Earl Zero

Last updated

Earl Zero
Birth nameEarl Anthony Johnson
Born1953 (age 70–71)
Origin Kingston, Jamaica
Genres Reggae
OccupationSinger
Years activeEarly 1970s–present

Earl Anthony Johnson (born 1953), better known as Earl Zero, is a Jamaican roots reggae artist, whose career began in the 1970s. He is the uncle of Toronto rapper Raz Fresco.

Contents

History

Born 1953 in the Greenwich Town area of Kingston, Johnson was the eldest of ten children, his father a fisherman and his mother a fishmonger. [1] Zero began his career in the 1970s, first as a member of the group Rush-It with his childhood friend Earl "Chinna" Smith, who recorded for producer Bunny Lee, who gave him the name 'Earl Zero' to distinguish him from Smith. [2] [3] His song "None Shall Escape the Judgement" was a hit for Johnny Clarke when recorded by the singer in 1974, [4] and proto punk garage band artist Jonathan Richman and the Modern Lovers had a UK #5 hit [5] with an instrumental [6] version of "None Shall Escape the Judgement" in 1977 titled "Egyptian Reggae". [7] The track was included on the album Rock 'n' Roll with the Modern Lovers . Although the writing credit was originally given to Richman, later reissues of the track credited Earl Zero. [8]

Zero first had success as a singer himself with the Al Campbell-produced "Righteous Works" in 1975. [3] He recorded for Don Mais' Roots Tradition label (recording "Home Sweet Home" and "I No Lie"), [1] and joined Tommy Cowan's Talent Corporation roster, and had further success with "Please Officer", recorded with Augustus Pablo and Prince Jammy, and "City of the Weak Heart", released on Cowan's Arab label, [4] the latter also recorded by Jacob Miller on his Killer Miller album. [3] In 1976 he moved on to work with Bertram Brown, recording "Get Happy", and again recorded with Campbell on "Heart Desire". [3] He continued recording through the late 1970s, recording with Soul Syndicate. [3] His first two albums, Visions of Love and In the Right Way, were released in 1979. [1]

In 1979 he relocated to northern California, and continued to record since, with several albums released. Much of his Freedom Sounds label music was re-released in the mid-1990s on Steve Barrow and Mick Hucknall's Blood and Fire label on the album entitled King Tubby & Soul Syndicate – Freedom Sounds in Dub, thereby introducing his sounds to new generations of listeners, and his works are still consistently held in high regard and in demand with sound-systems worldwide. [9] His latest album is Marketplace, to be released in Spring 2011 with producer Siahvash Dowlatshahi. The album features members of the Roots Radics, The Greyboy Allstars, The Devastators and others.

Discography

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jonathan Richman</span> American singer, songwriter and guitarist (born 1951)

Jonathan Michael Richman is an American singer, songwriter and guitarist. In 1970, he founded the Modern Lovers, an influential proto-punk band. Since the mid-1970s, Richman has worked either solo or with low-key acoustic and electric backing. He is known for his wide-eyed, unaffected, and childlike outlook, and music that, while rooted in rock and roll, is influenced by music from around the world.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Modern Lovers</span> American rock group

The Modern Lovers were an American rock band led by Jonathan Richman in the 1970s and 1980s. The original band existed from 1970 to 1974 but their recordings were not released until 1976 or later. It featured Richman and bassist Ernie Brooks with drummer David Robinson and keyboardist Jerry Harrison. The sound of the band owed a great deal to the influence of the Velvet Underground and the Stooges, and is now sometimes classified as "proto-punk". It pointed the way towards much of the punk rock, new wave, alternative and indie rock music of later decades. Their only album, the eponymous The Modern Lovers, contained idiosyncratic songs about dating awkwardness, growing up in Massachusetts, love of life, and the USA.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sugar Minott</span> Jamaican reggae singer (1956–2010)

Lincoln Barrington "Sugar" Minott was a Jamaican reggae and dancehall singer, record producer and sound-system operator.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Congos</span> Jamaican band

The Congos are a reggae vocal group from Jamaica which formed as the duo "Ashanti" Roy Johnson (tenor) and Cedric Myton (falsetto), later becoming a trio with the addition of Watty Burnett (baritone), and have been active on and off from the mid-1970s until the present day. They are best known for their Heart of the Congos album, recorded with Lee "Scratch" Perry.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Johnny Clarke</span> Jamaican reggae musician

Johnny Clarke is a Jamaican reggae musician, best known for his recordings with producer Bunny Lee in the 1970s.

Oscar Hibbert, better known as Junior Delgado, was a reggae singer, famed for his roots style.

Blood and Fire is a British reggae record label specialising in reissues of 1970s dub.

Beserkley Records was an American independent record label based in Berkeley, California, from 1973 to 1984. Beserkley is usually regarded as a power pop and rock and roll label. During the 1970s, the label released albums by Earth Quake, Greg Kihn, Jonathan Richman, and The Modern Lovers, the Rubinoos, and the Tyla Gang. Several other artists appeared on singles, or on compilation albums. From 1980 to its dissolution in 1984, Beserkley was a one-artist label, the artist being Greg Kihn.

Rod Taylor, also known as Rocky T, is a reggae singer and producer.

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

The Cimarons are a British reggae band formed in 1967. They were the UK's first self-contained indigenous reggae band.

Tommy Cowan CD is a producer and singer, initially working in reggae but later concentrating on gospel, who has been involved in the music business since the 1960s. He is also an ordained Gospel minister and a justice of the peace.

Jah Lloyd, aka Jah Lion, The Black Lion of Judah, and Jah Ali was a Jamaican reggae singer, deejay and producer.

Jarret Lloyd Vincent, better known by one of his stage aliases Bim Sherman, was a Jamaican musician and singer-songwriter.

Leonard Chin aka Santic, is a Jamaican reggae record producer. After first working as a car mechanic, he then trained as a photographer and worked for the Gleaner Company. In the early 1970s he began working as a singer with Charles Hannah and The Graduates, and recorded a single for Gussie Clarke, but he realized that he was better suited to production. His early productions between 1973 and 1975 included recordings by Augustus Pablo, who recorded the first single for his Santic record label, "Pablo In Dub", as well as Paul Whiteman, Horace Andy, Roman Stewart, and Gregory Isaacs. Two of the tracks he produced for Pablo were included on the melodica player's debut album. Chin's recording sessions generally took place at Randy's studio, with Errol Thompson at the mixing desk, and using Pablo as an arranger or keyboard player. Chin also produced Jah Woosh's 1976 album, Chalice Blaze. A mid-1970s compilation of his productions, An Even Harder Shade of Black, was reissued by Pressure Sounds in 1995. The label released a further collection of his work, Down Santic Way, in 2005.

Earl George Lawrence (1946–2003), also known as George Faith, Earl George and George Earl, was a Jamaican reggae singer best known for his work in the 1970s with producers such as Lee "Scratch" Perry and Bunny Lee.

Soul Syndicate, originally called the Rhythm Raiders, were one of the top reggae session bands in Jamaica from the early 1970s to the mid-1980s.

Felix Headley Bennett OD, also known as Deadly Headley, was a prolific Jamaican saxophonist who performed on hundreds, possibly thousands, of recordings since the 1950s.

"None Shall Escape the Judgement" is a 1973 song by Jamaican musician Earl Zero. It has spawned numerous cover versions.

Roy Anthony Cousins is a Jamaican reggae singer, producer, and record label owner, known for being lead singer and co creator of The Royals, his productions of artists such as Charlie Chaplin, Prince Far I, Scientist, Winston Francis, Earl Sixteen, Devon Russell, Junior Reid, Don Carlos, Pablove Black, Ken Parker, Knowledge, The Gaylads, The Meditations, Prince Hammer and Cornell Campbell, and his record labels, Uhuru, Tamoki, Wambesi, Dove & Tamoki-Wambesi/Tamoki Wambesi Dove.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Greene, Jo-Ann "Earl Zero Biography", Allmusic, retrieved 2011-01-02
  2. ↑ Katz, David (2003) Solid Foundation: an Oral History of Reggae, Bloomsbury, ISBN   0-7475-6847-2, p. 140, 211
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 Larkin, Colin (1998) The Virgin Encyclopedia of Reggae, Virgin Books, ISBN   0-7535-0242-9, p. 324
  4. 1 2 Barrow, Steve & Dalton, Peter (2004) The Rough Guide to Reggae, 3rd edn., Rough Guides, ISBN   1-84353-329-4, p. 186
  5. ↑ Roberts, David (2006). British Hit Singles & Albums (19th ed.). London: Guinness World Records Limited. p. 462. ISBN   1-904994-10-5.
  6. ↑ "The Originals© by Arnold Rypens". Originals.be. Archived from the original on 14 March 2012. Retrieved 4 September 2012.
  7. ↑ "View topic - Egyptian Reggae - Jonathan Richman video clip !". Blood and Fire. 16 May 2006. Retrieved 4 September 2012.
  8. ↑ "Jonathan Richman & The Modern Lovers – Egyptian Reggae (1977)", RealVJ.com. Retrieved 15 February 2019
  9. ↑ Moskowitz, David V. (2006) Caribbean Popular Music: an Encyclopedia of Reggae, Mento, Ska, Rock Steady, and Dancehall, Greenwood Press, ISBN   0-313-33158-8, p. 98
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.