Ruby Turner

Born in Montego Bay, Jamaica in 1958 and raised in Birmingham during her childhood, Ruby Turner has built a career spanning soul, R&B, gospel, pop, and British rhythm and blues. Active since the early 1980s, she first drew notice as a backing vocalist, notably in the entourage of Culture Club, before launching a solo career with Jive Records. Ruby Turner released Women Hold Up Half the Sky in 1986, followed by The Motown Songbook in 1988 and Paradise in 1989, albums where her powerful voice sits within a soul heavily shaped by gospel, American repertoire covers, and a direct sense of melody. She then alternated studio albums, live projects, and collaborations, with The Other Side in 1991, Call Me by My Name in 1998, I’m Travelling On in 2009, devoted to gospel, then All That I Am in 2014. In parallel, Ruby Turner regularly works with other musicians such as Bryan Ferry, UB40, Steve Winwood, Mick Jagger, Seasick Steve, and especially Jools Holland, whose orchestra she frequently accompanies on stage and on television, notably in Jools’ Annual Hootenanny. Her work also extends to theatre, film, and television, in a repertoire that remains tied to British Black music, between Jamaican heritage, English soul, and the rhythm and blues tradition.