Steely & Clevie

Last updated

Steely & Clevie
Origin Kingston, Jamaica
Genres
Years active1973–2009
LabelsSteely & Clevie
Profile
Rounder
VP
MembersCleveland "Clevie" Browne
Past membersWycliffe "Steely" Johnson
Website Myspace
Website

Steely & Clevie was a Jamaican dancehall reggae production duo that was composed of members Wycliffe Johnson and Cleveland Browne. [2] The duo worked with artists such as the Specials, Gregory Peck ("Poco Man Jam," 1990), Bounty Killer, Elephant Man, and No Doubt.

Steely debuted as a keyboardist with Sugar Minott's Youth Promotion collective in the 1970s, playing the keyboards on Minott's 1978 album, Ghetto-ology. [2] Clevie pioneered the use of drum machines in reggae. Steely and Clevie first played together at Lee "Scratch" Perry's Black Ark Studios during the late 1970s. In 1986, the duo was the house band at King Jammy's Studio, which became the center point of late-1980s reggae, by which time Steely & Clevie were established production leaders with an immense slew of 12-inch and dub singles. The duo formed the Steely & Clevie label in 1987, a year in which reggae riddims and dub-influenced hip-hop production by Ced Gee and KRS-One in the Bronx became prominent. [2]

In 1993, Steely and Clevie produced and co-wrote three tracks from Billy Ocean's eighth studio album Time to Move On , including the single "Pressure". [3] In 1994, Steely and Clevie produced a new version of the 1967 track "You Don't Love Me (No No No)" by Dawn Penn for the album Steely and Clevie Play Studio One Vintage. The track was released as a single that same year and became a Billboard Hot 100 hit in the US. [4]

In 2004, Steely was charged with dangerous driving after being involved in an accident in which high-school student Shakara Harris was fatally injured. [5] Steely was cleared of all charges in November 2005. [6]

On 1 September 2009, Steely died in a hospital in East Patchogue, New York. He had been suffering from pneumonia after having recovered from kidney complications in December 2008. He had surgery for a blood clot in the brain shortly before he died. [7] Clevie continues to produce and record.

In 2021, Steely’s estate and Clevie filed a lawsuit in California’s central district court against Universal Music Group and Warner-Chappell Publishing for ownership of over 1,800 reggaton songs. [8] The Fish Market riddim, produced by the duo in the 1980s, became the basis for reggaeton’s Dem Bow riddim, which has been used in over 1,800 tracks according to the suit. [9]

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pressure (Billy Ocean song)</span> 1993 single by Billy Ocean

"Pressure" is a song by Trinidadian-British singer Billy Ocean, which was released in 1993 as the lead single from his eighth studio album, Time to Move On. The song was written by Ocean, Wycliffe Johnson and Clevie Browne, and produced by Steely & Clevie. "Pressure" reached No. 55 on the UK Singles Chart and remained in the Top 100 for two weeks. It remains Ocean's last appearance on the chart.

<i>Nyah Man Chant</i> 1997 studio album by Bushman

Nyah Man Chant is the debut album from Jamaican roots reggae singer Bushman. It was released in 1997 by Greensleeves Records in the United Kingdom and by VP Records in the United States. Bushman had hitch-hiked seventy miles to Kingston in the hope of furthering his career. After meeting renowned production team Steely & Clevie in the car park of the Arrows dub-cutting studio, where they were playing football, he auditioned on the spot and was invited to their studio. Prior to the album, Bushman recorded a string of singles for the duo, including "Grow Your Natty", "Call the Hearse", "Remember the Days", "Black Star Liner", and "Man a Lion", all of which were included on the album. The whole album was produced by Steely & Clevie, and employed a real horn section in contrast to many reggae albums of the time, and met with a positive critical reaction. The album recreated the sound of 1970s and 1980s reggae, and included musicians such as Earl "Chinna" Smith, Dean Fraser, and Vin Gordon. The album was described in the Rough Guides book Reggae: 100 Essential CDs as "a coherent, excellently crafted set" and "as good an example of modern roots singing as you could hope to find". Allmusic called the album "a classic".

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"Dem Bow" is a song performed by Jamaican reggae artist Shabba Ranks, produced by Bobby Digital. This song uses the "Ku-Klung-Klung"/"Poco Man Jam" riddim created by Jamaican producers Steely & Clevie in the late 1980s. The lyrics are anti-imperialist and also anti-homosexual, as Ranks compares those who perform sodomy to those who submit to colonialism.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mr. Lexx</span> Musical artist

Christopher George Palmer, better known as "Mr. Lexx", "Lexxus" or simply "The Prince" is a Jamaican dancehall artist from East Kingston, Jamaica. He is known for the success of his debut album entitled Mr. Lex on the Billboard Reggae Chart and for his collaboration with Wayne Wonder on a track titled "Anything goes" which also featured American rap duo Capone-N-Noreaga for the Red Star Sounds : Def Jamaica compilation, which received a Grammy nomination for best reggae album.

References

  1. "Steely & Clevie Albums and Discography". AllMusic .
  2. 1 2 3 Colin Larkin, ed. (2003). The Virgin Encyclopedia of Eighties Music (Third ed.). Virgin Books. p. 442. ISBN   1-85227-969-9.
  3. "Time to Move On - Billy Ocean | Songs, Reviews, Credits". AllMusic . Retrieved 9 November 2019.
  4. "Billboard Hot 100 Singles". Billboard . 16 April 1994. pp. 94–. Retrieved 7 May 2013.
  5. "Going against the Norm." The Jamaica Star. Retrieved 16 April 2007.
  6. "Steely Freed of Dangerous Driving—Victim Died" YardFlex
  7. Kenner, Rob (6 September 2009). "Wycliffe Johnson, Boisterous Reggae Producer and Musician, Dies at 47". The New York Times. Retrieved 12 May 2023.
  8. https://worldmusicviews.com/more-songs-brought-into-evidence-in-steely-and-clevie-estate-copyright-case-including/
  9. https://worldmusicviews.com/music-power-move-steely-clevie-seek-ownership-of-1800-reggaeton-tracks-through-dem-bow-registration/