Roger Steffens | |
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Born | |
Nationality | American |
Known for | Author, actor, archivist, radio personality |
Roger Steffens (born June 17, 1942) is an American actor, author, lecturer, editor, reggae archivist, photographer, and producer. [1] Six rooms of his home in Los Angeles house reggae archives, which include the world's largest collection of Bob Marley material. Based on these archives Steffens lectures internationally with a multi-media presentation called The Life of Bob Marley. His radio career began in New York City in 1961, and he co-hosted Reggae Beat on KCRW in Los Angeles and was syndicated on 130 stations worldwide in the 1980s. [2] [3]
Steffens was born in Brooklyn, New York and raised in Westwood, New Jersey. He graduated in 1960 from Bergen Catholic High School, where he had competed in public speaking competitions. [4] [5]
Steffens was National Promotions Director at Island Records in 1982/83, in charge of all reggae and African music promotions including Bob Marley Confrontation , King Sunny Ade Juju Music and Synchro System , Gregory Isaacs Night Nurse , Black Uhuru, and Michael Smith.
He worked in National Reggae Promotions at Elektra Records in 1982, for Steel Pulse's True Democracy and Sunsplash '81: Tribute to Bob Marley. He worked in National Reggae Promotions at EMI-America in 1985/86, for the first two Ziggy Marley and the Melody Makers albums. He worked in National Reggae Promotions at Slash Records in 1986, for Burning Spear's People of the World .
Steffens served in Vietnam and spent a year in Morocco before visiting Jamaica for the first time in 1976. He has a large collection of photographs covering his Vietnam service and Jamaican musicians, including many slides which were digitized and released via Instagram in 2013. [3]
In early 2015 he published his first collection of photographs, The Family Acid. [6] [7] [8] [9] "The Family Acid presents his often transcendent vision and life as a psychedelic pioneer on the order of Timothy Leary and Hunter S. Thompson beginning with his work in Vietnam and moving through his ever revolving circle of friends and characters made up of Rastas, beatniks, musicians, artists, gonzo journalists, his family, and himself. The portraits, scenes, and freewheeling experimentation with the medium of photography coalesce into a body of work that both parallels and defines the countercultural ethos of Steffens' generation." [10]
Steffens has been involved with a large amount of acting and narration work, both credited and uncredited. He provided narration in The Flight of the Gossamer Condor and the television documentary Dear America: Letters Home from Vietnam , [11] and he portrayed Ben Veelchez in Dean Quixote , Daniel Golan in the 1999 film Deterrence , and a radio technician in Rollercoaster . In addition, Steffens has been involved with many other films and television shows in an uncredited role, including Forrest Gump , Ghosts of Mississippi , CHiPS , and Empty Nest . [12]
Steffens co-hosted Reggae Beat on KCRW from 1979 to 1987, and Reggae Beat International from 1983 to 1987, which was syndicated internationally to 130 stations. [3]
He served as a syndicated weekly contributor from 1993 to 1997 for Planet Reggae on the radio station Groove Radio 103 in Los Angeles. Steffens also worked on several other radio shows, including Offbeat: The Roger Steffens Show (Host, 1987–89), Sound of the Sixties (Host, 1984–1986), Morning Goes Makossa (co-host, 1980–84), Future Forward (ethnic music commentator, 1985–86), and Poetry For People Who Hate Poetry (1983, 1987).
Steffens was named "Most Popular Reggae DJ in the World" by Martin's International Awards in Chicago, 1985, and "One of the Forty Who Matter in L.A." by the Los Angeles Reader .[ citation needed ]
Steffens has contributed to many music anthologies as a writer and photographer. With his French partner Bruno Blum he contributed to the ten-CD series The Complete Bob Marley & the Wailers 1967 to 1972. Released between 1998 and 2003, this 220-track series included over a hundred rare Bob Marley & the Wailers recordings, including Selassie Is the Chapel, and many of them previously unreleased, such as Rock to the Rock. He also produced several reissues of Coxsone Dodd-produced early Bob Marley recordings for Heartbeat Records.
Steffens was a reader for the audiobooks Bill Gates' Business @ the Speed of Thought (Time Warner), The Man From St. Petersburg (Warner Audio), Big Two Hearted River: The Short Stories of Ernest Hemingway (North Star), and Mother Earth Father Sky (North Star). He also provided the corporate voice (all wrap-arounds) for Time Warner Audio Books from 1996 until 2003.
Steffens' stage experience includes work with the Pittsburgh Playhouse, Milwaukee Repertory Theater, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, and his one-man show, Poetry for People Who Hate Poetry, which was performed to more than two million people from 1966 to 1976, and was used as the basis of the 1968/69 TV series Armed Forces Vietnam Network.
Steffens has been interviewed and served as an advisor on many television programs, including American Masters three times (on the subjects of Rebel Music, James Brown, and Waldo Salt), VH1's Behind the Music four times (for the subjects Bob Marley, Peter Tosh, Alan Freed, and 1970), VH1 Confidential: Tosh & Marley, VH1 Ultimate Albums: Bob Marely's Legend, Stand And Be Counted, The Voice on Channel Four, and Soul Britainia on the BBC.
Exodus is the ninth studio album by Jamaican reggae band Bob Marley and the Wailers, first released in June 1977 through Island Records, following Rastaman Vibration (1976). The album's production has been characterized as laid-back with pulsating bass beats and an emphasis on piano, trumpet and guitar. Unlike previous albums from the band, Exodus thematically moves away from cryptic story-telling; instead it revolves around themes of change, religious politics, and sexuality. The album is split into two halves: the first half revolves around religious politics, while the second half is focused on themes of making love and keeping faith.
John Lester Nash Jr. was an American singer and songwriter, best known in the United States for his 1972 hit "I Can See Clearly Now". Primarily a reggae and pop singer, he was one of the first non-Jamaican artists to record reggae music in Kingston.
Kaya is the tenth studio album by the Jamaican band Bob Marley and the Wailers, released in 1978. The album consists of tracks recorded alongside those released on the Exodus album. It was produced by the band.
Vincent Ford, known as "Tata" or "Tartar", was a Jamaican songwriter best known for receiving writing credit for "No Woman, No Cry", the reggae song made famous by Bob Marley & The Wailers, as well as three other Bob Marley songs. However, controversy persisted as to whether the compositions had actually been written by Marley himself, and had been credited to Ford to allow Marley to avoid contractual obligations, resulting in a legal battle that ended with the Marley estate being granted control of the songs.
Bob Marley and the Wailers were a Jamaican ska, rocksteady and reggae band. The founding members, in 1963, were Bob Marley, Peter Tosh, and Bunny Wailer.
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.
Alfarita Constantia "Rita" Marley OJ OD is a Cuban born Jamaican singer-songwriter and entrepreneur. She is the widow of reggae legend Bob Marley. Along with Marcia Griffiths and Judy Mowatt, Rita was a member of the reggae vocal group the I Threes, the backing vocalists for Bob Marley and the Wailers.
Aston Francis Barrett, CD, often called "Family Man" or "Fams" for short, was a Jamaican musician and Rastafarian. He was best known as the bandleader of Bob Marley's backing band, as well as co-producer of the albums, and the man in charge of the overall song arrangements.
Tuff Gong is the brand name associated with a number of businesses started by Bob Marley and the Marley family. 'Tuff Gong' comes from Marley's nickname, which was in turn an echo of that given to founder of the Rastafari movement, Leonard "The Gong" Howell.
Marcia Llyneth Griffiths is a Jamaican singer best known for the 1989 remix of her single "Electric Boogie", which serves as the music for the four-wall "Electric Slide" line dance. It is the best-selling single of all time by a female reggae singer.
Alvin "Seeco" Patterson was a Cuban-born Jamaican percussionist. He was a member of The Wailers Band.
Franklin Delano Alexander "Junior" Braithwaite was a reggae musician from Kingston, Jamaica and the youngest member of the vocal group, The Wailing Wailers.
Kenneth Neville Anthony Garrick was a Jamaican graphic artist and photographer who was based in Los Angeles. He was a graduate of the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). He is best known as Bob Marley's art director and is responsible for many of the iconic designs associated with the reggae movement in the 1970s and 1980s.
Robert Nesta Marley was a Jamaican singer, songwriter, and guitarist. Considered one of the pioneers of reggae, he fused elements of reggae, ska and rocksteady and was renowned for his distinctive vocal and songwriting style. Marley increased the visibility of Jamaican music worldwide and made him a global figure in popular culture. He became known as a Rastafarian icon, and he infused his music with a sense of spirituality. Marley is also considered a global symbol of Jamaican music and culture and identity and was controversial in his outspoken support for democratic social reforms. Marley also supported the legalisation of cannabis and advocated for Pan-Africanism.
John Masouri is a journalist, author, reviewer and historian for Jamaican music and several of its musical offshoots including dub, roots and dancehall. He is one of the world's foremost reggae music journalist and has worked extensively over it.
Andrew Tosh is a Jamaican reggae singer and the son of Peter Tosh. He is the nephew of reggae singer Bunny Wailer, also an original member of the Wailers. Andrew has a strong vocal resemblance to his late father and like his father, rides the unicycle.
Lee Jaffe is an American artist, photographer, filmmaker, musician, and producer.
Bruno Blum is a French singer songwriter, guitar player, music producer and musicologist sometimes nicknamed "Doc Reggae". He is mostly known for his work in the reggae, Caribbean music, rock music and African musics fields, and also works as a cartoon and comic book artist, illustrator, visual artist, photographer, video director, writer, journalist, music historian, interpreter and speaker.
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.