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The Tartans, also known as Devon and the Tartans, were a rocksteady group who came together in 1967 in Kingston, Jamaica. The members were initially Prince Lincoln Thompson, Cedric Myton, Devon Russell and Lindberg Lewis. [1] Myton and Russell had previously been in a group called the Bellstars. The Tartans formed as a result of the Bellstars break-up. [2]
Rocksteady is a music genre that originated in Jamaica around 1966. A successor of ska and a precursor to reggae, rocksteady was the dominant style of music in Jamaica for nearly two years, performed by many of the artists who helped establish reggae. For example harmony groups such as The Techniques, The Righteous Flames and The Gaylads; singers such as Delroy Wilson, Phyllis Dillon and Roy Shirley; musicians such as Jackie Mittoo, Tommy McCook and Lynn Taitt. The term rocksteady comes from a popular (slower) dance style mentioned in the Alton Ellis song 'Rocksteady' that matched the new sound. Some rocksteady songs became hits outside Jamaica, as with ska, helping to secure the international base reggae music has today.
Kingston is the capital and largest city of Jamaica, located on the southeastern coast of the island. It faces a natural harbour protected by the Palisadoes, a long sand spit which connects the town of Port Royal and the Norman Manley International Airport to the rest of the island. In the Americas, Kingston is the largest predominantly English-speaking city south of the United States.
Prince Lincoln Thompson, known as Sax, was a Jamaican singer, musician and songwriter with the reggae band the Royal Rasses, and a member of the Rastafari movement. He was born 10th July 1949 in Jonestown, next to Trenchtown, in the west side of inner Kingston, Jamaica and died in in London on 14th January 1999. He was noted for his high falsetto singing voice, very different from his spoken voice.
Their recorded output included "Far Beyond the Sun" for Duke Reid's Treasure Isle label, "Dance All Night", "What Can I Say", and six tracks recorded for Ken Lack's Caltone label: "Awake The Town", "Coming On Strong", "It's Alright", "Making Love", "Save a Little Bread" and "Solid as a Rock".
Arthur "Duke" Reid CD was a Jamaican record producer, DJ and label owner.
Ken Lack was a Jamaican ska, rocksteady and reggae record producer active in the latter half of the 1960s, who also ran the Caltone and JonTom record labels.
"Lonely Heartaches" by The Clarendonians was incorrectly credited to 'The Tartons' [sic] when released in the UK on Crab.
The Clarendonians are a ska and rocksteady vocal group from Jamaica, active initially from the mid- to late 1960s. They reformed in the 1990s and continue to perform live.
The United Kingdom, officially the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland but more commonly known as the UK or Britain, is a sovereign country lying off the north-western coast of the European mainland. The United Kingdom includes the island of Great Britain, the north-eastern part of the island of Ireland and many smaller islands. Northern Ireland is the only part of the United Kingdom that shares a land border with another sovereign state—the Republic of Ireland. Apart from this land border, the United Kingdom is surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, with the North Sea to the east, the English Channel to the south and the Celtic Sea to the south-west, giving it the 12th-longest coastline in the world. The Irish Sea lies between Great Britain and Ireland. With an area of 242,500 square kilometres (93,600 sq mi), the United Kingdom is the 78th-largest sovereign state in the world. It is also the 22nd-most populous country, with an estimated 66.0 million inhabitants in 2017.
Crab Records was a reggae label that issued releases from 1968 to 1971. Crab was a subsidiary of Pama Records, who along with Trojan Records, was one of the major labels for reggae music in the UK. Derrick Morgan was the main artist featured on the label, which issued his self-produced records.
After the group split, Thompson went on to form The Royal Rasses and Myton The Congos. [3]
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.
No studio albums were released by The Tartans. Cedric Myton has stated that he intends to produce an album with songs from The Tartans. On the Roots Reggae Library two albums with songs from the Tartans were composed. One derives its name from their hit "Dance All Night", and another is titled "Awake The Town". [4]
Cedric Myton, is a Reggae musician and Rastafarian. Cedric Myton began his singing career with the group The Bell Stars, who recorded one single 45" "over and over", the record was a minor success. This record was released in 1967. Alongside Lincoln Thompson, "preps" Lewis, and Devon Russell, Cedric Myton formed "The Tartans" in 1968, the group released many 45" singles, and had early success in 1969 with the hit 45 "Dance All Night". After a couple of years The Tartans disbanded, and Myton alongside Lincoln "Prince" Thompson, formed "The Royal Rasses". Cedric Myton spent almost 3 years alongside Thompson, writing the tracks which would constitute the Royal Rasses album "Humanity". Cedric Myton also sang on every track on the album "Humanity". This album was a big success, although Cedric Myton left The Royal Rasses shortly after the release of "Humanity", his beautiful falsetto tones on every track, undoubtedly brought many fans to the attention of "The Royal Rasses" and the band continued without Cedric Myton, who went on to form "The Congos", alongside Roydel Johnson, who had a rich "tenor" and Watty Burnett who provided a "Deep Barritone", which combined with Cedric Mytons rich "Falsetto" anchored The Congos, whose music is easily distinguishable and highly regarded in not just reggae circles but worldwide.
The Roots Reggae Library is a website that lists reviews of discographies of reggae artists. It contains detailed written descriptions of albums, songs and the style of the artist. There are currently 33 discographies on the website. The content of the website consists of information on a large range of albums within the reggae genre, some of which are extremely rare and hard to get elsewhere. A number of artists discographies are uniquely indexed and/or newly created. Songs with lyrics other than English are interpreted in English. This is done in collaboration with various people around the world.
