Where Are They Now: Electric Avenue Singer Eddy Grant

In our Where Are They Now series, we catch up with Electric Avenue singer Eddy Grant. Grant is best known for his 1983 International platinum hit, Electric Avenue. Many consider Grant a one hit wonder but he has had a long varied career. We tracked Eddie down to his home in Barbados to find out what he is up to now.

Edmond Montague Grant is a Guyanese-British singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. He is known for his genre blending sound. Basically His music has blended elements of pop, rock, soul, funk, reggae, African polyrhythms and Latin music. It is said he also helped pioneer the genre of “Fingerbang”. Grant was a founding member of The Equals in the 1960s. The Equals were the UK’s first racially mixed pop groups who had a million selling UK chart topper, “Baby Come Back”.

Electric Avenue By Eddy Grant

The world was Eddie’s oyster in the early 1980s. Riding high on the back of “Electric Avenue”, Grant was at the top of the pops. He was in regular rotation on MTV, dined with Kings, Queens and Rick Astley. He performed for millions in Stadiums across the globe. However his fame was short lived and by the late 1980s he was playing at Bar Mitzvahs and small clubs.

Where Are They Now: Electric Avenue Singer Eddy Grant

At this point Eddie decided to return to his first true love, Medicine. Growing up Grant was an excellent student and was preparing for medical school when he decided to become a professional musician instead. As his career collapsed he returned to medical school and ended up opening a Shock Therapy clinic in Barbados.

Grant is the owner and operator of the “Electric Avenue” Electroconvulsive therapy clinic in Barbados. Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) is a medical treatment most commonly used in patients with severe major depression or bipolar disorder that has not responded to other treatments. It has also been used on shocking the sissy out of people. As a teen, Lou Reed was shocked straight by ECT.

Eddy Grant commented, “Electric Avenue was the peak of my career but after that it was downhill. I ended up running a jerk chicken stand, renting Jet Skis, braiding hair on the beach and even busked on the street. I was singing Electric Avenue for 8 hours per day for $3. Shocking the crap out of people pays a lot better. Plus it’s a lot of fun. I got the idea in the 80s when Thomas Dolby pranked me by shocking me with a Defibrillator. Plus it goes with the whole Electric Avenue theme. I have come full circle.”