Rocksteady
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Rocksteady
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, including harmony groups such as the Techniques, the Paragons, the Heptones and the Gaylads; soulful singers such as Alton Ellis, Delroy Wilson, Bob Andy, Ken Boothe and Phyllis Dillon; musicians such as Jackie Mittoo, Lynn Taitt and Tommy McCook. 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. Characteristics The Jamaican musicians and producers who developed the rocksteady sound and ska were well-versed in jazz and influenced by other genres, most notably rhythm and blues, and by Caribbean music plus African m ...
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Alton Ellis
Alton Nehemiah Ellis (1 September 1938 – 10 October 2008)Godfather of rocksteady dies at 70
, Press Association, 11 October 2008
was a Jamaican singer-songwriter. One of the innovators of rocksteady, he was given the informal title "Godfather of Rocksteady".Huey, Steve, "Alton Ellis Biography" Allmusic, Macrovision Corporation. In 2006, he was inducted into the International Reggae And World Music Awards Hall Of Fame.


Early life

Bor ...
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Lynn Taitt
Lynn Taitt (22 June 1934 – 20 January 2010) was a guitarist born in San Fernando, Trinidad and Tobago, who later moved to Jamaica and became a pioneer of rocksteady music. Biography Born Nerlynn Taitt, in San Fernando, Trinidad, he got his start as a musician playing in local steel drum bands, before taking up the guitar aged 14.Larkin, p.288Moskowitz, p.284-5 He formed his own band, which was booked by Byron Lee to perform at the 1962 independence celebrations in Jamaica.Dacks Taitt decided to stay in Jamaica, living in Kingston, and played in a number of bands including The Sheiks, The Cavaliers, and The Comets, and worked with Baba Brooks, The Skatalites and Tommy McCook and the Supersonics. The most successful of his groups was The Jets, formed in 1966 and which included Hux Brown, Headley Bennett, Hopeton Lewis, Gladstone Anderson, and Winston Wright. Taitt's guitar style was inventive and unconventional, with a sharp percussive sound that accented the rocksteady beat ...
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Phyllis Dillon
Phyllis Dillon (27 December 1944 – 15 April 2004)
, '''', 21 December 2014. Retrieved 21 December 2014
was a n and singer who recorded for 's lucrative



Music Of Jamaica
The music of Jamaica includes Jamaican folk music and many popular genres, such as mento, ska, rocksteady, reggae, dub music, dancehall, reggae fusion and related styles. Reggae is especially popular through the international fame of Bob Marley. Jamaican music's influence on music styles in other countries includes the practice of toasting, which was brought to New York City and evolved into rapping. British genres such as Lovers rock, jungle music and grime are also influenced by Jamaican music. Mento Mento is a style of Jamaican music that predates and has greatly influenced ska and reggae music. Lord Flea and Count Lasher are two of the more successful mento artists. Well-known mento songs include Day-O, Jamaica Farewell and Linstead Market. Mento is often confused with Calypso music, a musical form from Trinidad and Tobago. Calypso and Soca As in many Anglo-Caribbean islands, the calypso music of Trinidad and Tobago has become part of the culture of Jamaica. Jamaic ...
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Reggae
Reggae () is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1960s. The term also denotes the modern popular music of Jamaica and its diaspora. A 1968 single by Toots and the Maytals, " Do the Reggay" was the first popular song to use the word "reggae", effectively naming the genre and introducing it to a global audience. While sometimes used in a broad sense to refer to most types of popular Jamaican dance music, the term ''reggae'' more properly denotes a particular music style that was strongly influenced by traditional mento as well as American jazz and rhythm and blues, and evolved out of the earlier genres ska and rocksteady. Reggae usually relates news, social gossip, and political commentary. It is instantly recognizable from the counterpoint between the bass and drum downbeat and the offbeat rhythm section. The immediate origins of reggae were in ska and rocksteady; from the latter, reggae took over the use of the bass as a percussion instrument. Reggae is d ...
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Reggae
Reggae () is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1960s. The term also denotes the modern popular music of Jamaica and its diaspora. A 1968 single by Toots and the Maytals, " Do the Reggay" was the first popular song to use the word "reggae", effectively naming the genre and introducing it to a global audience. While sometimes used in a broad sense to refer to most types of popular Jamaican dance music, the term ''reggae'' more properly denotes a particular music style that was strongly influenced by traditional mento as well as American jazz and rhythm and blues, and evolved out of the earlier genres ska and rocksteady. Reggae usually relates news, social gossip, and political commentary. It is instantly recognizable from the counterpoint between the bass and drum downbeat and the offbeat rhythm section. The immediate origins of reggae were in ska and rocksteady; from the latter, reggae took over the use of the bass as a percussion instrument. Reggae is d ...
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Derrick Morgan
Derrick Morgan (born 27 March 1940)Walters, Basil (2012)A New Day – Songs heralding JA’s Independence", '' Jamaica Observer'', 3 June 2012, retrieved 3 June 2012 is a Jamaican musical artist who was popular in the 1960s and 1970s. He worked with Desmond Dekker, Bob Marley, and Jimmy Cliff in the rhythm and blues and ska genres, and he also performed rocksteady and skinhead reggae. Biography In 1957, Morgan entered the Vere Johns Opportunity Hour, a talent show held at the Palace Theatre in Kingston. He won with rousing impressions of Little Richard and, shortly after that, was recruited to perform around the island with the popular Jamaican comedy team Bim and Bam. In 1959, Morgan entered the recording studio for the first time. Duke Reid, the sound system boss, was looking for talent to record for his Treasure Isle record label. Morgan cut two popular shuffle-boogie sides "Lover Boy", a.k.a. "S-Corner Rock", and "Oh My". Soon after, Morgan cut the bolero-tinged boog ...
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Hopeton Lewis
Hopeton Lewis (3 October 1947 – 4 September 2014) was a Jamaican born singer of rocksteady and reggae, an arranger, and radio music presenter. Biography Lewis was born in Kingston, Jamaica. He sang in church from an early age, and started performing as a youth, forming a singing group called the Regals. By the mid-1960s, he began recording and had one of the earliest rocksteady hits with "Take It Easy" in late 1966.Larkin, Colin (1998) "The Virgin Encyclopedia of Reggae", Virgin Books, Barrow, Steve & Dalton, Peter (2004) "The Rough Guide To Reggae", Rough Guides, The track was recorded with Lynn Taitt and the Jets, and is regarded as one of the first rocksteady singles. He lived the later period of his life in Brooklyn, New York, where he presented a show on Grace Deliverance Radio.Campbell, Howard (2014)Singer Hopeton Lewis is dead", '' Jamaica Observer'', 5 September 2014. Retrieved 5 September 2014 Lewis died on 4 September 2014 at his home in Brooklyn, aged 66, ...
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The Heptones
The Heptones are a Jamaican rocksteady and reggae vocal trio most active in the 1960s and early 1970s. They were one of the more significant trios of that era, and played a major role in the gradual transition between ska and rocksteady into reggae with their three-part harmonies. The Heptones were contemporaries of the Wailers and the Maytals, and every bit their equal in the mid-1960s. History Leroy Sibbles, Earl Morgan and Barry Llewellyn first came together as "The Hep Ones" in 1965 in Kingston, but they soon changed their name to "The Heptones". The name was chosen by Morgan after seeing a Heptones Tonic bottle lying in a pile of refuse.Thompson, Dave (2002) ''Reggae & Caribbean Music'', Backbeat Books, , p. 114 The Heptones recorded for major Jamaican record producers at the time. They began their career, after one unsuccessful single for Ken Lack's "K Calnek" label, under the watchful eye of Coxsone Dodd of Studio One. The Heptones had a number of Jamaican hits f ...
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The Gaylads
The Gaylads are a Jamaican vocal group. They were one of the top rocksteady vocal groups active in Jamaica between 1963 and 1973. History The group, formed in Kingston, originally consisted of singers Harris "B.B." Seaton, Winston Delano Stewart and Maurice Roberts; Seaton and Stewart had previously been successful as the duo Winston & Bibby.Moskowitz, David V. (2006) ''Caribbean Popular Music: an Encyclopedia of Reggae, Mento, Ska, Rock Steady, and Dancehall'', Greenwood Press, , p.19The Gaylads Number Among Jamaica's Unsung Heroes
, '''', 12 January 2014. Retrieved 12 January 2014
There would be several line-up changes throughout The Gaylad ...
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Gladstone Anderson
Gladstone Anderson (18 June 1934 – 3 December 2015), also known by his nickname "Gladdy", was a Jamaican pianist, keyboard player, and singer, who played a major part in the island's musical history, playing a key role in defining the ska sound and the rocksteady beat, and playing on hundreds of recordings as a session musician, a solo artist, and as leader of Gladdy's All Stars, featuring bassist Jackie Jackson, drummer Winston Grennan, guitarist Hux Brown, and keyboardist Winston Wright. As Harry J All Stars the band had a massive hit in Jamaica and United Kingdom with the instrumental song "The Liquidator" 1969 (and 1980!). Biography Gladstone Anderson was born in 1934 in Jones Town, and was taught piano at home by his uncle, the keyboardist and bandleader Aubrey Adams.Katz, p.46Campbell, Howard (2012)Gladstone Anderson: Key player in rocksteady’s genesis", ''Jamaica Observer'', 1 June 2012, retrieved 2012-06-01 He became a prominent studio pianist in the late 1950s, when ...
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Roy Shirley
Ainsworth Roy Rushton Shirley (18 July 1944 – July 2008), better known simply as Roy Shirley, and also known as King Roy Shirley and The High Priest, was a Jamaican singer whose career spanned the ska, rocksteady and reggae eras, and whose "Hold Them" is regarded by some as the first ever rocksteady song. He was also one of the original members of Slim Smith's band, The Uniques. Biography Shirley was born on North Street in Kingston, Jamaica, on 18 July 1944,Katz, David (2008), "Obituary: Roy Shirley", ''The Guardian'', 28 August 2008. and grew up in Trench Town, where he attended the Boys Town school, and after singing in his local church choir began his career performing in talent contests.Katz, David (2003), ''Solid Foundation – an Oral History of Reggae'', Bloomsbury, Roy Shirley, The Man Who Chang ...
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