Delegation (band)

History

Hailing from Birmingham, England, Delegation is a soul-funk outfit that came together in the mid-1970s and built a solid reputation as a British act with a loyal European fanbase. Their debut single, "The Promise of Love," dropped in 1976 on State Records, lifted from their first album of the same name, but it failed to catch on. The follow-up, "Where Is the Love (We Used to Know)," also from that debut LP, changed things when it hit the UK charts in April 1977, giving the band their first taste of success and a spot on Top of the Pops.

Later that year, Ray Patterson stepped in for Roddy Harris, and the group released a third single, "You've Been Doing Me Wrong," which became their second charting track from The Promise of Love. In 1979, the smooth ballad "Oh Honey" became their first US hit, climbing to number five on the Billboard R&B chart. After Coley departed, Bruce Dunbar joined, and the band put out their second album, Eau de Vie, in 1979. It proved a major success, spinning off hits like "You and I," "Put a Little Love on Me," "Heartache #9," and "Darling (I Think About You)."

Bruce left the group in 1981 and returned to the US following their third album, simply titled Delegation, after which the band carried on with diminishing returns. In the US, Eau de Vie was issued as Delegation in 1980, while the actual 1981 album Delegation came out as Delegation II, both with different cover art. They followed with Deuces High in 1982. All of these records charted in Europe but failed to do so in the States.

The group kept recording singles and performing through the rest of the decade. The single "It's Your Turn," released on Epic, found success only in France, though it did well on the UK club scene. Around this time, the lineup shifted again with the addition of Texas-born vocalist Kathy Bryant, the first female member of the band. In 1985, they put out "Thanks to You."

A segue compilation called The Mix on Scorpio Records, which bundled five of their greatest hits, also sold poorly. In the mid-1990s, Bailey reunited with Gold to form Euro Jam Records, repackaging Delegation’s earlier work into new compilations and reforming the group to release Encore in Europe in 1999, which turned out to be their final recording.