Hortense Ellis (18 April 1941 – 19 October 2000) was a
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 ...
musician, and the younger sister of fellow artist
Alton Ellis.
[Hortense Ellis, Underrated Talent]
, '' Jamaica Observer'', 24 February 2022. Retrieved 26 February 2022
Biography
Born 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 ...
,
her father worked on the railways while her mother ran a fruit stall. She was 18 years old when she appeared on the
Vere Johns Opportunity Hour, then Jamaica's foremost outlet for young undiscovered talent. Her version of
Frankie Lymon
Franklin Joseph Lymon (September 30, 1942 – February 27, 1968) was an American rock and roll/rhythm and blues singer and songwriter, best known as the boy soprano lead singer of the New York City-based early rock and roll doo-wop group Th ...
's "I'm Not Saying No at All" so impressed both audience and panel that she was invited back the following week. Ellis went on to enter many more competitions and showcases and she reached six semi-finals and four finals.
In 1964 she was awarded a silver cup as Jamaica's Best Female Vocalist and went on to repeat this feat five years later.
During the 1960s, Ellis toured Jamaica with
Byron Lee
Byron Lee ,
''Jamaica Gleaner'', 27 October 2008. born Byron Aloysius St. Elmo Lee ...
and The Dragonaires and had begun recording with some of the island's top producers such as
Ken Lack ("I Shall Sing", "Hell And Sorrow" and "Brown Girl in the Ring"),
Coxsone Dodd "I'll Come Softly" in 1963 and
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 ...
"Midnight Train", "Now And Forever", "I've Been A Fool" and "True Love" with Stranger Cole all in 1962.
Alton Ellis was also recording with Dodd at this time and the family connection was exploited by Dodd who produced "female" adaptions of some of Alton's hits (for Hortense to record) including "Why Do Birds" and "I'm Just A Guy". Dodd also paired Alton and Hortense in a run of duets such as "I'm in Love" and "Easy Squeeze".
The siblings toured Canada in 1970 but the following year, Ellis was back in Jamaica where she married Mikey "Junior" Saunders with whom she had five children in quick succession.
Although her live performances suffered as a result, she remained busy in the studio. Recording under the name Mahalia Saunders for producer
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 ...
, she recorded several sides including "
Right on the Tip of My Tongue" and "Piece of My Heart".
Ellis' success came in the late 1970s with a song recorded for
Gussie Clarke; "Unexpected Places" was a big hit in Jamaica and also in Britain where it appeared on the Hawkeye label.
For producer
Bunny "Striker" Lee, Ellis became Queen Tiney for her "Down Town Ting" – an "answer" record to
Althea and Donna
Althea & Donna were a Jamaican reggae vocal duo, consisting of Althea Rose Forrest and Donna Marie Reid. They are best known for their 1977 single " Uptown Top Ranking", which was a number-one hit in the United Kingdom in 1978.
Career
The Jama ...
's big hit "
Uptown Top Ranking
"Uptown Top Ranking" is a song by Jamaican teenage singers Althea Forrest and Donna Reid, recorded when they were 17 and 18 years old respectively. Released in 1977, the song comprises the girls ad-libbing to deejay track "Three Piece Suit" by T ...
", which had itself been based on the rhythm of Alton's big hit "I'm Still in Love With You".
Around this time, Ellis recut many of her Coxsone/Studio One sides with
Soul Syndicate
Soul Syndicate, originally called the Rhythm Raiders, were one of the top reggae session bands in Jamaica from the early 1970s to the mid-1980s.
History
In the first half of the 1970s the band from the Greenwich Farm area of Kingston recorded ...
,
The Aggrovators
The Aggrovators were a dub/reggae backing band in the 1970s and 1980s, and one of the main session bands of producer Bunny Lee. The line-up varied, with Lee using the name for whichever set of musicians he was using at any time.Larkin, Colin ...
and the up-and-coming team of
Sly Dunbar and
Robbie Shakespeare
Robert Warren Dale Shakespeare (27 September 1953 – 8 December 2021) was a Jamaican bass guitarist and record producer, best known as half of the reggae rhythm section and production duo Sly and Robbie, with drummer Sly Dunbar. Regarded as on ...
. The rise of the Lovers Rock genre in the late seventies and early eighties led to Ellis cutting cover version of several popular soul classics including "Down the Aisle" (
Patti LaBelle) and "
Young Hearts Run Free" (
Candi Staton). Following her divorce from Mikey Saunders, Ellis spent much of the eighties living in New York City and Miami. On returning to Jamaica in 1989, she began suffering health problems, but managed to carry on with occasional local live performances. She recovered sufficiently to make a private visit to New York in the summer of 1999, and then to Miami the following year, where ill health finally caught up with her.
Despite a worsening condition and the pleadings of her daughter, Sandra Saunders, to seek immediate treatment there in Miami, Ellis insisted on returning to her beloved Jamaica where she was hospitalised almost immediately, seriously ill and in considerable pain.
Hortense Ellis died in her sleep in a Kingston hospital on 19 October 2000 from a stomach infection.
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 ...
References
* This article contains material fro
hortense-ellis.com copied with permission.
Obituary taken from the Independent newspaper
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ellis, Hortense
1941 births
2000 deaths
Musicians from Kingston, Jamaica
Jamaican reggae musicians
Infectious disease deaths in Jamaica