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Rocksteady is a music genre that originated in Jamaica around 1966. A successor of ska and a precursor to reggae, rocksteady was the dominant style of music in Jamaica for nearly two years, performed by many of the artists who helped establish reggae, including harmony groups such as the Techniques, the Paragons, the Heptones and the Gaylads; soulful singers such as Alton Ellis, Delroy Wilson, Bob Andy, Ken Boothe and Phyllis Dillon; musicians such as Jackie Mittoo, Lynn Taitt and Tommy McCook. The term rocksteady comes from a popular (slower) dance style mentioned in the Alton Ellis song "Rocksteady", that matched the new sound. Some rocksteady songs became hits outside Jamaica, as with ska, helping to secure the international base reggae music has today.
The Harder They Come is the soundtrack album to the film of the same name, released in 1972 in the United Kingdom as Island Records ILPS 9202. It was issued in February 1973 in North America as Mango Records SMAS-7400. It peaked at No. 140 on the Billboard 200. In 2021, the album was deemed "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant" by the Library of Congress and selected for preservation in the National Recording Registry.
Catch a Fire is the fifth studio album by the reggae band Bob Marley and the Wailers, released in April 1973. It was their first album released by Island Records. After finishing a tour in the United Kingdom with Johnny Nash, the band did not have enough money to return to Jamaica; they approached producer Chris Blackwell, who agreed to advance the Wailers money for an album and paid their fares back home, where they recorded Catch a Fire. The album has nine songs, two of which were written and composed by Peter Tosh, the remaining seven were by Bob Marley. After Marley returned with the tapes to London, Blackwell reworked the tracks at Island Studios with contributions by Muscle Shoals session musician Wayne Perkins, who played guitar on three overdubbed tracks. The album had a limited original release under the name The Wailers in a sleeve depicting a Zippo lighter, designed by graphic artists Rod Dyer and Bob Weiner; subsequent releases had an alternative cover designed by John Bonis featuring an Esther Anderson portrait of Marley smoking a "spliff", and used the name Bob Marley and the Wailers.
Alexander Minto Hughes, better known as Judge Dread, was an English reggae and ska musician. He was the first white recording artist to have a reggae hit in Jamaica, and the BBC has banned more of his songs than those of any other recording artist, because of his frequent use of sexual innuendo and double entendres. Following his death, Rolling Stone reported, "He sold several million albums throughout his 25-plus year career and was second only to Bob Marley in U.K. reggae sales during the 1970s".
Desmond Dekker was a Jamaican ska, rocksteady and reggae singer-songwriter and musician. Together with his backing group The Aces, he had one of the earliest international reggae hits with "Israelites" (1968). Other hits include "007 " (1967), "It Mek" (1969) and "You Can Get It If You Really Want" (1970).
Third World is a Jamaican reggae fusion band formed in 1973. Their sound is influenced by soul, funk and disco. Although it has undergone several line-up changes, Stephen "Cat" Coore and Richard Daley have been constant members.
"Israelites" is a song written by Desmond Dekker and Leslie Kong that became a hit for Dekker's group, Desmond Dekker & The Aces, reaching the top of the charts in numerous countries in 1969. Sung in Jamaican English, some of the song's lyrics were not readily understood by many British and American listeners at the time of its release. Despite this, the single was the first UK reggae #1 and among the first to reach the US top ten. It combined the Rastafarian religion with rude boy concerns, to make what has been described as a "timeless masterpiece that knew no boundaries".
Joseph Benjamin Higgs was a reggae musician from Jamaica. In the late 1950s and 1960s he was part of the duo Higgs and Wilson together with Roy Wilson. He was a popular artist in Jamaica for four decades and is also known for his work tutoring younger musicians including Bob Marley and the Wailers and Jimmy Cliff.
Delroy George Wilson CD was a Jamaican ska, rocksteady and reggae singer. Wilson is often regarded as Jamaica's first child star, having first found success as a teenager. His youngest son, Karl "Konan" Wilson, has found success as part of British duo Krept and Konan.
Leslie Kong was an influential Chinese-Jamaican reggae producer.
Beverley's was a Jamaican record label owned by the Chinese Jamaican record producer Leslie Kong. Beverley's was essential to the development of ska and rocksteady into reggae. The label launched the careers of Jimmy Cliff and Bob Marley, having released Jimmy Cliff's first recording "Dearest Beverley" in 1961 and Bob Marley's early singles "Judge Not" and "One Cup of Coffee" in 1962.
Justin Hinds was a Jamaican ska vocalist, with his backing singers the Dominoes.
The Wailing Souls are a Jamaican reggae vocal group whose origins date back to the 1960s. The group has undergone several line-up changes over the years with Winston "Pipe" Matthews and Lloyd "Bread" McDonald the only constant members. They have been nominated for Grammy Awards three times.
"Rudie Can't Fail" is a song by the English punk rock band the Clash, featured on their 1979 album London Calling. The song was written by Joe Strummer and Mick Jones, who sing it as a duet.
The Aces, originally known as The Four Aces, were a Jamaican vocal group who are best known for their work with Desmond Dekker.
Action! is an album by Jamaican rocksteady and ska group Desmond Dekker & the Aces that they released in 1968. Singer-songwriter Desmond Dekker composed all of the tracks, which includes the song "007 ".
"You Can Get It If You Really Want" is a famous rocksteady song written and performed by Jamaican reggae singer songwriter Jimmy Cliff and released as a single in July 1970. A version was recorded by Jamaican singer Desmond Dekker and released within a few weeks of Cliff's version. It became a hit in its own right as a single released in a number of markets, reaching number 2 on the UK Singles Chart.
Graeme Goodall Vanderbilt was an Australian recording engineer and record label owner who was a key figure in the early days of Jamaica's recording industry, constructing several of the Island's studios, co-founding Island Records, and operating other labels in the United Kingdom releasing Jamaican music.
Neville O'Riley Livingston, known professionally as Bunny Wailer, was a Jamaican singer-songwriter and percussionist. He was an original member of reggae group The Wailers along with Bob Marley and Peter Tosh. A three-time Grammy Award winner, he is considered one of the longtime standard-bearers of reggae music. He was also known as Jah B, Bunny O'Riley, and Bunny Livingston.
This Is Reggae Music: The Golden Era 1960-1975 is a reggae retrospective anthology issued as a 4-CD box set in 2004 by Trojan Records. The anthology, which was compiled by Colin Escott and Bas Hartong, is arranged in chronological order and features tracks by various artists, starting with mento and ska from the first half of the 1960s, then progressing to the slower rhythms of rocksteady and reggae, which both emerged later in the decade, continuing into the 1970s. Several of the acts featured are Derrick Morgan, Desmond Decker & the Aces, Toots & the Maytals, Jimmy Cliff, and Bob Marley and the Wailers.
References
- ↑ Barrow, Steve; Dalton, Peter (2004). The Rough Guide to Reggae (3rd ed.). London: Rough Guides. p. 61. ISBN 1843533294.
- 1 2 3 Thompson, Dave (2002). Reggae & Caribbean Music. Backbeat Books. p. 374. ISBN 0-87930-655-6.
- ↑ Masouri, John (2010). Wailing Blues: The Story of Bob Marley's Wailers. Omnibus Press. ISBN 978-1847727060.
- ↑ O'Brien Chang, Kevin & Chen, Wayne (1998) Reggae Routes, ISBN 976-8100-67-2, pp. 102-3
- ↑ King, Stephen A (2002). Reggae, Rastafari, and the Rhetoric of Social Control . University Press of Mississippi. p. 38. ISBN 978-1604730036.
- ↑ Apter, Jeff (2007) A Simple Kind of Life: Gwen Stefani and No Doubt, Wise, ISBN 978-1846094811, p. 8
- ↑ Barrow, Steve; Dalton, Peter (2004). The Rough Guide to Reggae (3rd ed.). London: Rough Guides. p. 34. ISBN 1843533294.
- ↑ Salewicz, Chris; Boot, Adrian (2001). Reggae Explosion: The Story of Jamaican Music. New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc. p. 52. ISBN 0810937891.
- ↑ "Dekker Finds Genesis In 'Exodus'", Jamaica Gleaner , 25 November 2012. Retrieved 7 December 2012
- ↑ "Desmond Dekker & the Aces". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 7 December 2012.
- ↑ Veal, Michael E. (2007). Dub: Soundscapes and Shattered Songs in Jamaican Reggae. Middletown, CT: Wesleyan University Press. p. 221. ISBN 978-0819565723.
- ↑ "Musical Youth". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 7 December 2012.
- ↑ Campbell, Howard (2012) "Soundtrack for the ages: 40 Years of Harder They Come", Jamaica Observer , 13 November 2012. Retrieved 7 December 2012
