Who was the first Black artist to have a UK number one hit?
Look at the current UK charts and you will find artists of all genders, sexualities, religions, and races represented, but this hasn’t always been the case. Despite the fact that virtually all modern forms of music are rooted in the styles and influences of Black artists, who paved the way for everything from the blues to dance music, the pop charts in the UK were consistently dominated by white artists for much of the 20th century, save for a select few pioneering Black artists who managed to break through.
This omission of Black artists should not be all that surprising, given the widespread institutionalised racism present within British society throughout the century. It was during the post-war period that Britain began to become more racially diverse, thanks to an influx of people coming to the UK from places like South Asia, the Caribbean, and certain regions of Africa in an effort to rebuild the country after the destruction of World War II. Pretty quickly, however, racist attitudes against these new arrivals began to emerge, which was certainly reflected within the cultural sphere.
Music has always been an essential aspect of life for people in the Caribbean, so when the Windrush generation arrived in the UK, they brought with them the infectious and innovative sounds of ska, rocksteady, and Afrocuban rhythms. Meanwhile, many Black artists settling in the UK sought solace in the American sounds of jazz, blues, and R&B, creating a rich and expansive music scene across the nation and helping to make London a global cultural capital. Still, these emerging scenes were rarely reflected in the pop charts.
In fact, it was only during the 1960s that Black artists became a regular fixture of the pop charts, thanks largely to the efforts of American artists, particularly those signed to the ever-powerful Motown Records. Still, many American soul and R&B vocalists, like Dionne Warwick, had their work re-recorded by white artists for the UK market, reflecting the racist attitudes present within the music industry at that time, and also giving a career to the likes of Cilla Black.
The Jamaican ska and rocksteady music that had come over during the Windrush generation eventually found mainstream audiences too, earning artists like Millie Small and Desmond Dekker hit singles in the UK and helping to spawn the skinhead subculture in the process. These records eventually inspired the emergence of 2 Tone ska during the late 1970s, which saw mixed-race groups dominate the pop charts for the very first time in the UK.
But who was the first Black artist to reach number one?
Years before Motown hit the airwaves, or the skinhead subculture thrust ska into the musical mainstream, it was the pianist Winifred Atwell who became the first Black artist to reach the top of the singles chart. Born in Trinidad and Tobago, Atwell emigrated to London in 1945, soon finding an audience for her masterful boogie-woogie and ragtime style of piano. After performing in various clubs and theatres throughout the remainder of the 1940s, in addition to appearing on the BBC, Atwell quickly became one of the most renowned rag pianists in the country.
With that acclaim came commercial success, and her defining hit came with the song, ‘Let’s Have Another Party.’ Released in 1954, the song sees Atwell collate several pieces of music into a kind of party medley, meant as a follow-up to her 1953 hit ‘Let’s Have a Party’. As it turns out, the sequel eclipsed the original, reaching the number one spot in 1954 and staying there for five weeks. Not only did this hit make Atwell the first Black artist to achieve a number one in the UK, but it also made her the only artist to ever reach the top spot with a piano instrumental – a record which still stands to this day.
