Winston Rodney OD, better known by the stage name Burning Spear, is a Jamaican roots reggae singer-songwriter, vocalist, and musician. Burning Spear is a Rastafarian and one of the most influential and long-standing roots artists to emerge from the 1970s.
Jacob Miller was a Jamaican reggae artist and Rastafari from Mandeville, Jamaica. His first recording session was with the producer Clement "Sir Coxsone" Dodd in the late 1960s. While pursuing a solo career, he became the lead singer for Inner Circle, a Jamaican roots reggae band. Miller recorded and toured with Inner Circle before he died in a car crash in early 1980 at age 27.
Dr Alimantado, also known as The Ital Surgeon, is a Jamaican reggae singer, deejay, and producer.
Manley Augustus Buchanan, better known as Big Youth, is a Jamaican deejay, mostly known for his work during the 1970s.
Lloyd Woodrowe James, better known as Prince Jammy or King Jammy, is a Jamaican dub mixer, sound system owner and record producer. He began his musical career as a dub master at King Tubby's recording studio. His dubs are known for their clear sound and use of effects.
Lester Bullock, better known by the stage name Dillinger, is a Jamaican reggae artist. He was part of the second wave of deejay toasters who rose to prominence during the mid-1970s.
Humanity is a reggae album released by The Royal Rasses featuring Prince Lincoln Thompson in 1979.
Leroy "Horsemouth" Wallace is a Jamaican drummer who worked for several years at Studio One, and has worked with numerous reggae artists including The Gladiators, Inner Circle, Prince Far I, Sound Dimension, Gregory Isaacs, Burning Spear, Ijahman Levi, Bruno Blum and Pierpoljak. He starred as himself in the lead role of the film Rockers. Wallace attended the Alpha Boys School in the 1960s and early 1970s, where he studied under Lennie Hibbert. Wallace also joined The Skatalites when they reformed in the mid-1970s. Wallace has been credited with inventing the 'Rockers' rhythm.
Uzziah "Sticky" Thompson was a Jamaican percussionist, vocalist and deejay active from the late 1950s. He worked with some of the best known performers of Jamaican music and played on hundreds of albums.
Carlton "Santa" Davis is a musician from Jamaica, primarily known for his drumming with bands such as Bob Marley & The Wailers, The Aggrovators, Soul Syndicate and Roots Radics. He has worked with reggae artists such as Jimmy Cliff, Black Uhuru, Burning Spear, Big Youth, The Wailers, Peter Tosh, Andrew Tosh, Wailing Souls, Ini Kamoze, Big Mountain, Michael Rose, and Ziggy Marley.
Leroy Smart is a reggae singer-songwriter and record producer from Kingston, Jamaica.
Kiddus I is a reggae singer and musician, best known for his appearance in the film Rockers.
Rockers is the soundtrack to the 1978 film of the same name. It was released in 1979 by Mango Records and includes some of the songs heard in the film by Jamaican reggae musicians such as Junior Murvin, Bunny Wailer, Burning Spear, Peter Tosh and Jacob Miller. In 2024, Rolling Stone magazine named Rockers the 52nd greatest soundtrack of all time.
Jah Lloyd, aka Jah Lion, The Black Lion of Judah, and Jah Ali was a Jamaican reggae singer, deejay and producer.
Pick Up the Pieces is the debut album from Jamaican roots reggae group The Royals, collecting recordings made between 1973 and 1977, and produced by Royals lead vocalist and only constant member Roy Cousins. Musicians on the album include members of The Wailers, Soul Syndicate, The In Crowd, and the Now Generation Band. The album was later licensed to United Artists subsidiary Ballistic Records, and was reissued in an expanded form in 2002 by Pressure Sounds. The songs on the album have been described as "some of the most musically sublime expressions of Rastafarian faith and the hardships of ghetto living Jamaica has produced".
Right Time is the 1976 studio album debut of influential reggae band the Mighty Diamonds. The album, released by Virgin Records after they signed the Mighty Diamonds following a search for talent in Jamaica, is critically regarded as a reggae classic, a landmark in the roots reggae subgenre. Several of the album's socially conscious songs were hits in the band's native Jamaica, with a few becoming successful in the UK underground. Influential and sometimes unconventional, the album helped secure the success of recording studio Channel One Studios, and rhythm team Sly Dunbar and Robbie Shakespeare.
Black Roots is a 1979 album by Sugar Minott. It was the first to appear on Minott's Black Roots label, and was described in the book Reggae: 100 Essential CDs – The Rough Guide as a "classic, which catches the singer on the cusp of the roots and dancehall phases, and with total control over his music." The album includes contributions from some of Jamaica's top session musicians including Leroy "Horsemouth" Wallace, Noel "Scully" Simms, Eric "Bingy Bunny" Lamont, Gladstone Anderson, Larry 'Professor Bassie' Silvera and Ansell Collins, with harmony vocals provided by Don Carlos, Lacksley Castell and Ashanti Waugh. Two of the tracks on the album had previously been issued as singles – "Hard Time Pressure" and "River Jordan". The album was described by Dave Thompson in his book Reggae & Caribbean Music as a "deeply dread collection...time has bestowed a stately uniqueness to it". Alex Henderson, writing for AllMusic, said of the album: "If you combined Stax's raw production style with the type of sweetness that characterized a lot of Chicago, Detroit and Philadelphia soul and added a reggae beat, the outcome might sound something like Black Roots."
King David's Melody is a reggae compilation album by Augustus Pablo, originally released in 1983 on his Rockers record label.
Lawrence Lindo, better known as Jack Ruby, was a Jamaican record producer and sound system operator, best known for his 1970s productions of artists such as Burning Spear.
Berris Simpson, better known as Prince Hammer, is a Jamaican reggae deejay, singer, and record producer.
