Yvonne Curtis (born Yvonne McIntosh) is a singer of Jamaican descent. She has lived in the United Kingdom since the early 1960s. She became the lead singer of The Serenaders and often travels back and forth from the Caribbean Islands performing as a reggae and soca artist.
History
Born and raised in Jamaica, the young gospel singer Curtis left St. Ann's, Jamaica in the 1960s as a teenager for a better life and education in England. She continued her musical career from her new home in Highbury and Islington, London. Whilst studying in college in the 1970s, Curtis sang in many local bands before she decided it was time to seriously pursue her singing career.
1970s–1990s
A local recording producer needed a backing vocalist for his musical project and a contest was held in Stockwell, South London. Having been advised to enter, the young Curtis came second in the contest to her best friend. The producer took them both on asking them to conduct vocals session works.
During the mid-1970s, Curtis joined a local band called the Okendoes and Chalis but she found no real success. After many different small projects in 1975 and no real commercial success, she began working with a record label called Third World Music under Shelly Barrett aka Count Shelly who released Curtis's first song titled "What's Your Name" which was an instant success. Things began moving and she soon left Third World Records to sign with London's Empire Records, a subsidiary of Jamaica's Channel One Studios, with whom she released another self-penned hit song called "Convenient Woman".
After two years she left Empire Records to release her own single called "No Charge" on World Sounds Records, before joining a successful reggae band called The Serenaders who were signed to Brown's Music Records. The first release by this band was a single titled "Only for Lovers". Soon after came "Sweet Loving" which was another successful hit song written by Curtis. The song did extremely well and caused a huge demand for her tours and performances globally. During 1994 she travelled to Germany, Nicaragua and Brazil, creating a fan base and performed on Warehouse Showcase on London's Carlton Television. In 1998 she appeared with Pete Campbell on The Big Breakfast on Channel 4 and featured in songs by the Reggae Boys. During this time, she was constantly writing and recording songs under Brown's Music & World Sounds Records both as a solo artist and under the band named 'Wavet' which included further performances at the Royal Albert Hall in London.
2000s
In the year 2000, the Serenaders fell apart upon the death of three of its members and Curtis went back to World Sound Records to continue recording her new songs. In 2013, on a joint venture with Browns Records, she released an album entitled 'Lets Unite in Love' which was distributed VP Records in the US. The album was an instant success and caused a notable demand for Curtis' music worldwide. In 2015, Curtis met record producer and label owner Mark Duffus and joined Digital Jukebox Records in 2015. The first release was a three CD compilation of her greatest hits, followed by a crossover version of the Christmas medley ‘When a Child is Born’ & ‘Mary's Boy Child’. John Nolan, a journalist and reviewer for 'Reggae in New York' spoke very highly of the album's success in the United States, stating, "Often the most talented artists go for decades without the commercial recognition they deserve. Despite her lack of commercial success Curtis is a driving force in reggae music with an evolving sound that has spanned the entire reggae spectrum. Since 1978 she has released 11 albums, as well as numerous compilations and singles.".