The unsung Stalwarts of Reggae Music

[Jangle]

Xmas night and me belly full. I hope you all had a wonderful day. Mine is still not finished ye, I still have some serious drinking to do. I hope I can wake up in time to watch football whole day tommorrow. What a GREAT weekend it's turning out to be!!!!! I hope Chel$ki and Livafool lose!!!!!

Anyway I wanted to touch on something that has been on my mind since our discussion earlier this week. Specifically to Historian and Lionpaw, two posters on the opposite spectrum of musical tastes. I wanted to talk about the unsung stalwarts of our music - Reggae and its offspring Dancehall. I am talking about artistes who, if you mention their names to the average ....say American, would ask you, "who?" These are singers and DJs whose contributions to the genre of Reggae were invaluable, but they are easily forgotton in history. Remember now, I am not talking about the quality of their oices, but rather, their contribution in songs that makes our music what it is today.

Sidetracking a bit, somebody please talk to me a bout that girl name Alaine. Damn!!!!! She can SING!!!!The female reggae singers are putting it down with some good tunes!!!!!

So to start it off with our UNSUNGS; in the Reggae category, I present to you:

Jimmy Riley
Sugar Minott
Coco Tea

and in Dancehall: (Lionpaw these are for you to go do your homework)

Dignitary Stylist
Peter Metro
Sassa Fras (sp)

[Historian]

Re: Unsung Heroes

Xmas night and me belly full. I hope you all had a wonderful day. Mine is still not finished ye, I still have some serious drinking to do. I hope I can wake up in time to watch football whole day tommorrow. What a GREAT weekend it's turning out to be!!!!! I hope Chel$ki and Livafool lose!!!!!

I love this first paragraph in particular! Boss, I’m glad you enjoyed your Christmas Day, and I sincerely hope you see many, many, many more Christmases!

Sidetracking a bit, somebody please talk to me a bout that girl name Alaine. Damn!!!!! She can SING!!!!The female reggae singers are putting it down with some good tunes!!!!!

I fully agree with you about Alaine, and I am not sure how I managed to forget about her when I was talking about Cherine Anderson, Kris Kelly, Tessanne Chin, and Tami Chynn earlier this week! New Jersey-born Alaine definitely is one of the “new generation” of Jamaican female singers to watch! Another is the very outstanding Etana, who concentrates more on a roots sound. “Wrong Address” is a recording that, in my opinion, is one of the most thoughtful and relevant commentaries on social life in urban Jamaica that I have heard in recent years. This recording was what made me start to really notice Etana.

But you are 100-percent correct in stating that “the female reggae singers are putting it down with some good tunes”! The path was blazed by earlier stalwarts like the 1960s’ Enid (of Keith and Enid fame), Millie Small, Phyllis Dillon, Hortense Ellis, Marcia Griffiths, and so on. Then in the 1970s we had people like Lorna Bennett and Dawn Penn, and in the 1980s stalwarts like Carlene Davis, Sister Carol, Tanya Stephens, and so on.

Today the women are young, very talented, beautiful, classy, and aware of their sexuality. Compared with their predecessors in the 1950s to 1990s, these “new” reggae women are more liberated in that they are breaking/have broken away from the artistic lead of the men, and so we find that talented Jamaican women like Sasha, Ce’Cile, and so on are breaking new grounds. So, whereby the talented women of the past allowed themselves to be dominated by their men and also sometimes become saddled with multiple children (as I type, Hortense Ellis immediately springs to mind), today’s women are not prepared to take crap from men (although Sasha was really patient for a while with deejay Turbulence).

Before I end, I want to set the record straight here regarding my attitude towards the dancehall genre. The fact is that I do not dislike dancehall as a genre. I never have! My criticism has been consistent ever since the days when Yellowman and his backing Sagittarius Band ruled the Jamaican music scene. (By the way, to this day I regarded David Barnett as one of the most outstanding reggae bass players I have ever heard.)

My problem with dancehall has never been the beat, although the music is today definitely formulaic, predictable and outright boring at times! My criticism has consistently being dancehall’s message, from the days of the popular demeaning of Jamaican women (many of whom, ironically, cheered the loudest when Yellowman got into action) to the dancehall scene today, which in opinion has reached rock bottom!!

Before I move on, let me say that as far as today’s music/rhythm movement in dancehall is concerned, the turning point was the year 1985 and that now famous clash between King Jammy and Black Scorpio, from which Jammy emerged the winner. Jammy won, of course, primarily through a major experiment on his part. I’m talking here about his protege Wayne Smith’s “Under Me Sleng Teng,” which changed the face of Jamaican music forever!

So to start it off with our UNSUNGS; in the Reggae category, I present to you: Jimmy Riley
Sugar Minott
Coco Tea

I'm going to run some errands, etc. now, but I just might return to this later today. But let me say that the entire landscape of ska, rock steady and reggae has been dotted with unsung heroes; talented and creative individuals who influenced the direction and shape of the music but yet were never commercially or financially successful.

[Assasin]

Wayne Smith did change Music fi real.

Alaine sound good but I haven't heard too much of her work.


When you talk bout unsung heros you have fi talk bout
Lone Ranger the daddy of the modern DJ who was not just toasting and if you remember "Rosemarie" when Ranger said "you never know papa ranger could sing" which was the first DJ tune you could call sinjay.

General Echo was maybe the greatest DJ at riding riddim, maybe one of the only DJ until today who could ride the mike all night with pure lyrics. Listen "Arlene" and "Sex Educational class".

Michigan and Smiley a the first DJ group with some real Dancehall harmony.

Althia and Donna the first woman dancehall group to make it big.

Kojack and Liza the first combination of man and woman as trendsetter.

Johnny Osbourne, Phillip Frazer sharp like Razor, Sammy Dread which were the finest "special singers" around.

Big up Nicodimus "father demus" which a the daddy with an original style which is still oftenly copied.

How you fi mention Sasafras and nuh mention the origninal vibes man General Trees.

Can't figet the original Tiger which had a style and passion second to none.

Just a few a the dancehall lot.
I will post some singers later.

[Jangle]

Sass me nuh done yet, me just a whet the appetite. Me waan the youngster fe go do him homework.

[Historian]

More Unsung Stalwarts

Michigan and Smiley a the first DJ group with some real Dancehall harmony. Althia and Donna the first woman dancehall group to make it big.

Althea and Donna were just schoolgirls when they had their massive hit (number one in Jamaica and the UK) "Uptown Ranking" (lol).

Michigan and Smiley’s “Diseases” has to be among the most off-key stuff ever recorded in Jamaica!! Those guys vocals and the music were so off that I’m surprised the stuff was actually released. It didn’t matter, though, as “Diseases” was a monster hit for them.

Alaine sound good but I haven't heard too much of her work.

Yep, she sounds really good. So too does a male singer by the name of Daville. You still have not commented on the beautiful, talented uptown girl Kris Kelly. She's one of the vibrant new faces of reggae music. And unlike her uptown counterparts Brick & Lace, Kris utilizes a Jamaican feel to her music.

Wayne Smith did change Music fi real.

Let me start by stating empathically that the greatest unsung heroes in Jamaican music history, regardless of genre, are the studio musicians!

Prior to Wayne Smith and his 1985 hit, “Sleng Teng,” which in my opinion served the death knell for Jamaican studio musicians and ushered in the digital age in Jamaican music, the people responsible for the sounds we call ska, rocksteady and reggae were the studio musicians.

Think I’m joking when I call them “unsung heroes”? Well, throw out names like drummers Leroy “Horsemouth” Wallace and Santa Davis, keyboard stalwarts like Ansell Collins, guitarists like Hux Brown and Willy Lindo, hornsmen like “Deadly” Headley Bennett, and bass players like Leroy Sibblies (one of Jamaica’s most influential and recorded bass players, but made his fame as lead singer for the Heptones) and see the response!

Anyway, let’s leave that alone.

DEEJAYS: The most unsung of the deserving deejays has to be the late, great Count Matchukie! Unfortunate as it is, though, this is understandable as the Count never recorded anything (as far as I’m aware). He was Sir Coxsone Dodd’s indispensable front man in the early days, and in my opinion started this whole toasting over records thing! The early guys like U-Roy and King Stitt all owe Count Matchukie a huge debt, as they all learnt from him!

GROUPS: Israel Vibration, three guys who gave us memorable recordedd gems, proves the importance of having a will to succeed! These guys, all residents of the Polio Rehabilitation Centre at Mona, overcame their physical disabilities and the rest is reggae history.

DEEJAY: Whenever I listen to US rapper Twister, I smile as my mind invariably turns to our own Brigadier Jerry. This dancehall deejay, as far as I’m concerned, most likely invented speed chatting over the mike. After Brigadier Jerry, virtually everyone was doing it at some time or the other.

Another deejay who mastered this speed chatting was Cutty Ranks (for example, “The Stopper”). To this day his music video for “The Stopper” ranks as one of my favourite Jamaican music videos ever! Do not ask me why (lol).

SINGERS: Ken Parker, Peter Scarlett and John Jones. On the female side, Sophia George (who’s “Girlie Girlie” must be the local recording most hated by Jamaican men).

Sim Smith (lead singer with the Uniques) has to be one of the most beautiful voices in the history of reggae music! He’s reggae’s parallel to Luther Vandross.

Pat Kelly (lead vocals on the Technique’s recording of Curtis Mayfield’s “Queen Majesty”) is definitely a singer who should be rated more highly.

Other singers include Carl Dawkins (“Satisfaction”), Dobby Dobson and Junior Tucker. The latter two are now Christians, and work exclusively in the gospel music genre.

[Assasin]

Smiley and Michigan did some good songs "One love Jamdown" and "Nice up the Dance came to mind.

Diseases was one of the worst songs I heard. The Lyrical content was also poor. I put it in a the same content as BONE MAN CONNECTION by Nicodumus.

I just touched on the dancehall stuff. Will touch on the singers in a bit.

Yes Briggy was ruff and so too was mumma Nancy. A nuh any girl can ride like riddim like Nancy.

[Assasin]

pat Kelly is a real good singer.

Horace Andy is a real unsung reggae slawart.

Slim Smith was wicked

I spoke about junior Tucker already.

how about Errol Dunkley?

Tony Curtis is a real good singer out deh yah now.

[Jangle]

Order in MY court!!!!! Unuh all over the place. Mek me put things in order here now!!! I am also looking for a history lesson from the Historian. OK, let's start by putting some time frames and categories to our music. Since my musical knowledge is really restricted to the mid 70's onwards, I can only speak confidently from that era to present. Historian you can handle the 60's and 70's. I enjoy reading your posts because they usually have some substance. Remember now, I am not talking about the quality, but keep in mind the question, "What would our music be today, as a genre, if these people did not record their songs?"

I guess Lionpaw is bussing blanks in the air right now at Sting. I hope my prediction don't come through.

Historian, please post a link with Kris Kelly.

[Historian]

Photo of Kris Kelly

Historian, please post a link with Kris Kelly.

Glad to oblige, boss. I've posted a photo and a short bio of new Jamaican singer Kris Kelly after my comments below.

I am also looking for a history lesson from the Historian. OK, let's start by putting some time frames and categories to our music. Since my musical knowledge is really restricted to the mid 70's onwards, I can only speak confidently from that era to present. Historian you can handle the 60's and 70's. I enjoy reading your posts because they usually have some substance.

Thanks, Jangle, but trust me when I say that Assasin is a really knowledgeable reggae music.... no, make that Jamaican music.... historian. He's a heavyweight in every sense of the term, and I make sure to read every post that Assasin makes!

Another person whose knowedge of the music of the 1960s and 1970s is immense is TDowl. There is no question that TDowl knows a tremendous amount about the ska, rocksteady and early reggae era! There are also other really knowledgeable people here who probably choose not to make posts on the music.

YardFlex Link: http://www.yardflex.com/archives/000739.html

September 16, 2006
Pony Canyon (Japan) releases Kris Kelli's debut album - "My World"


Entering the music industry in January 2003 and going through a very hectic two years of learning the business, writing and recording, performing at a number of major stage shows and charity events locally, going on an eleven-city tour in the United States as well as performances in Canada and filming some music videos, a decision was made in early 2005 that the time has come to focus on her debut album.

Kris spent the last 18 months writing, recording and working with a number of top producers to come up with her debut album titled "My World". The album boasts 15 tracks including two collaborations with Beenie Man and Vybz Kartel.

The album represents various genres of Reggae music and also captures the essence, journey and versatility of the artiste. "MY WORLD" will be released in Japan by Pony Canyon on September 20th, 2006 and by all indication, it is expected to do well.

[TDowl]

Wayne Smith did change Music fi real.

Alaine sound good but I haven't heard too much of her work.


When you talk bout unsung heros you have fi talk bout
Lone Ranger the daddy of the modern DJ who was not just toasting and if you remember "Rosemarie" when Ranger said "you never know papa ranger could sing" which was the first DJ tune you could call sinjay.

General Echo was maybe the greatest DJ at riding riddim, maybe one of the only DJ until today who could ride the mike all night with pure lyrics. Listen "Arlene" and "Sex Educational class".

Michigan and Smiley a the first DJ group with some real Dancehall harmony.

Althia and Donna the first woman dancehall group to make it big.

Kojack and Liza the first combination of man and woman as trendsetter.

Johnny Osbourne, Phillip Frazer sharp like Razor, Sammy Dread which were the finest "special singers" around.

Big up Nicodimus "father demus" which a the daddy with an original style which is still oftenly copied.

How you fi mention Sasafras and nuh mention the origninal vibes man General Trees.

Can't figet the original Tiger which had a style and passion second to none.

Just a few a the dancehall lot.
I will post some singers later.

" which was the first DJ tune you could call sinjay" What about Scotty back in 64/65 Children Children...?

[TDowl]

Disk Jocking

Althea and Donna were just schoolgirls when they had their massive hit (number one in Jamaica and the UK) "Uptown Ranking" (lol).

Michigan and Smiley’s “Diseases” has to be among the most off-key stuff ever recorded in Jamaica!! Those guys vocals and the music were so off that I’m surprised the stuff was actually released. It didn’t matter, though, as “Diseases” was a monster hit for them.


Yep, she sounds really good. So too does a male singer by the name of Daville. You still have not commented on the beautiful, talented uptown girl Kris Kelly. She's one of the vibrant new faces of reggae music. And unlike her uptown counterparts Brick & Lace, Kris utilizes a Jamaican feel to her music.


Let me start by stating empathically that the greatest unsung heroes in Jamaican music history, regardless of genre, are the studio musicians!

Prior to Wayne Smith and his 1985 hit, “Sleng Teng,” which in my opinion served the death knell for Jamaican studio musicians and ushered in the digital age in Jamaican music, the people responsible for the sounds we call ska, rocksteady and reggae were the studio musicians.

Think I’m joking when I call them “unsung heroes”? Well, throw out names like drummers Leroy “Horsemouth” Wallace and Santa Davis, keyboard stalwarts like Ansell Collins, guitarists like Hux Brown and Willy Lindo, hornsmen like “Deadly” Headley Bennett, and bass players like Leroy Sibblies (one of Jamaica’s most influential and recorded bass players, but made his fame as lead singer for the Heptones) and see the response!

Anyway, let’s leave that alone.

DEEJAYS: The most unsung of the deserving deejays has to be the late, great Count Matchukie! Unfortunate as it is, though, this is understandable as the Count never recorded anything (as far as I’m aware). He was Sir Coxsone Dodd’s indispensable front man in the early days, and in my opinion started this whole toasting over records thing! The early guys like U-Roy and King Stitt all owe Count Matchukie a huge debt, as they all learnt from him!

GROUPS: Israel Vibration, three guys who gave us memorable recordedd gems, proves the importance of having a will to succeed! These guys, all residents of the Polio Rehabilitation Centre at Mona, overcame their physical disabilities and the rest is reggae history.

DEEJAY: Whenever I listen to US rapper Twister, I smile as my mind invariably turns to our own Brigadier Jerry. This dancehall deejay, as far as I’m concerned, most likely invented speed chatting over the mike. After Brigadier Jerry, virtually everyone was doing it at some time or the other.

Another deejay who mastered this speed chatting was Cutty Ranks (for example, “The Stopper”). To this day his music video for “The Stopper” ranks as one of my favourite Jamaican music videos ever! Do not ask me why (lol).

SINGERS: Ken Parker, Peter Scarlett and John Jones. On the female side, Sophia George (who’s “Girlie Girlie” must be the local recording most hated by Jamaican men).

Sim Smith (lead singer with the Uniques) has to be one of the most beautiful voices in the history of reggae music! He’s reggae’s parallel to Luther Vandross.

Pat Kelly (lead vocals on the Technique’s recording of Curtis Mayfield’s “Queen Majesty”) is definitely a singer who should be rated more highly.

Other singers include Carl Dawkins (“Satisfaction”), Dobby Dobson and Junior Tucker. The latter two are now Christians, and work exclusively in the gospel music genre.

Agree with you on the Count.

Tell me, how or why Disk Jocking(DJ) came about in Jamaica?(I always wanted to ask Lazie & Mosiah this)

[Islandman]

Papa San is one of my all-time favourites. As complete a DJ as you will find. witty lyrics, style and innovation, riding the riddim, etc. You better put in a fresh tape in you cassette when San start a lyrics!

Stitchie was special too. Those days you couldn't walk in any town center without hearing a Stereo One dancehall tape with the governer in full flight.

Those are the kinds of DJs I liked, full of jokes but you can't wait fe the crowd settle down so you can hear the rest of the story.

[Islandman]

You know Historian, as you mention Jamaicas studio musicians being the real unsung heroes, have you ever seen a DVD documentary called "Standing in the Shadows of Motown" about the Funk Brothers who played on most of the Motown hits? Very similar kind of story. I think our fellow forumite X will find it interesting that like the Skatallites, these legends were also very good Jazz musicians.

I tell you, so often the parallels between Jamaican and Black American culture and history are so striking.

[Assasin]

Stitchie is the one who made DJ Capella famous with his talk and clap. It was ruling dancehall and stage show at the time.

Papa San, Stitchie, Professer Nuts were good comedic story tellers.

[Historian]

You know Historian, as you mention Jamaicas studio musicians being the real unsung heroes, have you ever seen a DVD documentary called "Standing in the Shadows of Motown" about the Funk Brothers who played on most of the Motown hits? Very similar kind of story. I think our fellow forumite X will find it interesting that like the Skatallites, these legends were also very good Jazz musicians.

I tell you, so often the parallels between Jamaican and Black American culture and history are so striking.

Yes, I was fortunate enough to see that documentary on either HBO or Showtime or Cinemax. I can't remember which of these three channels, but I watched that documentary at least twice. The Funk Brothers was an excellent studio aggregation, certainly one of the very best that has ever worked in studios in the USA!

Motown Records’ Funk Brothers shaped the direction of R&B in America for decades! Other labels had their in-house studio band that impacted the music. For example, Stax Records had the hot quartet Booker T. & the MGs. No studio band in the 1960s and 1970s, however, contributed more significantly to R&B music (both qualitatively and quantitatively) than the Funk brothers.

The most famous and influential member of the Funk Brothers was bassist James Jamerson, one of the most influential (some will say the “most”) bass players of all times. You have heard Jamerson’s playing, as he played on virtually all the Motown hits.

I’m looking now at a magazine that I just pulled from my small home library. It’s a special issue of “Guitar World” magazine subtitled “State of the Bass” (April 1989; Vol. 10, No. 4). There is a special feature on Motown’s James Jamerson, and here are two sentences from the article: “Motown Records created the ‘Sound of Young America’ with hit after hit in the sixties and early seventies by artists such as Stevie Wonder, Diana Ross, Marvin Gaye, Smokey Robinson, the Jackson 5, the Temptations, and the Four Tops. And Jamerson, who supplied the bottom on ninety percent of those discs, was the key to the label’s sound” (page 27).

But, tragically (as with so many of Motown’s stalwarts), he died a lonely dejected alcoholic on August 2, 1983.

I agree with you though, Islandman, that there are indeed striking parallels between American culture (particularly music) and history and Jamaica's.