Derrick Morgan (born 27 March 1940)Walters, Basil (2012)
A New Day – Songs heralding JA’s Independence
", ''

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 ...

'', 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 James Chambers OM (born 30 July 1944), known professionally as Jimmy Cliff, is a Jamaican ska, rocksteady, reggae and soul musician, multi-instrumentalist, singer, and actor. He is the only living reggae musician to hold the Order of Merit, t ...

in the rhythm and blues and ska genres, and he also performed

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 skinhead reggae.

Biography

In 1957, Morgan entered the Vere Johns Opportunity Hour, a talent show held at the Palace Theatre in

Kingston Kingston may refer to: Places * List of places called Kingston, including the five most populated: ** Kingston, Jamaica ** Kingston upon Hull, England ** City of Kingston, Victoria, Australia ** Kingston, Ontario, Canada ** Kingston upon Thames, ...

. He won with rousing impressions of

Little Richard Richard Wayne Penniman (December 5, 1932 – May 9, 2020), known professionally as Little Richard, was an American musician, singer, and songwriter. He was an influential figure in popular music and culture for seven decades. Described as the " ...

and, shortly after that, was recruited to perform around the island with the popular Jamaican comedy team

Bim and Bam Bim and Bam was the stage name of the Jamaican comedy double-act Ed Lewis (1914–1976) and Aston Wynter (1913–1978). They made a name for themselves in Jamaica in the 1930s performing at hotels and clubs, initially adopting the blackface Minstre ...

. 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 Bolero is a genre of song which originated in eastern Cuba in the late 19th century as part of the trova tradition. Unrelated to the older Spanish dance of the same name, bolero is characterized by sophisticated lyrics dealing with love. It has ...

-tinged boogie "Fat Man", which also became a hit. He also found time to

record A record, recording or records may refer to: An item or collection of data Computing * Record (computer science), a data structure ** Record, or row (database), a set of fields in a database related to one entity ** Boot sector or boot record, ...

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 ...

. In 1960 Morgan became the only artist ever to fill the places from one to seven on the Jamaican pop

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 ...

simultaneously. Among those hits were "Don't Call Me Daddy", "In My Heart", "Be Still", and "Meekly Wait and Murmur Not". But it was the following year that Morgan released the biggest hit of his career, the Leslie Kong production of "Don't You Know", later retitled "Housewives' Choice" by a local DJ. The song featured a bouncing ska riddim, along with a

duet A duet is a musical composition for two performers in which the performers have equal importance to the piece, often a composition involving two singers or two pianists. It differs from a harmony, as the performers take turns performing a solo ...

by Morgan and Millicent "Patsy" Todd. "Housewives' Choice" began the rivalry between Morgan and

Prince Buster Cecil Bustamente Campbell (24 May 1938 – 8 September 2016), known professionally as Prince Buster, was a Jamaican singer-songwriter and producer. The records he released in the 1960s influenced and shaped the course of Jamaican contemporary ...

, who accused Morgan of stealing his ideas. Buster quickly released "Blackhead Chiney Man", chiding Morgan with the sarcastic put-down, "I did not know your parents were from Hong Kong" – a swipe at Kong. Morgan returned with the classic "Blazing Fire", in which he warns Buster to "Live and let others live, and your days will be much longer. You said it. Now it's the Blazing Fire". Buster shot back with, "Watch It Blackhead", which Morgan countered with "No Raise No Praise" and "Still Insist". Followers of the two artists often clashed, and eventually the government had to step in with a staged photo shoot depicting the rivals as friends. Morgan had a major success in 1962 with "Forward March", a song celebrating Jamaican independence from Great Britain. In the mid-1960s, when ska evolved into

, Morgan continued to release top quality material, including the seminal rude boy songs, "Tougher Than Tough", "Do the Beng Beng", "Conquering Ruler", and a cover of Ben E. King's soul hit, "Seven Letters". Produced by Bunny Lee, "Seven Letters" is often cited as the first true reggae single. In 1969 Morgan recorded the skinhead anthem "Moon Hop" (on Crab Records). However, failing eyesight then forced him to give up regular stage appearances. Morgan still performs occasionally at ska revival shows across the world – often backed by the guitarist

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 ...

. He remained popular in Jamaica and the UK into the early 1970s, and has lived primarily in the UK or the US since the late 1960s. With reggae music's significant popularity of reggae in the UK in the late 1960s and early 1970s, British reggae label Trojan Records created a subsidiary, Song Bird, to issue Morgan's productions. The label issued 75 singles between 1969 and 1973. Morgan has written several songs that have won the Festival Song Contest for other artists, including "Jamaica Whoa" (1998,

Neville Martin John Wesley Neville Martin (1916–17 April 1966) was a Northern Irish politician who served as a member of the Parliament of Northern Ireland for the Ulster Unionist Party. Biography Martin was educated at a grammar school before becoming the d ...

), "Fi Wi Island A Boom" (2000,

Stanley Beckford Stanley Beckford (1942–2007) was a Jamaican born Mento singer, songwriter, and four time Jamaica Independence Festival song contest winner who recorded as a solo artist and with the bands The Starlights/Starlites, Stanley and the Turbines, ...

), and "Progress" (2002, Devon Black). In July 2002 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, a two-night "Legends of Ska" concert was held. Reuniting were The Skatalites, Lloyd Knibb, Rico Rodriguez, Lloyd Brevett, Lester Sterling, Johnny Moore and

; along with

Alton Ellis Alton Nehemiah Ellis (1 September 1938 – 10 October 2008)Godfather ...

, Owen Gray, Lord Creator, Justin Hinds, Derrick Harriott, Winston Samuels,

Roy Wilson Roy Wilson may refer to: * Roy Wilson (British politician) (1876–1942), British Member of Parliament *Roy Wilson (baseball) (1896–1969), Major League Baseball player *Roy Wilson (Canadian politician) (born 1932), Canadian provincial politician ...

, Patsy Todd, Doreen Shaffer,

Stranger Cole Stranger Cole, also known as StrangeJah Cole (born Wilburn Theodore Cole, 26 June 1942)Thompson, Dave (2002) ''Reggae & Caribbean Music'', Backbeat Books, , p. 335 is a Jamaican singer whose long recording career dates from the early days of ska ...

, Lord Tanamo, and Derrick Morgan. In 2007, Morgan appeared on the bill at the annual Augustibuller music festival. His song "Tougher Than Tough" was featured in the video game '' Scarface: The World is Yours''. Morgan retired from the music industry because of illness in the 2010s, but returned in 2016 to collaborate with Kirk Diamond on a remake of Morgan's song 1960s "Conqueror". Morgan headlined the Supernova International Ska Festival, in Fredericksburg, Virginia from May 27 to 28, 2017.

Discography

Albums

*''Seven Letters'' (1969) *''Derrick Morgan in London'' (1969) *''Moon Hop'' (1970) *''Feel So Good'' (1975) (featuring Hortense Ellis) *''People's Decision'' (1977) *''Still in Love'' (1977) (also featuring Hortense Ellis) *''Sunset at Moonlight City'' *''Love City'' *''The Legend of Derrick Morgan'' (1980) *''I Am the Ruler'' (1992) – Trojan Records *''Tougher Than Tough (Rudie in Court)'' (1992) *''The Conquering Ruler'' (and the Sensational Yebo) (1994) – Pork Pie Records *''Ska Man Classics'' (1995) *''Ska Man Classics'' (1997) *''21 Hits Salute'' (1997) *''Meets the High Notes Live'' (2003) *''Moon Hop: Best of the Early Years 1960–69'' (2003) *''Derrick:Top the Top'' (2003) *''Derrick Meets the High Notes'' (2004) *''Shake A Leg'' (2014) *''Storybook Revisted'' (2019)

Singles

Morgan released nearly 200 singles in the UK, and more than 250 in Jamaica. These include: *"The Hop" / "Tell It To Me", 7-inch: Island WI 006, UK, 1962 *"Forward March" / "Please Don't Talk About Me", 7-inch: Island WI 011, UK, 1962 *"See The Blind" / "Cherry Home", 7-inch: Island WI 013, UK, 1962 *"I Am The Ruler" / "I Mean It" Pyramid 1968 *"No Dice" / "I Mean It" Pyramid 1968 *"Fat Man" / "South Parkway Rock" Trojan TR 626 UK, 1968 Singles on Crab Records *"Moon Hop" – 1969 – UK No. 49* "River to the Bank" / "Reggae Limbo", 7-inch (B side – Peter King) * "Seven Letters" / "Lonely Heartaches", 7-inch (B side – The Tartons) * "The First Taste of Love" / "Dance All Night", 7-inch * "Don't Play That Song" / "How Can I Forget You", 7-inch * "Mek It Tan Deh" / "Gimme Back", 7-inch * "Send Me Some Loving" / "Come What May", 7-inch * "Hard Time" / "Death Rides A Horse", 7-inch (B Side – Roy Richards) * "Man Pon Moon" / "What A Thing", 7-inch * "Moon Hop" / "Harris Wheel", 7-inch (B Side – Reggaeites) * "A Night at the Hop" / "Telephone", 7-inch * "Oh Baby" / The Rat", 7-inch (B Side – The Thunderbirds) * "Need To Belong" / "Let's Have Some Fun", 7-inch (with Jennifer Jones) * "I Wish I Was An Apple" / "The Story", 7-inch * "Take A Letter Maria" / "Just A Little Loving", 7-inch (with Owen Gray) * "Rocking Good Way" / "Wipe These Tears", 7-inch (with Jennifer Jones) * "My Dickie" / "Brixton Hop", 7-inch * "I Can't Stand It No Longer" / "Beyond The Wall", 7-inch * "Endlessly" / "Who's Making Love", 7-inch * "Hurt Me" / "Julia", 7-inch * "Searching So Long" / "Drums of Passion", 7-inch

References

External links

Derrick Morgan biography A derrick is a lifting device composed at minimum of one guyed mast, as in a gin pole, which may be articulated over a load by adjusting its guys. Most derricks have at least two components, either a guyed mast or self-supporting tower, and a ...