Left to right, Yellowman, Griffiths, Hammond, Beenie ManClaude Wilson, Freelance Writer
WESTERN BUREAU:
Reggae, born from many Jamaican music forms, has been the accomplishment of thousands of musicians, vocalists, producers, some record companies and a people who stood by a music that has had its genesis in the lower socio-economic strata of society.
Pioneered through the efforts of early producers like Clement 'Sir Coxone' Dodd and Duke Reid, the Jamaican music broke international barriers through the efforts of Chris Blackwell and the artistic intrusions of Millie Small, Desmond Dekker, Jimmy Cliff and the genre's greatest exponent, Bob Marley.
Today we look at arguably the 10 most influential recording and performing artistes of the nearly 50-year-period of the Jamaican music industry.
Byron Lee and the Dragonaires' contributions to the development of the Jamaican popular music started well before the establishment of a local record industry.
The group has charted hits in every decade since its debut single Dumplins, which was released both locally and in the United Kingdom in 1960.
Bob Marley is indeed one of the greatest artistes of all music forms of the 20th century. The 1994 inductee in Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Time magazine's artiste of the century popularised reggae internationally and paved the way for the Jamaican sound to be accepted as part of mainstream pop music.
Within the last few years, Beres Hammond has enjoyed a meteoric rise to the position as the best recording and performing artiste in Jamaica.
Since his debut Soul Rebel album of 1981, the hits have flowed fast, yet he has only inked a single deal with a major company (Cooltempo). His name is well placed in the annuals of reggae music.
Endearing performers
One of the most endearing performers to-date hs been 'Crown Prince Of Reggae' Dennis Emmanuel Brown. And, it was probably his self-effacing nature that denied him ascendancy to the highest office as king of reggae.
Dennis has produced many classic hits. He began is career as an 11-year-old child star at Studio One and throughout a celebrated music career has ably combined serious message songs and soul-stirring love melodies to great effect.
Dennis' stage shows were grand 'events' which drew large audiences. He had the ability and energy to do whatever he pleased, but never clutched the possibilities with both hands.
U Roy maybe the 'daddy' of all DJs; Yellowman commercialised the art, but Beenie Man is the most successful artiste of the dancehall.
Born Moses Davis, he was written off by some who booed him off stage because of his brief, off-colour presentation at the musical tribute to Nelson Mandela, when the South African head of state visited Jamaica.
Today, Beenie Man is the most prolific hit maker of all on local charts, which stacks up well against his power to draw large crowds to his impressive and commanding stage performances.
Jimmy Cliff has led, from the front, the army for the advancement of reggae music. He blazed a trail into rock music that Bob Marley later followed, but without ever capitalising on his great talent as a singer-songwriter.
In 1972, the gun-toting reggae singing star of The Harder They Come, the island's best home-grown film, was Jamaica's most marketable property. Jimmy is highly respected at home, enormously popular in Africa and enjoys superstar status in South America.
Marcia Griffiths is arguably the most consistently successful female vocalist in reggae music, having recorded every style of the Jamaican music.
Competing interests were jostling for her father to sign her name on a contract before her 10th birthday. And, it was for Studio One that a young Marcia scored her first Jamaican No. 1 hit in 1968 with the rocksteady hit, Feel Like Jumping.
Teaming with Bob Andy, with whom she shared a professional relationship as Bob And Marcia, earned the duo a hit with Nina Simone's Young Gifted And Black, which found popularity in Britain.
The ageless 'first lady of reggae', who toured with Judy Mowatt and Rita Marley as Bob Marley's back-up singers, I-Threes, continues to satisfy the many adoring fans that turn up at vintage reggae shows.
It is believed in some quarters that Toots and the Maytals was only kept away from 'international' superstardom by the runaway success of Bob Marley and the Wailers.
The group came together at the start of the ska craze in 1962 and it was not too long before the Maytals became the number one vocal group in Jamaica.
54-46 was, indeed, a big number for the group that not only won the first National Festival Song competition, but dominated the annual events throughout the 1960s. The group's biggest selling album, Reggae Got Soul, it into the UK album charts and to a date with history.
On September 29, 1980 the Maytals recorded a live show at London's Hammersmith Palais which was mastered, processed, pressed and in the shops 24 hours later; this was documented as an industry record.
Recently, Third World band experienced a changing of the guard. But, for over 25 years, with a highly professional cast of musician comprising Ibo Cooper, Willie Stewart, Irvin 'Carrot' Jarrett and Prilly Hamilton, the band has blended roots and soul reggae to immense popularity both here and abroad.
The group's debut self-titled album found members signing to Island Records and supporting Bob Marley at his breakthrough concert at the London's Lyceum in 1975.
The second album, which includes the famous 96 Degrees In The Shade found the band a new singer, the superb Bunny 'Rugs' Clarke who delivered a huge international hit in the shape of a cover of the O'Jays/Gamble-Huff song Now That We Found Love.
Yellowman, christened Winston Foster, was the deejay sensation of the early 1980s and he achieved acclaim on the basis of a fair amount of talent, ingenuity and rather amusing lyrics.
Using his physical impairment to his best advantage, Yellowman moved from being a virtual pariah to an overnight sensation and to subsequently revolutionise deejay music.
