Ska is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1950s and was the precursor to rocksteady and reggae. It combined elements of Caribbean mento and calypso with American jazz and rhythm and blues. Ska is characterized by a walking bass line accented with rhythms on the off beat. It was developed in Jamaica in the 1960s when Stranger Cole, Prince Buster, Clement "Coxsone" Dodd, and Duke Reid formed sound systems to play American rhythm and blues and then began recording their own songs. In the early 1960s, ska was the dominant music genre of Jamaica and was popular with British mods and with many skinheads.
Reel Big Fish is an American ska punk band from Orange County, California. The band gained mainstream recognition in the mid-to-late 1990s, during the third wave of ska with the release of the gold certified album Turn the Radio Off. Soon after, the band lost mainstream recognition but gained an underground cult following. As of 2006, the band was no longer signed to a major record label and has since been independent. After numerous line-up changes, frontman Aaron Barrett is the last remaining founding member still performing in the band.
The Specials, also known as The Special AKA, are an English 2 Tone and ska revival band formed in 1977 in Coventry. After some early changes, the first stable lineup of the group consisted of Terry Hall and Neville Staple on vocals, Lynval Golding and Roddy Radiation on guitars, Horace Panter on bass, Jerry Dammers on keyboards, John Bradbury on drums, and Dick Cuthell and Rico Rodriguez on horns. Their music combines a "danceable ska and rocksteady beat with punk's energy and attitude". Lyrically, they present a "more focused and informed political and social stance".
Two-tone or 2 tone is a genre of British popular music of the late 1970s and early 1980s that fused traditional Jamaican ska music with elements of punk rock and new wave music. Its name derives from 2 Tone Records, a record label founded in 1979 by Jerry Dammers of The Specials, and references a desire to transcend and defuse racial tensions in Thatcher-era Britain: many two-tone groups, such as The Specials, The Selecter, and The Beat featured a mix of black, white, and multiracial people.
Ska punk is a fusion genre that mixes ska music and punk rock music together. Ska-core is a subgenre of ska punk that mixes ska with hardcore punk. Early ska punk mixed both 2 Tone and ska with hardcore punk. Ska punk tends to feature brass instruments, especially horns such as trumpets, trombones and woodwind instruments like saxophones, making the genre distinct from other forms of punk rock. It is closely tied to third wave ska which reached its zenith in the mid 1990s.
Emmanuel "Rico" Rodriguez, also known as Rico, Reco or El Reco, was a Cuban-born Jamaican ska and reggae trombonist. He recorded with producers such as Karl Pitterson, Prince Buster, and Lloyd Daley. He was known as one of the first ska musicians. Beginning in the 1960s, he worked with The Members, The Specials, Jools Holland, and Paul Young.
Stubborn All-Stars are an American, New York City-based ska band led by King Django, front man of Skinnerbox and owner of Stubborn Records.
King Django is an American bandleader, singer, songwriter, arranger, engineer, producer, and multi-instrumentalist, especially in the genres of ska, rocksteady, reggae, dub, dancehall, rhythm & blues and soul. Other influences in his music have included traditional jazz, swing, klezmer, hardcore/punk rock, hip-hop and electronica.
Tyrone Downie is a Jamaican keyboardist/pianist who is most known for his involvement as a member of Bob Marley and The Wailers. He studied at Kingston College and joined The Wailers in the mid-1970s, making his recording début with the band on Rastaman Vibration, having previously been a member of the Impact All Stars. He has also played with The Abyssinians, Beenie Man, Black Uhuru, Buju Banton, Peter Tosh, Junior Reid, Tom Tom Club, Ian Dury, Burning Spear, Steel Pulse, Alpha Blondy, Tiken Jah Fakoly and Sly & Robbie. He currently resides in France and is a member of the touring band of Youssou N'Dour, whose album Remember he produced.
Victor "Vic" Ruggiero, is a musician, songwriter and producer from New York City who has played in reggae, blues, ska and rocksteady bands since the early 1990s, including The Slackers, Stubborn All-Stars, SKAndalous All Stars, Crazy Baldhead and The Silencers. He has also performed with punk rock band Rancid, both live and in the studio. He has released four solo acoustic albums and continues to tour and record worldwide. Ruggiero is known primarily as a singer and organist, although he also plays piano, bass, banjo, cigar box guitar, guitar, harmonica and percussion.
Diether Ocampo is a Filipino actor, singer, model, and military officer.
The Skatalites are a ska band from Jamaica. They played initially between 1963 and 1965, and recorded many of their best known songs in the period, including "Guns of Navarone." They also played on records by Prince Buster and backed many other Jamaican artists who recorded during that period, including Bob Marley & The Wailers, on their first single Simmer Down. They reformed in 1983 and have played together ever since.
Victor Rice is an American musician, record producer and mix engineer from New York City. Raised in Huntington, New York, Rice attended the Manhattan School of Music and began his professional career in the late 1980s during ska music’s so-called third wave as both a bassist and producer. In the late 1990s he became a composer and sound designer for television. In 2002, Rice moved to Brazil and although he continued working as a producer, performer and sound designer, he shifted his focus and became renowned as a mix engineer, working with a variety of local groups representing a number of different genres.
Jammyland Records was an independent music retailer in New York City. It opened in 1993 at its location on 60 E 3rd Street in Manhattan, by owner Ira Heaps. The store specialized in Jamaican music, specifically the ska, rocksteady and reggae genres of the 60s and 70s recorded on vinyl, though it also sold CDs. Jammyland also reissued more obscure reggae. The store used to have a recording studio in its basement, where artists including Victor Rice, The Slackers and the Dynamos recorded, but later an avant-garde/noise music retailer opened in the basement.
The Rocksteady 7 or "David Hillyard & the Rocksteady Seven", is an American Ska and Jazz band from New York, New York that formed in 1992. Since the early 1990s the group has consisted of tenor saxophonist and band leader Dave Hillyard as well as percussionist Larry McDonald. In live performances, they are supported by a rotating cast of musicians, including drummer Eddie Ocampo and Dave Wake on keys among others.
Version City is an American reggae record label and recording studio.
Crazy Baldhead is a side project of The Slackers headed by Jayson "Agent Jay" Nugent. Crazy Baldhead plays an innovative style of music that mixed reggae, ska, dub, rock and dancehall. Members of the band include Eddie Ocampo, Victor Rice, Vic Ruggiero, Dave Hillyard and Glen Pine.
Sublime was an American reggae rock and ska punk band from Long Beach, California, formed in 1988. The band's line-up, unchanged until their breakup, consisted of Bradley Nowell, Eric Wilson (bass), and Bud Gaugh (drums). Lou Dog, Nowell's dalmatian, was the mascot of the band. Nowell died of a heroin overdose in 1996, resulting in Sublime's breakup. In 1997, songs such as "What I Got", "Santeria", "Wrong Way", "Doin' Time", and "April 29, 1992 (Miami)" were released to U.S. radio.
Aubrey Wellington Adams was a Jamaican pianist and keyboard player who was one of the top bandleaders in Jamaica in the 1950s, and led the Dewdroppers as well as playing with Clue J & His Blues Blasters.
Put3ska was a Filipino ska band formed in 1993. The band's name is word play, combining the Filipino phrase, putres ka and "ska". The band referred to itself as a "60s-oriented, 90s ska band, influenced by Jamaican and British ska".
