Imagination

Formed in London in 1981 around Leee John, Ashley Ingram and Errol Kennedy, Imagination belonged to the British post‑disco wave with a sound that blended funk, soul and club pop, driven by supple bass lines, polished synth arrangements and a highly expressive vocal. The trio quickly emerged with producers Steve Jolley and Tony Swain, first on Body Talk in 1981 and then with In the Heat of the Night in 1982 — the album that firmly placed Imagination in the early‑1980s soul‑funk landscape thanks to tracks like Just an Illusion and Music and Lights. The subsequent period, from Scandalous in 1983 to Trilogy in 1986, shows smoother songwriting and a more pop‑oriented direction, before a turn toward a sound geared more to American clubs on Closer in 1987. After several internal shifts and a slowdown around the 1990s, Imagination released The Fascination of the Physical in 1992 before splitting in 1995. Since then Leee John has continued to perform the repertoire under various iterations of the group’s name, extending Imagination’s imprint on danceable soul and sophisticated 1980s funk.