Carl Malcolm (born July 18, 1946, Black River, St. Elizabeth,

Jamaica Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of His ...

) is a Jamaican

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 ...

singer and percussionist.

Biography

Malcolm initially learned the keyboard, picking up skills on the instrument at his local

Methodist Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a group of historically related denominations of Protestant Christianity whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's b ...

church.Larkin, Colin (1998) ''The Virgin Encyclopedia of Reggae'', Virgin Books, , p. 179 He attended St. Elizabeth Technical High School before moving to Kingston, where he worked for a shoe company and was a reservist in the

Jamaica Defence Force The Jamaica Defence Force (JDF) is the combined military of Jamaica, consisting of an infantry Regiment and Reserve Corps, an Air Wing, a Coast Guard fleet and a supporting Engineering Unit. The JDF is based upon the British military model, with ...

. In 1965 he joined his first group, The Volcanoes, alongside Al Brown, the pair staying together until 1969. Malcolm then gave up music while he continued his studies, but returned when he joined the group Big Relations, led by Jo Jo Bennett. Malcolm recorded briefly as a solo artist, recording "Father Free Us" for

Clement "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 ...

's Studio One label, before spending time in the United States. On his return to Jamaica he was employed by

Rupie Edwards Rupert Lloyd Edwards (born 4 July 1945) is a Jamaican reggae singer and record producer. Biography Rupie Edwards was born in Goshen, in Saint Ann Parish.Thompson, Dave (2002) ''Reggae & Caribbean Music'', Backbeat Books, , pp. 103–105 The fam ...

as the branch manager of the Success Records shop at Half Way Tree. He also began recording again, including the 1973 single "No Jestering", and the follow-up "Miss Wire Waist", which topped the UK reggae chart when it was issued there in 1975. He had his greatest success in September 1975 with "Fattie Bum-Bum". This was picked up for release by independent label UK Records after Dave Cash started to play it on his Capital Radio programme, and it quickly got to number 2 on the station's 'Hitline' listeners' chart. It eventually reached number 8 on the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

. It remained in the

chart A chart (sometimes known as a graph) is a graphical representation for data visualization, in which "the data is represented by symbols, such as bars in a bar chart, lines in a line chart, or slices in a pie chart". A chart can represent tabu ...

for eight weeks. The track was written by Malcolm and produced by

Clive Chin Clive Chin (born 14 May 1954 in Kingston, Jamaica) is a son of Vincent "Randy" Chin. He is a Hakka Chinese Jamaican record producer whose work includes recordings by The Wailers, Dennis Brown, Lee Perry and Black Uhuru, among others. Chin was ...

. It had been copied in a

cover version In popular music, a cover version, cover song, remake, revival, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording by a musician other than the original performer or composer of the song. Originally, it referred to a version of a song release ...

by the UK group

The Diversions ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

, which also charted (reaching #34), diverting some sales away from Malcolm's version. Although this was Malcolm's only mainstream chart success, he had a hit in the reggae charts in 1977 with "Repatriation", recorded with

Ranking Trevor Maxwell Grant (20 January 1960 – 7 August 2012), better known as Ranking Trevor and sometimes as Ranking Superstar, was a Jamaican reggae deejay. Biography Grant began deejaying as a teenager in the 1970s, and began his recording career at the ...

. More recently Malcolm was the drummer on

The Melodians The Melodians are a rocksteady band formed in the Greenwich Town area of Kingston, Jamaica, in 1963, by Tony Brevett (born 1949, nephew of The Skatalites bassist, Lloyd Brevett), Brent Dowe and Trevor McNaughton.

1992 album, ''Swing & Dine''; on Pat Kelly's 1995 album, ''Butterflies''; and on

Glen Brown Glenmore Lloyd Brown (1943 or 1944Campbell-Livingston, Cecelia (2013)Tough Times for Glen Brown", '' Jamaica Observer'', 15 July 2013. Retrieved 26 December 2014Larkin, Colin, ''The Virgin Encyclopedia of Reggae'', 1998, Virgin Books, . – 4 ...

's 1995 album, ''The Way to Mt. Zion''. Allmusic.com – album credits 3/ref>

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Malcolm, Carl 1952 births Living people People from Saint Elizabeth Parish Jamaican male singers Jamaican songwriters

Biography

See also

References