Harry J Liquidator R.I.P

[Sir X]

Producer Harry J DEAD AT 68


Saturday, April 06, 2013

HARRY Johnson, the former insurance salesman who became one of reggae’s top producers in the 1970s, died Wednesday at age 68. Johnson died from diabetes at the Savanna-la-Mar Hospital in his native Westmoreland, his daughter Tara Johnson told the Jamaica Observer. Popularly known as Harry J, Johnson launched his Harry J label in 1966 and had several big hits including The Liquidator by the Harry J All Stars and Young, Gifted and Black done by Bob Andy and Marcia Griffiths.

The Liquidator’s opening guitar riff inspired the Staples Singers’ classic hit I’ll Take You There. Johnson also produced singer Lorna Bennett’s sultry Breakfast in Bed and the spiritual Book of Rules by the Heptones.
Harry Johnson



Harry Johnson


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In the early 1980s, he produced Sheila Hylton’s cover of the Police’s The Bed’s Too Big Without You. Drummer Sly Dunbar and his long-time music partner, bassist Robbie Shakespeare, played on The Bed’s Too Big Without You. Dunbar said Johnson was “steady as a producer, wasn’t afraid to tell yuh what he wanted”.
The Harry J studios in Kingston was a popular recording spot in the 1970s. Bob Marley and The Wailers recorded their first four Island Records studio albums (Catch A Fire, Burnin’, Natty Dread and Rastaman Vibration) there.
Harry ‘Harry J’ Johnson is survived by four children and three grandchildren.





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[Sir X]

The Liquidator

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SdAcG24iI_w


The tune is played before football matches in the United Kingdom. Chelsea, Yeovil Town, Wycombe Wanderers, Northampton Town West Bromwich Albion, Wolverhampton Wanderers, Gillingham and St. Johnstone claim to have been first to play it. Chelsea's claims to be first to play it are backed by the first paragraph of the liner notes for "Liquidator - The Best of the Harry J All Stars". It says: "Way back in 1969, supporters of the Chelsea football team revered players such as Bonetti, Osgood and Hollins. The boys performed under the watchful eye of manager Dave Sexton to the tune of Harry J & All Stars chartbuster, 'The Liquidator'.
The Liquidators were one of Chelsea's smaller football firms. The tune is also known among supporters of Wolverhampton Wanderers. West Midlands Police and safety committees made the club drop the tune because supporters chanted obscenities at their rivals. It is also played before the start of the second half at Huish Park for Yeovil games.
West Bromwich Albion and Wolves briefly re-introduced the track during the 2005-2006 season, encouraging fans to clap instead of swearing. The request was ignored and the tune was again removed, before reappearing at the 2006-2007 championship playoff, during which West Bromwich Albion beat Wolves.
Gillingham re-introduced the track for use in the 2012/2013 season. This was changed from the previous "Carnival de Paris" walk-out music, and received a positive reaction, as the fans clap to the tune of the chorus and subsequently shout "The Gills" in a repeated cycle.

[Sir X]

Who cashed in on The Liquidator?
By Howard Campbell Observer senior writer
Sunday, April 07, 2013



AL Jackson Jnr was a member of one of the hottest bands in music when he visited Jamaica in 1969.
An African-American, Jackson was the drummer for Booker T and the MGs, a bi-racial quartet that also included organist Booker T Jones, guitarist Steve Cropper and bassist Donald 'Duck' Dunn.
Harry ‘Harry J’ Johnson
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One of the stops Jackson made during his stay in Kingston was the recording studio of producer Harry 'Harry J' Johnson.
In a 2000 interview with the Jamaica Observer, Johnson (who died Wednesday in Westmoreland at age 68) recalled meeting Jackson and giving him two copies of his label's latest production.
The name of the song was The Liquidator, an instrumental done by Johnson's house band, the Harry J All Stars.
Built around organist Winston Wright's brilliant soloing, The Liquidator was a strong seller in the United Kingdom in 1969.
It was the biggest success for Johnson, a former insurance salesman who started producing in 1966.
Three years after his meeting with Jackson, Johnson got the shock of his life when he heard a song by gospel group, The Staple Singers, named I'll Take You There.
Its intro was eerily similar to The Liquidator's.
"I had no doubt it was our song. I couldn't believe it when I first heard it," Johnson said.
The Staples Singers were signed to Stax Records, a Memphis, Tennessee record company that helped make Otis Redding and Isaac Hayes famous.
Booker T and the MGs were the house band at Stax.
I'll Take You There was a monster hit and became a rallying cry for the black power movement in the United States.
Johnson said he took aggressive steps to collect royalties from Stax but made little headway with the company which folded in 1975.
Al Jackson Jnr, who played on many of the hit songs at Stax, was killed at his Memphis home that year.
The Liquidator lives on. It was the beat for Lieutenant Stitchie's hit song Night And Day and is the theme song for the Chelsea Football Club.


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