Delroy George Wilson CD (5 October 1948 – 6 March 1995)
Greene, Jo-Ann, " Delroy Wilson Biography, allmusic.com, Macrovision Corporation
was a Jamaican
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 ...
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. Wilson is often regarded as Jamaica's first child star, having first found success as a teenager. His youngest son, Karl "Konan" Wilson, has found success as part of British duo
Krept and Konan
Krept and Konan is a British hip hop duo from London, consisting of Casyo Valentine "Krept" Johnson BEM (born 4 February 1990, Gipsy Hill) and Karl Dominic "Konan" Wilson BEM (born 3 September 1989, Thornton Heath), the son of Delroy Wilso ...
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 ...
. His early years with Coxsone yielded a number of ska hits, the biggest of which, the Lee Perry-written "Joe Liges" was an attack on rival producer and former Dodd employee Prince Buster.Larkin, Colin (1998) "The Virgin Encyclopedia of Reggae", Virgin Books, This was followed by another Perry-written attack on Buster, "Spit in the Sky". Further singles followed, including "One Two Three", "I Shall Not Remove", "Look Who Is Back Again" (a duet with
Slim Smith
Slim Smith (born Keith Smith; 1948 in Kingston, Jamaica – 1972) was a ska, rocksteady and reggae singer. In their book ''Reggae: The Rough Guide'' (1997), Steve Barrow and Peter Dalton described Smith as "the greatest vocalist to emerge ...
), and another anti-Buster song, "Prince Pharaoh", notably the only record featuring the voice of Dodd himself.Barrow, Steve & Dalton, Peter (2004) "The Rough Guide to Reggae, 3rd edn.", Rough Guides, He is regarded as Jamaica's first child star.
His voice matured as he left his teens, around the time of ska's transition to rocksteady and this period in the late 1960s produced many
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 ...
s including one of the first rocksteady records, "Dancing Mood", "Jerk in Time" (with the Wailers), "Feel Good All Over", "I'm Not a King", "True Believer in Love", "Rain From the Skies", "Conquer Me" and "Riding for a Fall". "Won't You Come Home", a duet 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 ...
on a rhythm originally cut by The Conquerors for
Sonia Pottinger
Sonia Eloise Pottinger OD ( Durrant; 21 June 1931 – 3 November 2010)Thompson, Dave (2002) ''Reggae & Caribbean Music'', Backbeat Books, , p. 316Studio One he recorded for other labels, with varying degrees of success, and set up his own short-lived ''W&C'' label. He enjoyed success with
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 ...
in the late 1960s and early 1970s with tracks such as "This Old Heart of Mine", "Footsteps of Another Man", and "Better Must Come". His double A-side "It Hurts"/"Put Yourself in My Place" was a
skinhead
A skinhead is a member of a subculture which originated among working class youths in London, England, in the 1960s and soon spread to other parts of the United Kingdom, with a second working class skinhead movement emerging worldwide in th ...
favourite and narrowly missed UK chart success. He recorded a version of "Run Run", a song he had originally recorded for Dodd, for maverick producer
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 ...
Trojan Records
Trojan Records is a British record label founded in 1968. It specialises in ska, rocksteady, reggae and dub music. The label currently operates under the Sanctuary Records Group. The name ''Trojan'' comes from the Croydon-built Trojan truck ...
in 1970.
In 1972,
Michael Manley
Michael Norman Manley (10 December 1924 – 6 March 1997) was a Jamaican politician who served as the fourth Prime Minister of Jamaica from 1972 to 1980 and from 1989 to 1992. Manley championed a democratic socialist program, and has been ...
's
People's National Party
The People's National Party (PNP) is a social-democratic political party in Jamaica, founded in 1938 by independence campaigner Osmond Theodore Fairclough. It holds 14 of the 63 seats in the House of Representatives, as 96 of the 227 local go ...
chose Wilson's "Better Must Come" as their election campaign song. The same year saw the release of one of his most popular songs, "Cool Operator", which became his nickname. He worked with a string of producers in the years that followed, including
Joe Gibbs
Joe Jackson Gibbs (born November 25, 1940) is an American auto racing team owner and former professional football coach. In football, he was head coach for the Washington Redskins of the National Football League (NFL) from 1981 to 1992, and ...
Harry J
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 be ...
("Ask The Lonely"), and
Joseph Hoo Kim
Joseph "Jo Jo" Hoo Kim (10 December 1942 – 20 September 2018) was a Jamaican reggae record producer best known for his productions in the 1970s at his Channel One Studios.
Career
Born to parents of Chinese heritage, Joseph Hoo Kim grew up in ...
("It's a Shame").
In 1976, he recorded a cover of
The Wailers
''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 ...
' "I'm Still Waiting" for
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 ...
, which was hugely popular, and enjoyed some cross-over success, and was followed by the album '' Sarge'', which is considered one of his strongest. Also a Bob Andy produced song, "The Last Thing on My Mind" rose to
number one
Number One most commonly refers to:
* 1 (number)
Number One, No. 1, or #1 may also refer to:
Music Albums
* ''Number 1'' (Big Bang album), and the title song
* ''No. 1'' (BoA album), and the title song
* ''No.1'' (EP), by CLC
* ''n.1 ...
in Jamaica. Wilson continued to be successful until the end of the decade, but his career floundered during the early 1980s, with releases less common. His fortunes revived in the digital age with releases for
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 ...
("Don't Put The Blame on Me") and Bunny Lee ("Ease Up"), with new albums following, but he again drifted out of the limelight, with his health declining, and is best remembered for his earlier work.
Wilson is referenced by
The Clash
The Clash were an English rock band formed in London in 1976 who were key players in the original wave of British punk rock. Billed as "The Only Band That Matters", they also contributed to the and new wave movements that emerged in the w ...
in their 1978 track "
(White Man) In Hammersmith Palais
"(White Man) In Hammersmith Palais" is a song by the English punk rock band the Clash. It was originally released as a 7-inch single, with the b-side "The Prisoner", on 16 June 1978 through CBS Records.
Produced by The Clash and engineered by ...
".
Delroy Wilson died at the age of 46 on 6 March 1995 at Kingston's UWI hospital, of complications from
cirrhosis
Cirrhosis, also known as liver cirrhosis or hepatic cirrhosis, and end-stage liver disease, is the impaired liver function caused by the formation of scar tissue known as fibrosis due to damage caused by liver disease. Damage causes tissue rep ...
of the
liver
The liver is a major organ only found in vertebrates which performs many essential biological functions such as detoxification of the organism, and the synthesis of proteins and biochemicals necessary for digestion and growth. In humans, it ...
.
In 2013 Wilson was posthumously 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'') ...
by the Jamaican Government.
In 2015 Wilson's childhood friend Everard "Jah Ruby" Metcalf released the album ''The Delroy Wilson Story'', featuring 21 cover versions of Wilson's songs.Campbell, Howard (2015) An ode to Delroy Wilson , '' Jamaica Observer'', 5 March 2015. Retrieved 8 March 2015
Albums
*''I Shall Not Remove'' (1966) Studio One
*''Good All Over'' (1969) Coxsone/Studio One
*''Better Must Come'' (1971) Dynamic Sounds
*''Captivity'' (1973) Big Shot
*''For I And I'' (1975) Grounation
*'' Sarge'' (1976) Charmers
*''Last Thing on My Mind'' (1977) Harry J
*''Money'' (1977) Clocktower
*''Mr. Cool Operator'' (1977) EJI
*''Lovers' Rock'' (1978) Burning Sounds
*''Who Done It'' (1979) Third World
*''True Believer in Love'' (197?) Carib Gems
*''True Believer in Love'' (197?) Micron
*''Unedited'' (197?) Hulk
*''Living in the Footsteps'' (1980) Joe Gibbs
*''Go Away Dream'' (1982) Black Music
*''Nice Times'' (1983) Vista Sounds
*''Reggae Classics'' (1984) Londisc
*''Worth Your Weight in Gold'' (1984) Burning Sounds
*''The Dean of Reggae'' (1985) Mister Tipsy
*''Looking For Love'' (1986) Phill Pratt
*''Million Busters in Reggae'' (198?) Top Rank
*''Super Mix Hits'' (198?) Pioneer International
*''Dancing Mood'' Studio One
*''Oldies But Goodies'' Pioneer International (with
Owen Gray
Owen Gray, also known as Owen Grey (born 5 July 1939),Larkin, Colin (1998) "The Virgin Encyclopedia of Reggae", Virgin Books, is a Jamaican musician. His work spans the R&B, ska, rocksteady, and reggae eras of Jamaican music, and he has been ...
)
*''Now'' (19??), Real Wax
Wilson's work has also been collected on over 15 'Best of' compilations and he features on dozens of compilations of reggae and ska music.
See also
*
List of reggae musicians
This is a list of reggae musicians. This includes artists who have either been very important to the genre or have had a considerable amount of exposure (such as in the case of one that has been on a major label). Bands are listed by the first lett ...
*
List of roots reggae artists
This is a list of notable roots reggae musicians, singers and producers.
A
*The Abyssinians
* Laurel Aitken
*Alborosie
* Alpha & Omega
* Roland Alphonso
*Bob Andy
*Horace Andy
*Anthony B
* Antidoping
*Bryan Art
*Aswad
B
* Macka B
*Buju ...