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
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 record producer who recorded between the 1960s and the 1990s, both as a solo artist and as a member of The Tartans and Cultural Roots.
Biography
Russell's career began in the 1960s with the Tartans, a group which also included
Cedric Myton
Cedric Constantine Myton (born 1947) is a Jamaican Rastafari reggae musician who was a founding member of the roots reggae band The Congos.
Career
Myton was born in Old Harbour, Jamaica. He began his singing career with the group The Bell S ...
AllMusic
AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...
, Macrovision Corporation When the Tartans disbanded, Russell embarked on a solo career, and for a time joined Cultural Roots as lead singer. He also recorded with Myton as Devon & Cedric.Thompson, Dave (2002) ''Reggae & Caribbean Music'', Backbeat Books, , p.418 In the mid-1970s, Russell recorded 11 songs for
Lee "Scratch" Perry
Lee "Scratch" Perry (born Rainford Hugh Perry; 20 March 1936 – 29 August 2021) was a Jamaican record producer, composer and singer noted for his innovative studio techniques and production style. Perry was a pioneer in the 1970s development o ...
that were never released and contrary to popular belief, he never recorded under the name of ''Devon Irons''. In the early 1980s he recorded 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, and his debut solo album, ''Roots Music'', was produced by Dodd and released on Sweet Music Records in 1982. In 1983 he was asked to join
The Congos
The Congos are a reggae vocal group from Jamaica which formed as the duo "Ashanti" Roy Johnson (tenor) (b. Roydel Johnson, 1947, Hanover, Jamaica) and Cedric Myton (falsetto) (b. 1947, Saint Catherine Parish, Jamaica), later becoming a trio w ...
for a European tour, and he eventually relocated to the United Kingdom.Larkin, Colin (1998) ''The Virgin Encyclopedia of Reggae'', Virgin Books, , p.259-260 He moved on to work with
Roy Cousins
Roy Anthony Cousins (born 1949 in Kingston, Jamaica) is a Jamaican reggae singer, producer, and record label owner, known for being lead singer and co creator of The Royals, his productions of artists such as Charlie Chaplin, Prince Far I, Sci ...
on his second album, ''Prison Life''. In the early 1990s he worked with
Zion Train
Zion Train are a British dub ensemble that formed in Oxford, 1988. They have consistently released music and toured from 1992 to present day. Their mix of reggae and dance music was a notable innovation in the early 1990s.
History
Co-founder ...
and Skaville Train. In 1996 his fourth album, ''Darker Than Blue'', was a tribute to
Curtis Mayfield
Curtis Lee Mayfield (June 3, 1942 – December 26, 1999) was an American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and record producer, and one of the most influential musicians behind soul and politically conscious African-American music.
wholly comprising Mayfield
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 ...
s.
His productions include
Big Youth
Manley Augustus Buchanan (born 19 April 1949, Trenchtown, Kingston, Jamaica),Thompson, Dave (2002) "Reggae & Caribbean Music", Backbeat Books, better known as Big Youth (sometimes called Jah Youth), is a Jamaican deejay, mostly known for his ...
's 1978 album ''Isaiah First Prophet of the Old''.
Russell died from a brain tumour on 18 June 1997 a year after the release of ''Darker Than Blue''.
Discography
*''Roots Music'' (1982) Studio One
*''Prison Life'' Tamoki Wambesi
*''This Cloak and Dagger'' (1988) World Enterprise
*''Rougher Yet'' (1989) Greensleeves (with The Cultural Roots)
*''Money Sex & Violence'' (1991) Runn (Devon Russell & the Cultural Roots)
*''Devon Russell Sings Roots Classics'' (1993) Universal Egg (with Zion Train)
*''Bible and the Gun'' (1996) Fire House
*''Darker Than Blue'' (1996) House of Reggae
*''3 The Hard Way Roots'' (1996) Uptempo (with
Willi Williams
Willi Williams (also Willie Williams) is a Jamaican reggae and dub musician and producer. He is known as the "Armagideon Man" after his hit, " Armagideon Time", first recorded in 1977 at Studio One in Kingston. The song was covered by The Cl ...
and
Nitty Gritty
Glen Augustus Holness (1957–24 June 1991), otherwise known by his stage name Nitty Gritty, was a popular reggae singer. Born in the August Town section of Kingston, Jamaica, he was the second of eleven children born to religious parents.
...