Ken Boothe
The Legendary Ken Boothe, O.D. has Been through thick and thin, through Star-time and No-time, from living in the shanties of Denham Town and its environs to the beautiful neighbor- hoods of Kings House, St. Andrews in his homeland of Jamaica. Ken Boothe, O.D. has straddled the social status-spheres, both locally and internationally, in California, New York, Toronto and London. He has conducted numerous tours of Europe, North and South America, Japan and the Caribbean. In Jamaica he continues to reign supreme and maintains his popularity as one of the nation's top entertainers.
His musical talents and love for humanity have afforded him the opportunity of touring in North and South America, Europe, Japan, Canada and the Caribbean. With a unique combination of talent, Boothe has emerged as a "one of a kind" singer; an accomplished musician, songwriter, musical arranger and an impressive dancer. His artistic style embraces a rare blend of musical genius.Ken Boothe's musical career began in the early sixties. Coming from a musically talented family, Ken attributes his musical interests and abilities to his mother and older sister. They have inspired him to use his blessings. In addition, he acknowledges being influenced by the musical greats, Mahalia Jackson, Wilson Pickett, Otis Redding, The Temptations, and The Drifters. When Ken Boothe was only eight years old he won his first singing contest and has never looked back. He has never lost his focus, even if it may have appeared blurred at times to the outside world. His aim has always been to sing and perform to the best of his ability.
Mutabaruka
Mutabaruka (formerly Allan Hope) was born in Rae Town, Kingston on 26th December, 1952. After primary education he attended Kingston Technical High School, where he was a student for four years. Trained in Electronics, he left his first job after about six months and took employment at the Jamaica Telephone Company Limited. During his time at the Telephone Company he began to examine Rastafarianism and to find it more meaningful than either the Roman Catholicism of his upbringing or the political radicalism into which he had drifted.
In the late 1960's and early 1970's there was an upsurge of Black Awareness in Jamaica, in the wake of a similar phenomenon in the United States. Muta, then in his late teens, was drawn into that movement. Illicitly, in school he read many "progressive books" including Eldrige Cleaver's Soul on Ice and some that were then illegal in Jamaica, such as The Autobiography of Malcom X. Muta saw himself as a young revolutionary. But when he deepened his investigation of Rastafarianism, which he had once regarded as essentially passive, he came to find its thinking more radical than that of the non-Rastafarian group with which he had associated. While still employed at the Telephone Company, he stopped combing his hair, started growing locks, altered his diet, and declared himself Rastafarian. A number of his friends thought he was going mad.
Sugar Minott
After working as a selector on the Sound of Silence Keystone sound system, and then his own Gathering of Youth system, he began his singing career as part of The African Brothers in 1969, along with Tony Tuff and Derrick Howard.[4] The group released several singles in the first half of the 1970s on labels such as Micron and their own Ital label, and were an early example of the Rastafari movement's influence on the Jamaican music scene, taking a clear lead from The Abyssinians.[3] After recording "Mysterious Nature" for producer Rupie Edwards, the group recorded 1974's "No Cup No Broke" for Studio One, breaking up shortly after.[4] Minott then teamed up with the producer Clement "Coxsone" Dodd, as studio apprentice at Dodd's Studio One, working as a singer, guitarist and percussionist, and soon began recording his own singles.[4][5] Minott developed a talent for writing new songs to fit over existing rhythms (which at the time was common when singers performed live, but rare in the studio), often proving more popular than the original songs, pioneering an approach that would be central to the emerging dancehall style.[2][4]
After a number of moderately successful hits for Studio One, such as "Vanity", "Hang On Natty", "Mr. DC", and "Jah Jah Children", his debut LP Live Loving made his name and increased his popularity, and is regarded as pioneering the dancehall style that would dominate the early 1980s.[4][5] It was followed in 1979 with a second album, Showcase, which included his singles that had been omitted from the first album.
The Bittersweet album followed, and then the third album of 1979, Ghetto-ology, which saw a return to roots reggae. Roots Lovers (1980) saw a move towards lovers rock, which was a UK hit. He became a bigger star in the UK than in Jamaica, his self-produced "Hard Time Pressure" being a major UK reggae hit in 1980, leading Minott to relocate to the UK, where he became a focus for UK reggae.[4][5]
After a number of moderately successful hits for Studio One, such as "Vanity", "Hang On Natty", "Mr. DC", and "Jah Jah Children", his debut LP Live Loving made his name and increased his popularity, and is regarded as pioneering the dancehall style that would dominate the early 1980s.[4][5] It was followed in 1979 with a second album, Showcase, which included his singles that had been omitted from the first album.
The Bittersweet album followed, and then the third album of 1979, Ghetto-ology, which saw a return to roots reggae. Roots Lovers (1980) saw a move towards lovers rock, which was a UK hit. He became a bigger star in the UK than in Jamaica, his self-produced "Hard Time Pressure" being a major UK reggae hit in 1980, leading Minott to relocate to the UK, where he became a focus for UK reggae.[4][5]
Alton Ellis
Born Alton Nehemiah Ellis in Trench Town, Kingston, Jamaica, Ellis was raised within a musical family and learned to play the piano at a young age.[6] He attended Ebeneezer and Boys' Town schools, where he excelled in both music and sport.[7] While at Boys' Town Ellis performed as a dancer (in a duo) in the first show that a school director called Mr Bailey had organized for Vere Johns who had been invited down to talent scout.[8] He would later compete on Vere Johns' Opportunity Hour.[9] After winning some competitions, he switched to singing, starting his career in 1959 as part of the duo Alton & Eddy with Eddy Parkins.[10]
Ellis and Parkins recorded for Coxsone Dodd at Studio One, initially in the R&B style, having a hit in 1960 with "Muriel" (from Dodd's first commercially-oriented recording session at Federal studios),[11] a song Ellis had written while working as a labourer on a building site.[7] This initial success was followed by the release of "My Heaven", which like "Muriel" was a slow R&B ballad with the instrumental triplets and vocal harmonizing common to the ballads of that period. Further releases in the R&B style followed: "Lullabye Angel", "I Know It All", "I'm Never Gonna Cry" and "Yours".[7] The duo also recorded R&B tracks for Vincent Chin's Randy's label including "Let Me Dream". The duo split after Parkins won a major talent contest and moved to the United States.[10] Ellis remained in Kingston, working as a printer and after losing his job, he restarted his music career, initially forming a new duo with John Holt.[7] When Holt joined The Paragons, Ellis formed a new group, The Flames. Ellis continued to work for Dodd and also recorded for his arch-rival, Duke Reid on his Treasure Isle label.[10] At the start of his career Ellis recorded with his younger sister Hortense; early tracks with Hortense like "Don't Gamble With Love" (1965) were still in the R&B style.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)