Slim Ali was Soul Brother No. 1 when he joined with the Hodi Boys in 1968. He had had a chequered career since leaving school in 1966, but all revolved around music which he loved, but left his parents in despair! He played with various groups up and down the tourist belt of Kenya (Malindi, Mombasa and Diani). In 1968 he joined the Hodi Boys, playing piano, and singing the soul songs of Otis Redding, Clarence Carter, Percy Sledge, that the group had found so popular with the English and European (mainly Italian and German) tourists who were flocking to the East African Coast at that time.
A couple of years on this circuit, and Slim wanted to do his own thing. The next six years he wandered the night clubs of Addis Ababa, Djibouti, Aden and the Middle East, singing soul, but writing his own ‘soul’ also.
In 1976 he came home to Kenya, teamed up with the Hodi Boys again, and was now ready to record Slim Ali’s Soul Songs.
The songs featured here were all released as singles, but demand pushed for an LP, and CD, and this compilation has been huge! You loved the all-American Soul of yesterday, listen to the All African Slim Ali, Soul of Today.