Edmond Montague Grant was born in Guyana on March 5, 1948. In 1965, he started the ground-breaking UK band The Equals, writing their hit "Baby, Come Back." He went solo in the 1970s and launched the Ringbang sound. His 1982 smash "Electric Avenue" hit number two in both the US and UK. In 1988, he released the anti-apartheid single "Gimme Hope Jo'anna", which topped charts worldwide despite a ban in South Africa.