Person

Nations, Opal L., 1941-

1941-

Opal Louis Nations was born in 1941 in Brighton, England.

He is a poet, singer, musicologist, and collector. During the mid-sixties, he worked as lead vocalist in London clubs with the late Alexis Korner's Band and later his own group, The Frays. He helped popularize American soul-based R & B and gospel music in Great Britain. With The Frays, and later as a soloist, he recorded for Decca Records in London, but soon began a career as an experimental fiction writer. His textual work, sometimes strange, sometimes humorous, appeared in over 200 small press magazines around the world and has been translated and published in French, German, and Norwegian. He is the author of over thirty books of fiction, drawings, and collage. As an editor of his own press, Strange Faeces, he brought to the public's attention fresh young poets and writers. His poetry tends to be non-narrative, concrete and absurdist. Nations experimented with conceptual art, illustration, and performance poetry. After working in radio in Canada (Vancouver, B.C.) and California, he turned more to the presentation and production of music, particularly Gospel sounds. In 2014, he published “Brushes with Music: With Strokes in 1960s British Rock (1941-1969)", under his full name Opal Louis Nations. He currently spends his time interviewing gospel performers, writing articles for Blues & Rhythm, Now Dig This, and Doctor Jazz and conducting music research for CD reissues on the Acrobat and Ace labels.

He lives in Oakland, California.