Althea & Donna

Last updated

Althea & Donna
Origin Jamaica
Genres Reggae
Years active1977–2001
Labels Virgin, Lightning, Front Line
Past membersAlthea Forrest
Donna Reid

Althea & Donna were a Jamaican reggae vocal duo, consisting of Althea Rose Forrest and Donna Marie Reid. They are best known for their 1977 single "Uptown Top Ranking", which was a number-one hit in the United Kingdom in 1978. [1]

Contents

Career

The Jamaican teenage singers Althea Forrest and Donna Reid – then 17 and 18 years old respectively – caused a chart surprise when their reggae song "Uptown Top Ranking" became a no. 1 hit in the UK in February 1978. [2] [3] They released the album of the same name in 1978, backed by The Revolutionaries, on the Virgin Records subsidiary Front Line, The album was produced by Karl Pitterson. [4] The duo recorded several more singles with little success. [5] In 2001, Caroline Records reissued the full-length Uptown Top Ranking. [6]

Discography

Albums

Singles

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Culture (band)</span> Jamaican roots reggae band

Culture are a Jamaican roots reggae group founded in 1976. Originally they were known as the African Disciples. The one constant member until his death in 2006 was Joseph Hill.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ken Boothe</span> Jamaican singer (born 1948)

Kenneth George Boothe OD is a Jamaican vocalist known for his distinctive vibrato and timbre. Boothe achieved an international reputation as one of Jamaica's finest vocalists through a series of crossover hits that appealed to both reggae fans and mainstream audiences.

Joe Gibbs born Joel Arthur Gibson was a Jamaican reggae producer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Big Youth</span> Musical artist

Manley Augustus Buchanan, better known as Big Youth, is a Jamaican deejay, mostly known for his work during the 1970s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dennis Brown</span> Jamaican reggae singer (1957–1999)

Dennis Emmanuel Brown CD was a Jamaican reggae singer. During his prolific career, which began in the late 1960s when he was aged eleven, he recorded more than 75 albums and was one of the major stars of lovers rock, a subgenre of reggae. Bob Marley cited Brown as his favourite singer, dubbing him "The Crown Prince of Reggae", and Brown would prove influential on future generations of reggae singers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Inner Circle (band)</span> Jamaican reggae band

Inner Circle, also known as The Inner Circle Band or The Bad Boys of Reggae, are a Jamaican reggae band formed in Kingston in 1968. The band first backed The Chosen Few in the early 1970s before joining with successful solo artist Jacob Miller and releasing a string of records. This era of the band ended with Miller's death in a car crash in 1980.

People from the Caribbean have made significant contributions to British Black music for many generations.

China Black were a British pop-reggae duo, consisting of Simon Fung and Errol Reid (singer-songwriter).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Uptown Top Ranking</span> 1977 single by Althea & Donna

"Uptown Top Ranking" is a song by Jamaican teenage singers Althea Forrest and Donna Reid, recorded when they were 17 and 18 years old respectively. Released in 1977, the song comprises the girls ad-libbing to deejay track "Three Piece Suit" by Trinity. The lyrics were written by the duo and Errol Thompson. It was produced by Joe Gibbs, using a re-recording of the riddim of the 1967 Alton Ellis song "I'm Still in Love", which had already been re-popularised in the 1970s by Marcia Aitken's cover "I'm Still in Love With You Boy", and "Three Piece Suit" by Trinity, to which "Uptown" was an "answer record".

The Heptones are a Jamaican rocksteady and reggae vocal trio most active in the 1960s and early 1970s. They were one of the more significant trios of that era, and played a major role in the gradual transition between ska and rocksteady into reggae with their three-part harmonies. The Heptones were contemporaries of the Wailers and the Maytals, and every bit their equal in the mid-1960s.

The Pioneers are a Jamaican reggae and soul vocal trio, whose main period of success was in the 1960s. The trio has had different line-ups, and still occasionally performs.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">I-Roy</span> Musical artist

Roy Samuel Reid, better known as I-Roy, was a Jamaican deejay who had a very prolific career during the 1970s.

Lloyd Parks is a Jamaican reggae vocalist and bass player who has recorded and performed as a solo artist as well as part of Skin, Flesh & Bones, The Revolutionaries, The Professionals, and We the People Band.

Leroy Smart is a reggae singer-songwriter and record producer from Kingston, Jamaica.

Trinitya.k.a.Junior Brammer was a Jamaican reggae deejay and producer, whose career began in the mid-1970s and continued into the 1990s.

Highland Ralph Dobson OD was a Jamaican reggae singer and record producer, nicknamed "The Loving Pauper" after one of his best known songs.

Carl Malcolm is a Jamaican reggae singer and percussionist.

Front Line was a reggae subsidiary of Virgin Records established in 1978. Over forty albums were issued on the label before it folded in 1979.

Marcia Aitken is a reggae singer best known for her recordings in the late 1970s, produced by Joe Gibbs along with Errol Thompson.

Leslie Tucker, known as Junior Tucker, is a Jamaican reggae singer, who started his career in secular music but who now sings Christian music. His hits included "Happy" and his own composition, "Don't Test".

References

  1. Rice, Jo (1982). The Guinness Book of 500 Number One Hits (1st ed.). Enfield, Middlesex: Guinness Superlatives Ltd. p. 188. ISBN   0-85112-250-7.
  2. "Althia & Donna". officialcharts.com. Retrieved 21 January 2016.
  3. 1 2 Roberts, David (2006). British Hit Singles & Albums (19th ed.). London: Guinness World Records Limited. p. 21. ISBN   1-904994-10-5.
  4. 1 2 Greene, Jo-Ann. Uptown Top Ranking at AllMusic . Retrieved 4 July 2013.
  5. Moskowitz, David V. (2006). Caribbean Popular Music: an Encyclopedia of Reggae, Mento, Ska, Rock Steady, and Dancehall. Greenwood Press. pp. 10–11. ISBN   0-313-33158-8.
  6. Prato, Greg. Althea & Donna Biography at AllMusic . Retrieved 30 July 2014.