big Man”, followed in 2012. Meanwhile his own debut album, Out of the Shadows, produced by Salaam Remi, was set for September 2011, and then Bailey unexpectedly pulled the release.

After the break with Polydor he went small and personal. In 2013 “When Will They Learn” was re-released on Speakerbox, a Ministry of Sound imprint run by MistaJam, with a video shot among Bailey's friends in Nottingham for just £1,750. His manager argued that this homemade feel suited him far better than the major-label gloss that had never quite captured him. A collaboration with Shy FX, “Soon Come”, reached number six on the UK Indie Chart in August 2013.

His debut album finally appeared in the United States in August 2014 as Definitely Now. Wondering Sound described its sound as sweet Daptone-style soul with blues moods, Oasis-like riffs, Sam Cooke grooves and light Jamaican accents. Bailey himself admitted it had been torture working out which direction to take. Later chapters kept that restless blend. He teamed up with Leon Michels of Big Crown for Ekundayo, a lo-fi soul record that AllMusic nonetheless filed under reggae, and in February 2024 Michels and the El Michels Affair collective produced his fourth album, Zero Grace. It is the story of a singer who preferred his own sound to anyone else's schedule. Even a track like “Summer Rain” carries that mix of warmth and rough edges.