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Gamma, the surprises never seem to end!! I didn’t realize that anyone here knew Glen Johnson! This keyboard player, my very close friend, was the musical arranger for the Grace Thrillers from the very late 1970s and during much of the 1980s before he migrated from Jamaica in the mid 1980s.
However, Glen did not play “multiple instruments” as you suggested. He played all keyboards, but no other instrument despite the fact that at that time he was also a very good guitarist. A number of different players played the other instruments on recordings and tours (guys like Tony Hutton on bass and, on most of the recordings, Lennox Gordon on lead guitar).
In the early 1970s, Jamaican gospel was ruled by two recording artists: Claudelle Clarke and Otis Wright. However, by the the formative years of the mid 1970s and early 1980s, the main competing gospel groups in Kingston was the Insights gospel band and the Noel Willis-led Grace Thrillers. The Insights, when compared with the Grace Thrillers was like the radical Rolling Stones (the Insights) vs. the Beatles (the Grace Thrillers). A very charismatic blind saxophone player led the Insights group. Kingston teens, especially the “Youth for Christ” crowd, loved the Insights group passionately as those guys played a large number of authentic reggae gospel (their biggest hit was a reggae remake of the popular gospel number, “Highway to Heaven”).
Back in the late 1970s, for the “high brows,” it was David Keane and the Sunshine Singers. However, by the 1980s, new groups such as The Maranatha Affair (with its overweight, ultra-charismatic bass player) and the Ambassadors among others had come to challenge the dominance of the Grace Thrillers, the Insights, and David Keane.
By the late 1980s, Noel Willis had met with Grub Cooper, who then took over as arranger following the departure of Glen Johnson. From the late 1980s, Grub Cooper on drums and that blind keyboard player in the Fab Five Inc. played the drums and keyboards on the Grace Thrillers’ recordings. Although the blind keyboardist played a number of synthesized instruments (for example he played bass and horns on the synthesizer), occasionally other guys were used on additional instruments. With Grub Cooper and the radical change he brought (the Grace Thrillers for the first time began recording songs in reggae and soca rhythms, something Glen Johnson never ever attempted as arranger), the Grace Thrillers’ popularity reached its zenith!
What many people don’t realize is that the Grace Thrillers has had an extremely large personnel turnover! There were about a million singers (LOL) since the group was formed by Noel Willis back in the early to mid 1970s!
The Grace Thrillers today has changed dramatically, with Willis’ son and some other young people forming the core of the group. Leroy Smith, Shirley Willis and other old timers had split from the group in less than desired ways by the start of the 21st century.
Sadly, Shirley Willis, who is divorced from Noel Willis, is at the present time in the KPH in a coma following a serious car accident some two weeks or so ago. I believe the accident happened in Portmore – no one else was in her car at the time.
However, Glen did not play “multiple instruments” as you suggested. He played all keyboards, but no other instrument despite the fact that at that time he was also a very good guitarist. A number of different players played the other instruments on recordings and tours (guys like Tony Hutton on bass and, on most of the recordings, Lennox Gordon on lead guitar).
In the early 1970s, Jamaican gospel was ruled by two recording artists: Claudelle Clarke and Otis Wright. However, by the the formative years of the mid 1970s and early 1980s, the main competing gospel groups in Kingston was the Insights gospel band and the Noel Willis-led Grace Thrillers. The Insights, when compared with the Grace Thrillers was like the radical Rolling Stones (the Insights) vs. the Beatles (the Grace Thrillers). A very charismatic blind saxophone player led the Insights group. Kingston teens, especially the “Youth for Christ” crowd, loved the Insights group passionately as those guys played a large number of authentic reggae gospel (their biggest hit was a reggae remake of the popular gospel number, “Highway to Heaven”).
Back in the late 1970s, for the “high brows,” it was David Keane and the Sunshine Singers. However, by the 1980s, new groups such as The Maranatha Affair (with its overweight, ultra-charismatic bass player) and the Ambassadors among others had come to challenge the dominance of the Grace Thrillers, the Insights, and David Keane.
By the late 1980s, Noel Willis had met with Grub Cooper, who then took over as arranger following the departure of Glen Johnson. From the late 1980s, Grub Cooper on drums and that blind keyboard player in the Fab Five Inc. played the drums and keyboards on the Grace Thrillers’ recordings. Although the blind keyboardist played a number of synthesized instruments (for example he played bass and horns on the synthesizer), occasionally other guys were used on additional instruments. With Grub Cooper and the radical change he brought (the Grace Thrillers for the first time began recording songs in reggae and soca rhythms, something Glen Johnson never ever attempted as arranger), the Grace Thrillers’ popularity reached its zenith!
What many people don’t realize is that the Grace Thrillers has had an extremely large personnel turnover! There were about a million singers (LOL) since the group was formed by Noel Willis back in the early to mid 1970s!
The Grace Thrillers today has changed dramatically, with Willis’ son and some other young people forming the core of the group. Leroy Smith, Shirley Willis and other old timers had split from the group in less than desired ways by the start of the 21st century.
Sadly, Shirley Willis, who is divorced from Noel Willis, is at the present time in the KPH in a coma following a serious car accident some two weeks or so ago. I believe the accident happened in Portmore – no one else was in her car at the time.
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