Change is coming: Start the party!

Soul/disco collective Change are more than just a popular concert draw, beloved by generations of fans young and old – they also once employed a young singer by the name of Luther Vandross.

Now led by long-time lead singer and percussionist Rick Brennan, the band will be appearing in Cambridge later this week, as part of their Change of Heart 40th Anniversary Tour (Change of Heart being the title of their classic 1984 album).

North Philadelphia born-and-raised (he now lives in downtown Philly), Rick was speaking to the Cambridge Independent from London.

“I’m in a secret location, you dig?!” reveals the experienced musician, who at the time of speaking had recently done a gig with the band in Margate.

“We killed it, it was amazing – we had a great time,” he says of the show.

Change, who first got together in the late 1970s, early 1980s, are commonly associated with The Glow of Love, a 1980 single featuring the late, great Luther Vandross.

They also released 11 other charting singles, as well as six charting albums – two of which peaked in the top 10 of Billboard’s R&B album chart.

Rick Brennan has been performing with Change for well over 40 years and is still going strong. Why is the band’s music still so popular?

“We have club anthems, and I just think good music is good music,” suggests Rick. “I think if the music is good, it’s going to last – good music lasts forever.”

The star reflects: “I became a member of Change in 1983, on the This Is Your Time album.”

He notes that the band members he’s working with at the present time are “great musicians” and adds: “I’m just pleased to have these musicians with me who want to work and we’re getting it in – everybody’s cool.”

Rick says he enjoys performing as much as he ever has. “I really do… I’m 68 and I’ve been doing music since I was 12 years old – so I just enjoy playing and singing and having a great time.

“I really enjoy the audience having a great time, that’s what’s important to me.”

Change’s other hits include A Lover’s Holiday, Paradise, Hold Tight, and Searching. Rick reveals, however, that it’s their song Change of Heart that always gets the best reception.

“That’s why we titled it the Change of Heart Tour,” he explains. “We were here [in the UK] 40 years ago, and Change of Heart, the album that Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis produced, is what broke Change into the UK and Europe.

“So Change of Heart gets the biggest reception. We always do it last.”

As well as Luther Vandross, the band have also collaborated with the likes of Jocelyn Brown, Wayne Garfield, Tanyayette Willoughby (of Twennynine), Diva Gray, and more.

“My memories of him [Luther Vandross] is that he was in and out real fast,” says Rick, “he sang two tracks and he got a solo deal and left – that was it.

“He was a great singer, and he had been around… He had sung on Young Americans, background for David Bowie, he was a top jingle singer in New York City, singing television commercials.

“So everybody kind of knew on the scene who Luther Vandross was. He was a great singer, he’d sung background for Chic, so people knew who Luther Vandross was…

“So when he sang The Glow of Love and Searching, the album went gold, it was nominated for a Grammy, and it just blew his career up.”

What can the Cambridge audience expect at the show? “We’re going to be jamming, man, I mean we’re going to party,” says Rick, who switched from playing bass to percussion after he heard Santana.

“I call Change the party band so we’re going to be getting it in and we’re going to have a great time.”

Change will be performing at the Cambridge Junction (J1) on Sunday, 15 December. Tickets, priced from £31.50, are available from junction.co.uk.