CLASSIC ALBUM INTRODUCING THE HARDLINE...44© Getty Imagesat Sony,” Martyn recalled to
Emma Warren at the Red Bull
Music Academy. “It was this
tacky tape and it said Terence
Trent D’Arby on it and I put it
on. I’m literally about to sign
the contract on doing this other
artist and I put it on and went:
“This is absolutely fantastic!”
It was a bit rough, but the
songs were incredible and the
voice is incredible. So, I went
down there and managed to
persuade them that I should do
his fi rst album.”
Martyn and Terence hit it off
immediately, both sharing a
vision of what they wanted to
achieve with the album, taking
the honesty and authenticity of
old-school rock and R&B and
updating it so that it was soul
music, but modern and not
derivative of what had gone
before. Martyn was particularly
impressed, not only with
Terence’s immeasurable talent,
but also his work ethic.
“We got on like a house
on fi re,” he says. “He used to
come into the studio at least
an hour before I got in. And
he used to play Sam Cooke
tunes and Otis Redding, and
he sat there studying, as though
he was studying a university
subject. He used to study them
in darkness, in the studio,
listening to them, singing
along to them, and saying:
‘This might be my only chance,
this album, to try to get out
what I’ve got inside me’. And
he really wanted to know his
subject thoroughly.”
As the recording sessions
were coming to an end in
March 1987, Terence’s career
was launched with the release
of his debut single If You Let
Me Stay (one of the two tracks
on his album not produced by
Martyn). A slice of uplifting
soul just on the right side of
retro, the record company
were delighted when the single
reached the Top 10 and,
confi dent in the talents of their
new artist, decided to give him
a major push, arranging a
hectic promotional schedule to
ensure everyone heard about
the next big thing.
What Columbia hadn’t
banked on however, was
Terence’s gargantuan ego
and outspoken views. Blurring
the lines between ambition
and arrogance, he gave aTerence Trent D’Arby’s
on-stage presence
alluded to Prince,
James Brown and
Mick JaggerD’ARBY DESCRIBED HARDLINE...
AS “BETTER THAN SGT PEPPER’S
LONELY HEART’S CLUB BAND”
AND “THE MOST BRILLIANT
DEBUT ALBUM BY ANY ARTIST
THIS DECADE”CP30.ClassicAlbum_TTD.print.indd 44 08/06/2017 12:25