found: Guardian WWW site, viewed May 16, 2016(Emile Ford (Michael Emile Telford Miller), singer and acoustics engineer, born 16 October 1937, Castries, St Lucia; died 11 April 2016; in the mid-1950s he moved to London; first black British male singer to top the charts; recorded and toured with the Checkmates; Ford's later work as what he called a "sound scientist" was devoted to attempts to perfect recorded sound and to design pre-recorded backing tracks to be used on stage, an early version of what would become karaoke; for several years he ran a recording studio in Barbados, before conducting acoustic experiments in the north of Sweden; later moved to California)