WHERE ARE THEY NOW? Melanie Williams

With Melanie Williams, there ain’t no love and there ain’t no use. So…

Singer Melanie Williams was born in 1964 and made her music debut in 1987 with Stephen Boyce-Buckley as one half of the duo, No Sovereign. They released their debut single, “Showdown”, that same year, although this was not commercially successful. Williams formed Temper Temper with Eric Godden in 1991 and reached No.94 with the single, “No Talk”. Their self-titled debut album followed soon after but did nothing and after a year, they went their separate ways. Williams continued as a backing and session singer until 1993 when she guested on Manchester dance trio, Sub Sub’s breakout release, “Ain’t No Love, Ain’t No Use”.

The song went to No.3 in the UK, becoming the 39th biggest seller of the year. It also topped the dance chart there are made the top twenty across mainland Europe and in Australia. After her entry into stardom, Melanie was signed to Columbia Records as a solo artist in her own right and released the single, “All Cried Out!” in 1994. The song reached No.60 in the UK and was followed by “Everyday Thang”, which returned her to the top 40 at No.38. Both tracks featured on her debut album, “Human Cradle”, which, along with the single “Not Enough”, flopped. Williams got her third UK top 40 hit in 1995 with a cover of The Stylistics “You Are Everything” with another British singer, Joe Roberts (where is he now?). Their version peaked at No.28.

Their friendship saw that both Williams and Roberts would come together in 2001 to form the duo, Dark Flower. They recorded a number of tracks and released the album, “Feed My Soul”, which alas, did nothing remotely to attract anyone’s attention. Determined to write and record together, the two reformed in 2007, this time calling themselves Bodhi. This venture was short-lived too and oddly, Williams and Roberts tried a third time in 2014, this time calling themselves Butterfly Jam and, confusingly, releasing the album, “Bodhi”! In 2020, Williams turned up on Neil Smallbridge’s single, “Trouble”, and continues to perform live, mostly at dance festivals and exclusive dance and club establishments.