Press Association
PA Media (formerly the Press Association) is a multimedia news agency, and the national news agency of the United Kingdom and Ireland. It is part of PA Media Group Limited, a private company with 26 shareholders, most of whom are national and re ...
, 11 October 2008 was a Jamaican singer-songwriter. One of the innovators of
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 ...
, 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
Born Alton Nehemiah Ellis in
Trenchtown
Trench Town (also Trenchtown) is a neighbourhood located in the parish of St. Andrew, part of which is in Kingston, the capital and largest city of Jamaica. In the 1960s, Trench Town was known as the Hollywood of Jamaica. Today Trench Town is t ...
, Kingston, Jamaica, Ellis was raised within a musical family which included his older brothers Leslie ho performed as one of his back up singers and co-wrote some of his songs and Irving nown as 'Niney'who was a popular singer and steel pan player on Jamaica's North Coast. He learned to play the piano at a young age.Altruda, Joe "The Legends of Ska" , ''Swindle Magazine'', issue 9. He attended Ebeneezer and Boys' Town schools, where he excelled in both music and sport.Cane-Honeysett, Laurence (1997), ''Soul Groover'' liner notes, Trojan Records. While at Boys' Town Ellis performed as a dancer (in a duo) in the first show that a school director called Mr Bailey had organized for Vere Johns who had been invited down to talent scout. He would later compete on
Vere Johns Joseph Vere Everette Johns (28 November 1893–10 September 1966
' ''Opportunity Hour''.O'Brien Chang, Kevin, & Wayne Chen (1998), "Reggae Routes", Ian Randle Publishers, . After winning some competitions, he switched to singing, starting his career in 1959 as part of the duo Alton & Eddy with Eddy Parkins.Larkin, Colin (1998), ''The Virgin Encyclopedia of Reggae'', Virgin Books, .
Career
Rhythm and blues
Ellis and Parkins recorded for
Coxsone Dodd
Clement Seymour "Coxsone" Dodd (26 January 1932 – 4 May 2004) was a Jamaican record producer who was influential in the development of ska and reggae in the 1950s, 1960s and beyond.
He was nicknamed "Coxsone" at school due to his talent a ...
at Studio One, initially in the R&B style, having a hit in 1960 with "Muriel" (from Dodd's first commercially oriented recording session at Federal studios),Barrow, Steve & Dalton, Peter (2004), ''The Rough Guide to Reggae'', 3rd edn, Rough Guides, . a song Ellis had written while working as a labourer on a building site. This initial success was followed by the release of "My Heaven", which like "Muriel" was a slow R&B ballad with the instrumental triplets and vocal harmonizing common to the ballads of that period. Further releases in the R&B style followed: "Lullabye Angel", "I Know It All", "I'm Never Gonna Cry" and "Yours". The duo also recorded R&B tracks for Vincent Chin's Randy's label including "Let Me Dream". The duo split after Parkins won a major talent contest and moved to the United States. Ellis remained in Kingston, working as a printer and after losing his job, he restarted his music career, initially forming a new duo with John Holt. When Holt joined
The Paragons
The Paragons were a ska and rocksteady vocal group from Kingston, Jamaica, Kingston, Jamaica, initially active in the 1960s. Their most famous track was "The Tide Is High", written by band member John Holt (singer), John Holt.
Career
The Parago ...
, Ellis formed a new group, The Flames. Ellis continued to work for Dodd and also recorded for his arch-rival,
Duke Reid
Arthur "Duke" Reid CD (21 July 1915 – 1 January 1975) was a Jamaican record producer, DJ and label owner.
He ran one of the most popular sound systems of the 1950s called Reid's Sound System, whilst Duke himself was known as The Troja ...
on his Treasure Isle label. At the start of his career Ellis recorded with his younger sister Hortense; early tracks with Hortense like "Don't Gamble With Love" (1965) were still in the R&B style.
Ska and rocksteady
By the mid-1960s,
ska
Ska (; ) is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1950s and was the precursor to rocksteady and reggae. It combined elements of Caribbean mento and calypso with American jazz and rhythm and blues. Ska is characterized by a walki ...
was moving on and the beat was slowing down to
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 ...
and becoming associated with the violent
rude boy
Rude boy, rudeboy, rudie, rudi, and rudy are slang terms that originated in 1960s Jamaican street culture, and that are still used today. In the late 1970s, there was a revival in England of the terms ''rude boy'' and ''rude girl'', among other ...
subculture
A subculture is a group of people within a culture that differentiates itself from the parent culture to which it belongs, often maintaining some of its founding principles. Subcultures develop their own norms and values regarding cultural, poli ...
in Jamaican
dancehall
Dancehall is a genre of Jamaican popular music that originated in the late 1970s. Initially, dancehall was a more sparse version of reggae than the roots style, which had dominated much of the 1970s.Barrow, Steve & Dalton, Peter (2004) "The Rou ...
s. Many artists made records referring to the rude boys, including Ellis, although his records were consistently anti-rudie, including "Don't Trouble People", "Dance Crasher", and "Cry Tough". Releasing records under the name Alton Ellis and The Flames (the varying line-up of which included his brother Leslie Ellis, David "Baby G" Gordon and
Winston Jarrett
Winston Jarrett (born 14 September 1940)Thompson, Dave (2002) ''Reggae & Caribbean Music'', Backbeat Books, , p. 423 is a Jamaican reggae singer who was part of Alton Ellis's group The Flames in the 1960s before recording with The Righteous Flam ...
); the group had hits with "Girl I've Got a Date" and "Cry Tough".
"Girl I've Got a Date" recorded with
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 sou ...
on piano,
Paul Douglas
Paul Howard Douglas (March 26, 1892 – September 24, 1976) was an American politician and Georgist economist. A member of the Democratic Party, he served as a U.S. Senator from Illinois for eighteen years, from 1949 to 1967. During his Senat ...
on drums,
Hux Brown
Lynford "Hux" Brown (4 December 1944 – 18 June 2020) was a Jamaican guitarist who featured on many successful rocksteady and reggae records in the 1960s and 1970s, and was later a member of Toots and the Maytals.
Biography
Brown was born in ...
on rhythm guitar,
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 s ...
on guitar, and
Jackie Jackson
Sigmund Esco "Jackie" Jackson (born May 4, 1951) is an American singer best known as a founding member of the Jackson 5, for which he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1997. Jackson is the second child of the Jackson family, a ...
on bass is considered one of the foundational songs of the rocksteady genre. The bass line of "Girl I've Got a Date" was allegedly duplicated in other international hits " The Liquidator" (
Harry J Allstars
Harry Zephaniah Johnson (6 July 1945 – 3 April 2013), known by the stage name Harry J, was a Jamaican reggae record producer.
Biography
Born in Westmoreland Parish, Jamaica, Johnson started to play music with the Virtues as a bass player bef ...
and "
I'll Take You There
"I'll Take You There" is a song written by Al Bell (using his real name Alvertis Isbell), and originally performed by soul music, soul/gospel music, gospel family band the Staple Singers. The Staple Singers version, produced by Bell, was release ...
" (
The Staple Singers
The Staple Singers were an American gospel, soul, and R&B singing group. Roebuck "Pops" Staples (December 28, 1914 – December 19, 2000), the patriarch of the family, formed the group with his children Cleotha (April 11, 1934 – February 21 ...
).
The release of "Rock Steady" (1967) backed by
Tommy McCook
Tommy McCook (3 March 1927 – 5 May 1998) was a Jamaican saxophonist. A founding member of The Skatalites, he also directed The Supersonics for Duke Reid, and backed many sessions for Bunny Lee or with The Revolutionaries at Channel One S ...
and the Supersonics, the first song to refer to the name of the new genre, heralded the new direction Jamaican popular music was taking. Ellis continued to have hits for Treasure Isle; working with artists such as
Lloyd Charmers
Lloyd Charmers (born Lloyd Tyrell, 1938 – 27 December 2012, also known as Lloyd Chalmers, Lloyd Terell, or Lloyd Terrell)Ruddock, George (2012), ''Jamaica Gleaner'', 29 December 2012. Retrieved 29 December 2012 was a Jamaican ska and reggae s ...
,
Phyllis Dillon
Phyllis Dillon (27 December 1944 – 15 April 2004) , ''
and
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 ...
. His ''
Mr Soul of Jamaica
''Mr Soul of Jamaica'' is an album by Jamaican rocksteady singer Alton Ellis. It contains twelve tracks recorded between 1967 and 1970 at Duke Reid's Treasure Isle Recording Studios in Kingston, Jamaica and was produced by Reid and released on ...
'' album (with Tommy McCook and the Supersonics) is regarded as one of the definitive rocksteady albums.
Ellis toured the United Kingdom in the 1967 with
Ken Boothe
Kenneth George Boothe OD (born 22 March 1948) is a Jamaican vocalist known for his distinctive vibrato and timbre. Boothe achieved an international reputation as one of Jamaica's finest vocalists through a series of crossover hits that appeal ...
and Studio One session band the Soul Vendors and on his return to Jamaica he worked with Dodd, recording the tracks that would be released as his debut album ''Alton Ellis Sings Rock & Soul''. During the late 1960s and early 1970s, Ellis recorded for some of Jamaica's top producers including
Bunny Lee
Edward O'Sullivan Lee OD (23 August 1941 – 6 October 2020), better known as Bunny "Striker" Lee, was a Jamaican record producer. He was known as a pioneer of the United Kingdom reggae market, licensing his productions to Trojan Records i ...
,
Keith Hudson
Keith Hudson (18 March 1946 – 14 November 1984),Thompson, p.311 was a Jamaican reggae artist and record producer. He is known for his influence on the dub movement.
Biography
Raised in a musical family, Hudson attended Boys Town School i ...
, and
Herman Chin Loy
Herman Chin Loy ( Trelawny, 11 July 1948''Aquarius Rock. The Hip Reggae World of Herman Chin-Loy'' booklet and liner notes) is a Jamaican record producer, best known for his productions from the late 1960s and early 1970s of artists such as Augus ...
. He also began to produce his own records, including "My Time Is The Right Time" (1968) and "The Message". He had two hits with
Lloyd Daley
Lloyd Daley also known as Lloyd's the Matador (born 12 July 1939, Kingston, Jamaica, died 18 March 2018, Florida, USAAllmusic.com/ref>) was a Jamaican electronic technician, sound system pioneer, studio engineer and reggae producer.
Career
Da ...
in "Deliver Us" (1970) and "Back to Africa" (1971), both released in the UK on the Gas record label, a subsidiary of Pama Records.
Ellis regularly returned to England, working with several London-based producers and after spending a few years in Canada, from 1972 he based himself permanently in the UK. Ellis continued to record and perform regularly, recording in the early 1980s for emerging producers including
Henry "Junjo" Lawes
Henry "Junjo" Lawes (1960 in Kingston, Jamaica – 13 June 1999 in London, England) was a highly influential Jamaican record producer and a sound engineer.
Biography
Born in the Waterhouse district of Kingston, Jamaica, Lawes began working ...
,
Sugar Minott
Lincoln Barrington "Sugar" Minott (25 May 1956 – 10 July 2010)Campbell, Howard (2010)Reggae singer Sugar Minott dies at 54, Associated Press, 11 July 2010. Retrieved 12 July 2010Peru, Yasmine (2010)Godfather of Dancehall, Sugar Minott, dead at ...
, and
King Jammy
Lloyd James (born 26 October 1947),Barrow, Steve & Dalton, Peter: "Reggae: The Rough Guide", 1997, Rough Guides, better known as Prince Jammy or King Jammy, is a Jamaican dub mixer and record producer. He began his musical career as a dub ma ...
. He also opened up the ''All-Tone'' record shop in South London, and started a record label of the same name.Katz, David (2003), ''Solid Foundation – an Oral History of Reggae'', Bloomsbury, .
Ellis continued to be active on the reggae scene until his health began to deteriorate.Taylor, Angus (2006), Alton Ellis @ The Jazz Cafe 5th January 2006" , ''Reggae News''. His latest works include performing all over Europe with a French backing-band called ASPO (About Some Precioux Oldies) at the beginning of the 21st century. Recorded in Bordeaux, France, ''Live with Aspo: Workin' on a Groovy Thing'' is the only live album Alton Ellis ever released (2001).
In 2004, Ellis was awarded the
Order of Distinction
The Order of Distinction is a national order in the Jamaican honours system. It is the sixth in order of precedence of the Orders of Societies of Honour, which were instituted by an Act of Parliament (''The National Honours and Awards Act'') i ...
by the Jamaican government in recognition of his achievements.
In December 2007, he was admitted to hospital in London for treatment of cancer of the
lymph
Lymph (from Latin, , meaning "water") is the fluid that flows through the lymphatic system, a system composed of lymph vessels (channels) and intervening lymph nodes whose function, like the venous system, is to return fluid from the tissues to ...
glands (
Hodgkins disease
Hodgkin lymphoma (HL) is a type of lymphoma, in which cancer originates from a specific type of white blood cell called lymphocytes, where multinucleated Reed–Sternberg cells (RS cells) are present in the patient's lymph nodes. The condition w ...
), but he returned to live performance after receiving
chemotherapy
Chemotherapy (often abbreviated to chemo and sometimes CTX or CTx) is a type of cancer treatment that uses one or more anti-cancer drugs (chemotherapeutic agents or alkylating agents) as part of a standardized chemotherapy regimen. Chemotherap ...
.
Ellis died of cancer on 10 October 2008 at
Hammersmith Hospital
Hammersmith Hospital, formerly the Military Orthopaedic Hospital, and later the Special Surgical Hospital, is a major teaching hospital in White City, West London. It is part of Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust in the London Borough of H ...
, London. His death prompted a statement from Jamaica's Minister of Information, Culture, Youth and Sports, Olivia "Babsy" Grange, who said "even as we mourn the great Alton Ellis, we must give thanks for his monumental contribution to the development of Jamaica's popular music". A funeral service and celebration of his life was held on 3 November, attended by family, fans, music industry personnel and government ministers, with tribute performances from stars including Mr. Fix It Winston Francis,
Tinga Stewart
Tinga Stewart (born Neville Stewart, c.July 3 1950, Kingston, Jamaica) is a reggae singer. Stewart won the Festival Song Contest three times, twice as a singer and once as a songwriter.
Biography
Stewart's career began in the late 1960s, his f ...
,
George Nooks
George Nooks, Prince Mohamed, Prince Mohammed, or George Knooks (born c. 1958 in Kingston, Jamaica) is a reggae singer who initially found fame as a deejay.
Biography
Nooks started his musical career in the youth choir at his church, and move ...
, Tony Gregory,
Ken Boothe
Kenneth George Boothe OD (born 22 March 1948) is a Jamaican vocalist known for his distinctive vibrato and timbre. Boothe achieved an international reputation as one of Jamaica's finest vocalists through a series of crossover hits that appeal ...
,
Judy Mowatt
Judith Veronica Mowatt, (born 1952) is a Jamaican reggae artist. As well as being a solo artist, from 1974 she was also a member of the I Threes, the trio of backing vocalists for Bob Marley & The Wailers.
Early life
Mowatt was born in Go ...
and
Carlene Davis
Carlene Davis (born c.1953) is a Jamaican gospel and reggae singer active since the 1970s. Successful since the early 1980s as a reggae artist, she survived cancer in the mid-1990s, after which she dedicated her career to gospel music. She has re ...
.
In 2012 it was announced that the main hall of the new Trench Town Multi-Purpose Building would be named the Alton Ellis Auditorium in his honour.Walters, Basil (2012), Alton Ellis Auditiorium coming" ''Jamaica Observer'', 9 September 2012. Retrieved 10 September 2012.
He was the older brother of the late
Hortense Ellis
Hortense Ellis (18 April 1941 – 19 October 2000) was a reggae musician, and the younger sister of fellow artist Alton Ellis.Campbell-Livingston, Cecelia (2013), Rock Steady with Christopher Ellis" ''
Jamaica Observer
''Jamaica Observer'' is a daily newspaper published in Kingston, Jamaica. The publication is owned by Butch Stewart, who chartered the paper in January 1993 as a competitor to Jamaica's oldest daily paper, ''The Gleaner''. Its founding editor i ...
'', 18 November 2013. Retrieved 18 November 2013. He was also the uncle of the Jamaican comedians Owen "Blakka" Ellis and Ian "Ity" Ellis.
Legacy
The "Mad Mad"
riddim
Riddim is the Jamaican Patois pronunciation of the English word "rhythm". In the context of reggae and dancehall, it refers to the instrumental accompaniment to a song and is synonymous with the rhythm section. Jamaican music genres that use the ...
(the track "Mad Mad" by Alton Ellis and the Sound Dimension band was released in 1968 on the Coxsone label) has been reused or sampled by many hip-hop, dancehall and reggae producers and artists. The recognizable three-note descending horn line was reinterpreted by
Henry "Junjo" Lawes
Henry "Junjo" Lawes (1960 in Kingston, Jamaica – 13 June 1999 in London, England) was a highly influential Jamaican record producer and a sound engineer.
Biography
Born in the Waterhouse district of Kingston, Jamaica, Lawes began working ...
, and eventually became known as the "Diseases"
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 ...
riddim. "Diseases" is notably used in
Yellowman
Winston Foster , better known by the stage name Yellowman, is a Jamaican reggae and dancehall deejay, also known as King Yellowman. He first became popular in Jamaica in the 1980s, rising to prominence with a series of singles that established ...
's
hit
Hit means to strike someone or something.
Hit or HIT may also refer to:
Arts, entertainment and media Fictional entities
* Hit, a fictional character from '' Dragon Ball Super''
* Homicide International Trust, or HIT, a fictional organization ...
song "Zungguzungguguzungguzeng", which has in turn has been
sampled
Sample or samples may refer to:
Base meaning
* Sample (statistics), a subset of a population – complete data set
* Sample (signal), a digital discrete sample of a continuous analog signal
* Sample (material), a specimen or small quantity of so ...
and reinterpreted by a long list of popular hip-hop artists, including
KRS-One
Lawrence "Kris" Parker (born August 20, 1965), better known by his stage names KRS-One (; an abbreviation of "Knowledge Reigns Supreme Over Nearly Everyone") and Teacha, is an American rapper from New York City. He rose to prominence as part of ...
,
The Notorious B.I.G.
Christopher George Latore Wallace (May 21, 1972 – March 9, 1997), better known by his stage names the Notorious B.I.G., Biggie Smalls, or simply Biggie, was an American rapper. Rooted in East Coast hip hop and particularly gangsta ...
,
Tupac Shakur
Tupac Amaru Shakur ( ; born Lesane Parish Crooks, June 16, 1971 – September 13, 1996), also known as 2Pac and Makaveli, was an American rapper. He is widely considered one of the most influential rappers of all time. Shakur is among the Li ...
Blackstar
''Blackstar'' is an American animated science fantasy television series, produced in 1981 by Lou Scheimer and Norm Prescott for Filmation. The series was Filmation's second fantasy epic, the first being '' The Freedom Force'', a segment of '' ...
. This constant reinterpretation and referencing has made Ellis a major but little-known influence in the trajectory of dancehall, reggae and hip hop.
Discography
Albums
* ''Sings Rock and Soul'' ( Studio One, 1967)
* ''The Best Of'' (Coxsone, 1969)
* ''
Sunday Coming
''Sunday Coming'' is a 1970 album by Jamaican rocksteady singer Alton Ellis. It was produced by Clement "Coxsone" Dodd and recorded at his Brentford Road studio. The album was originally released on Dodd's Coxsone label and subsequently reissued ...
Mr Soul of Jamaica
''Mr Soul of Jamaica'' is an album by Jamaican rocksteady singer Alton Ellis. It contains twelve tracks recorded between 1967 and 1970 at Duke Reid's Treasure Isle Recording Studios in Kingston, Jamaica and was produced by Reid and released on ...
'' (
Treasure Isle
Arthur "Duke" Reid CD (21 July 1915 – 1 January 1975) was a Jamaican record producer, DJ and label owner.
He ran one of the most popular sound systems of the 1950s called Reid's Sound System, whilst Duke himself was known as The Troja ...
, 1974)
* ''Still in Love'' (
Horse
The horse (''Equus ferus caballus'') is a domesticated, one-toed, hoofed mammal. It belongs to the taxonomic family Equidae and is one of two extant subspecies of ''Equus ferus''. The horse has evolved over the past 45 to 55 million y ...
Heartbeat
A heartbeat is one cardiac cycle of the heart.
Heartbeat, heart beat, heartbeats, and heart beats may refer to:
Computing
*Heartbeat (computing), a periodic signal to indicate normal operation or to synchronize parts of a system
*Heartbeat, clus ...
, 1993)
* ''Man From Studio One'' (All Tone, 1994)
* ''Change My Mind'' (Orchard, 2000)
* ''More Alton Ellis'' (T.P., 2001)
* ''Live with Aspo: Workin' on a Groovy Thing'' (Belleville International/Patate Records, 2001)
* ''Reggae Chronicles'' (Pickwick, Hallmark, 2006)
;With the Heptones:
* ''Mr Ska Bean'a'' (Cha Cha, 1981)
* ''Alton Ellis Sings, Heptones Harmonise'' (1978–80) ( Jet Star, 19??)
;With Wayne McGhie:
* ''Wayne McGhie and the Sounds of Joy'' (Birchmount, Canada, 1970)
;With Hortense Ellis:
* ''Alton & Hortense Ellis at Studio 1'' (Heartbeat, 1990)
Compilations
* ''All My Tears'' (1965–68) (Brook, 2006)
* ''Arise Black Man'' (1968–78) (Moll Selekta, 19??)
* ''Be True to Yourself'' (1965–73) (Trojan 2004)
* ''Get Ready for Rock Reggae Steady'' (1967–74) (Jamaican Gold, 1999)
* ''Many Moods of Alton Ellis'' (1978–80) (Tele-Tech, 1980)
* ''My Time Is the Right Time'' (1966–71) (Westside, 2000)
* ''Reggae Valley of Decision'' (197X) (House of Reggae, 1996)
* ''Soul Groover'' (
Trojan
Trojan or Trojans may refer to:
* Of or from the ancient city of Troy
* Trojan language, the language of the historical Trojans
Arts and entertainment Music
* ''Les Troyens'' ('The Trojans'), an opera by Berlioz, premiered part 1863, part 1890 ...
Alton Ellis at Roots Archives
– interview with Alton Ellis and
Horace Andy
Horace Andy (born Horace Hinds, 19 February 1951) is a Jamaican roots reggae songwriter and singer, known for his distinctive vocals and hit songs such as "Government Land", as well as "Angel", "Spying Glass" and "Five Man Army" with English tri ...