Latin Quarter were formed in late 1983 by Steve Skaith and Mike Jones who were both members of the left wing political group Big Flame. Their political viewpoint is often reflected in the choice of subject matter and lyrics of Latin Quarter's output. Jones describes their first album Modern Times as "a veritable manifesto". The album failed to chart in Britain but was a top twenty hit in Germany and Sweden and sold well throughout Europe. They released a total of five studio albums plus two compilations during their first incarnation, and achieved chart success with the single "Radio Africa", which reached number 19 in the UK Singles Chart. Jones claims they were the only western pop act to release a contemporary album in East Germany. The main members between 1985-1987 was Steve Skaith, Richard Wright, Mike Jones, Greg Harewood, Yona Dunsford and Carol Douet. After low sales of their third album Swimming Against the Stream in the UK, they originally split up in 1990. Skaith, Wright and Jones continued as Latin Quarter, but the next two albumsLong Pig and Bringing Rosa Home, were only released in continental Europe. Latin Quarter collaborated with The Bhundu Boys on the latter's 1993 Friends on the Road album, including a re-working of "Radio Africa" and two new songs written by members of both bands. They were also the first band to be managed by Marcus Russell later the manager of Oasis. When the band split up in 1998, Steve Skaith went to live in Mexico where he met and formed the Steve Skaith Band with Mexican musicians, and released the albums Mexile 2003, Empires and Us 2005 and Imaginary Friend 2007. He then returned to England and re-recorded some early Latin Quarter songs on Latin Quarter Revisited 2010. In 2011, Skaith and lyricist Jones re-formed Latin Quarter with original vocalist Yona Dunsford, bass player Greg Harewood and keyboard player Steve Jeffries. They released the albums Ocean Head in 2012 and Tilt in 2014. Chris Rea was a guest star playing slide guitar on the Tilt album. Steve Skaith re-recorded acoustic versions of Latin Quarter-songs on Bare Bones in 2015. In September 2016, Latin Quarter released The Imagination of Thieves, now featuring Skaith, Jeffries, Martin Ditcham, Yo Yo Buys and Mary Carewe. On 14 February 2018, the new track "Pantomime of Wealth" was released as a digital release on Westpark Music. The album with the same name was released 13 April 2018. On 12 April 2019, Latin Quarter released The Colour Scheme as a trio featuring Skaith, Jeffries and Carewe. The album consist mainly acoustic rearrangements of early Latin Quarter songs plus a couple from the Steve Skaith Band albums.
