Windrush playlist featuring Winifred Atwell and Stormzy launches on Spotify

18 April 2023 , 13:25

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Winifred Atwell was one of the top performers in Britain in the 1950s and '60s (Image: Michael Ochs Archives)

Pianist Winifred Atwell - the first black woman with a UK Number One - leads the pack of music legends featured in a new Spotify Windrush Top 20 playlist.

Atwell’s 1954 hit Let’s Have Another Party appears in the playlist to celebrate this year’s 75th anniversary of the HMT Empire Windrush first arriving in Britain.

Compiled by the Windrush 75 Network, which brings organisations together to celebrate the anniversary on June 22, Atwell features alongside Stormzy, Beverley Knight, Craig David and Boney M to showcase the huge contribution made by the Windrush generation, their descendants and others from across the Commonwealth.

Craig David's hit Rewind also features (Getty Images for Bauer)

The chronological list includes tracks from 1948 to 2021, starting with Lord Kitchener, who performed a specially-written song – London Is the Place for Me – live on a report for Pathé News as he stepped off the Windrush at Tilbury Docks in 1948.

The playlist was overseen by Mykaell Riley, director of the Black Music Research Unit and PI for Bass Culture Research at the University of Westminster.

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Stormzy appears too (Getty Images)

Riley was a founder member of British 70s reggae band Steel Pulse – the first non-Jamaican act to win a Grammy for Best Reggae Album.

He said: "It’s a great list which scratches the surface of a hugely important cultural contribution. In many ways, it's a teaser to what lies beyond the beats, melodies and songs that have found their way into so many lives."

The Windrush 75 Network Top 20:

1. Lord Kitchener: London Is the Place For Me (1948)
2. Winifred Atwell: Let’s Have Another Party (1954)
3. The Southlanders: The Mole in a Hole (1958)
4. Millie Small: My Boy Lollipop (1964)
5. The Equals: Baby Come Back (1968)
6. Cymande: Brothers on the Slide (1974)
7. Billy Ocean: Love Really Hurts Without You (1976)
8. Boney M: Sunny (1976)
9. Janet Kay: Silly Games (1979)
10. The Selecter: Three Minute Hero (1980)
11. UB40: One in Ten (1981)
12. Loose Ends: Hangin’ on a String (Contemplating) (1985)
13. Soul II Soul: Keep on Movin’ (1989)
14. Massive Attack: Unfinished Sympathy (1991)
15. Goldie: Inner City Life (1994)
16. Craig David: Rewind (1999)
17. Beverley Knight: Shoulda Woulda Coulda (2002)
18. Wretch 32: Don’t Go (2011)
19. Stormzy: Blinded By Your Grace, Pt.2 (2017)
20. Little Simz: Woman (2021)

Laura Connor