The Gladiators are a Jamaican

roots reggae Roots reggae is a subgenre of reggae that deals with the everyday lives and aspirations of Africans and those in the African Diaspora, including the spiritual side of Rastafari, black liberation, revolution and the honoring of God, called Jah ...

band, most popular during the 1970s. The core was Albert Griffiths (lead guitar and vocals; born 1945, died December 15, 2020),

Clinton Fearon Clinton Anthony Fearon (born 13 January 1951) is a Jamaican reggae singer and musician. He has lived in Seattle, Washington since 1987. Career Jamaica Clinton Fearon was born near Kingston, and quickly moved to St. Catherine, a rural Jamaica ...

(bass guitar and vocals) and Gallimore Sutherland (rhythm guitar and vocals). Their two most famous albums are ''

Trenchtown Mix Up ''Trenchtown Mix Up'' was The Gladiators (band), The Gladiators' debut LP, recorded at Joe Gibbs (record producer), Joe Gibbs' studio and released in 1976 on TR International/Virgin Records, Virgin Records'. It included re-recordings of two songs ...

'' (1976) and ''

Proverbial Reggae ''Proverbial Reggae'' was the second album by Jamaican Roots Reggae band The Gladiators, recorded and released in 1978 on Virgin Records' Front Line imprint British dub poet Linton Kwesi Johnson has said the songs on ''Proverbial Reggae'' "co ...

'' (1978) with songs such as "Hearsay", "Jah Works", "Dreadlocks the Time is Now". "Mix Up", "Music Makers from Jamaica", and "Soul Rebel" – a song written by

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 ...

. Gladiators also cooperated with the

toaster A toaster is a small electric appliance that uses radiant heat to brown sliced bread into toast. Types Pop-up toaster In pop-up or automatic toasters, a single vertical piece of bread is dropped into a slot on the top of the toaster. ...

U-Roy Ewart Beckford OD (21 September 1942 – 17 February 2021), known by the stage name U-Roy, was a Jamaican vocalist and pioneer of toasting.Jo-Ann GreeneU-Roy Biography, AllMusic. Retrieved 11 April 2013. U-Roy was known for a melodic style ...

History

Albert Griffiths, singer and guitar player, was the founder of the reggae group The Gladiators. After some success with the singles "You Are The Girl" (a

b-side The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph records and cassettes; these terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side usually features a recording that its artist, producer, or record compan ...

The Ethiopians The Ethiopians were one of Jamaica's best-loved harmony groups during the late ska, rocksteady and early reggae periods. Responsible for a significant number of hits between the mid-1960s and early 1970s, the group was also one of the first ...

' hit record "

Train to Skaville In rail transport, a train (from Old French , from Latin , "to pull, to draw") is a series of connected vehicles that run along a railway track and transport people or freight. Trains are typically pulled or pushed by locomotives (often know ...

") in 1966, he recruited his childhood friends David Webber and Errol Grandison in 1968 to form the original Gladiators vocal group. The group's name was allegedly suggested by a fellow bus passenger during the time of their first recordings.The Gladiators – The Story
Retrieved on 25 March 2008 The group's first major success was with the

single Single may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Single (music), a song release Songs * "Single" (Natasha Bedingfield song), 2004 * "Single" (New Kids on the Block and Ne-Yo song), 2008 * "Single" (William Wei song), 2016 * "Single", by ...

"Hello Carol" in 1968, for producer

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 ...

, which topped the Jamaican music charts. Shortly afterwards, in 1969, Webber was stricken with illness and was replaced by

, one of Griffiths' proteges. Similarly Grandison left the group in 1973 for family commitments and was replaced by Gallimore Sutherland.

allmusic.com Biography 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 ...

Retrieved on 25 March 2008 During the early 1970s the Gladiators cut numerous records for various producers such as,

Lloyd Daley Lloyd Daley also known as Lloyd's the Matador (born 12 July 1939, Kingston, Jamaica, died 18 March 2018, Florida, USAAllmusic.com/ref>) was a Jamaican electronic technician, sound system pioneer, studio engineer and reggae producer. Career Da ...

and Lee Perry, but it was their recordings for Dodd at Studio One that became the biggest hits. During this time at Studio One the Gladiators' hits included "Bongo Red", "Jah Jah Go Before Us", "Mr. Baldwin", and "Roots Natty". The success of these recordings garnered the attention of Britain-based

Virgin Records Virgin Records is a record label owned by Universal Music Group. It originally founded as a British independent record label in 1972 by entrepreneurs Richard Branson, Simon Draper, Nik Powell, and musician Tom Newman. It grew to be a worldwid ...

, who gave the group their first major

recording contract A recording contract (commonly called a record contract or record deal) is a legal agreement between a record label and a recording artist (or group), where the artist makes a record (or series of records) for the label to sell and promote. Artists ...

in 1976. Their debut album released on Virgin was the Tony Robinson produced ''

'' (1976), which included revisions of many of their early hits. They followed this effort with ''

'' (1978). At the time Gladiators was a band with Albert Griffiths on lead guitar and vocals, Clinton Fearon on bass guitar and vocals, Gallimore Sutherland on rhythm guitar and vocals,

Sly Dunbar Lowell Fillmore "Sly" Dunbar (born 10 May 1952, Kingston, Jamaica) is a drummer, best known as one half of the prolific Jamaican rhythm section and reggae production duo Sly and Robbie. Biography Dunbar began playing at 15 in a band called ...

on drums,

Lloyd Parks Lloyd Parks (born 26 May 1949) is a Jamaican reggae vocalist and bass player who has recorded and performed as a solo artist as well as part of Skin, Flesh & Bones, The Revolutionaries, The Professionals, and We the People Band.Larkin, Colin: ...

on bass,

Uziah "Sticky" Thompson Uzziah "Sticky" Thompson (1 August 1936 – 25 August 2014) was a Jamaican percussionist, vocalist and deejay active from the late 1950s. He worked with some of the best known performers of Jamaican music and played on hundreds of albums. Biog ...

on percussion,

Ansel Collins Ansel Collins is a Jamaican musician, composer, singer, songwriter and producer, best known for his work with Dave Barker as Dave and Ansel Collins. Biography Born 1949 in Kingston, Jamaica,Earl 'Wire' Lindo on synthesizer. Errol Thompson and Joe Gibbs were their engineer and mixer, and Robinson the record producer. Dodd and Studio One also released ''

Studio One Presenting the Gladiators A studio is an artist or worker's workroom. This can be for the purpose of acting, architecture, painting, pottery (ceramics), sculpture, origami, woodworking, scrapbooking, photography, graphic design, filmmaking, animation, industrial design, ...

'', (1978) a compilation of some early Gladiators' records released 1968 – 1974. The Gladiators' next two albums on Virgin were ''

Naturality In category theory, a branch of mathematics, a natural transformation provides a way of transforming one functor into another while respecting the internal structure (i.e., the composition of morphisms) of the categories involved. Hence, a natura ...

'' (1978) and ''

Sweet So Till Sweetness is a Taste#Basic tastes, basic taste most commonly Perception, perceived when eating foods rich in sugars. Sweet tastes are generally regarded as pleasure, pleasurable. In addition to sugars like sucrose, many other chemical compounds ...

'' (1979). The group's next album ''

Gladiators A gladiator ( la, gladiator, "swordsman", from , "sword") was an armed combatant who entertained audiences in the Roman Republic and Roman Empire in violent confrontations with other gladiators, wild animals, and condemned criminals. Some gla ...

'' was recorded at Coach House Studios in the UK with local producer

Eddy Grant Edmond Montague Grant (born 5 March 1948) is a Guyanese-British singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, known for his genre-blending sound; his music has blended elements of pop, British rock, soul, funk, reggae, electronic music, Afr ...

. It was the first Gladiators' album on which no member of the group played any of the instruments, as a few members of the band

Aswad Aswad are a British reggae group, noted for adding strong R&B and soul influences to the reggae sound. They have been performing since the mid-1970s, having released a total of 21 albums. Their UK hit singles include the number one "Don't Tur ...

were brought in. The album did worse than their previous work, and they were subsequently dropped from their contract with Virgin. Virgin subsequently released two

compilation album A compilation album comprises Album#Tracks, tracks, which may be previously released or unreleased, usually from several separate recordings by either one or several Performing arts#Performers, performers. If by one artist, then generally the tr ...

s ''Vital Selection'' in 1981 and ''Dreadlocks The Time Is Now'' in 1983. At the time, roots reggae was declining. A new type of reggae – based on drum machine, sampler, synthesizers and organ – occurred in the 1980s;

ragga Raggamuffin music, usually abbreviated as ragga, is a subgenre of dancehall and reggae music. The instrumentals primarily consist of electronic music. Similar to hip hop, sampling often serves a prominent role in raggamuffin music. Wayne Sm ...

. One of the reasons for ragga's swift propagation is that it is generally easier, and less expensive to produce, than reggae performed on traditional musical instruments. Nevertheless, the Gladiators released eleven studio albums in the 1980s. They soon found a home at US-based

Nighthawk Records Nighthawk Records was an American independent record label, founded by Robert Schoenfeld who began operations in 1976 with the release of four vintage post-war blues reissue albums. This series consists of nine volumes of post-war blues recordin ...

and released '' Symbol of Reality'' in late 1982 followed by '' Serious Thing'' in 1984. One year later the Gladiators changed labels again, this time moving to

Heartbeat Records Heartbeat Records is an independent record label based in Burlington, Massachusetts. The label specializes in Jamaican music. Founded by reggae music enthusiasts Bill Nowlin and Duncan Brown, the label's first release was a vinyl LP reissue of L ...

, where they released albums throughout the latter half of the decade. In 1987 Fearon left the group after eighteen years, but Griffiths and Sutherland have continued to release albums on various labels since then. With the advent of

dancehall Dancehall is a genre of Jamaican popular music that originated in the late 1970s. Initially, dancehall was a more sparse version of reggae than the roots style, which had dominated much of the 1970s.Barrow, Steve & Dalton, Peter (2004) "The Rou ...

in the 1990s, the Gladiators only released three studio albums during that decade. Eventually, the Gladiators,

Mighty Diamonds The Mighty Diamonds were a Jamaican harmony trio, recording roots reggae with a strong Rastafarian influence. The group was formed in 1969 and were best known for their 1976 debut album, ''Right Time'', produced by Joseph Hoo Kim, and the 1979 ...

Bunny Wailer Neville O'Riley Livingston (10 April 1947 – 2 March 2021), known professionally as Bunny Wailer, was a Jamaican singer-songwriter and percussionist. He was an original member of reggae group The Wailers along with Bob Marley and Peter Tosh. ...

Heptones The Heptones are a Jamaican rocksteady and reggae vocal Trio (music), trio most active in the 1960s and early 1970s. They were one of the more significant trios of that era, and played a major role in the gradual transition between ska and roc ...

and

Burning Spear Winston Rodney OD (born 1 March 1945), better known by the stage name Burning Spear, is a Jamaican roots reggae singer-songwriter, vocalist and musician. Burning Spear is a Rastafarian and one of the most influential and long-standing roots ar ...

had a renaissance. The dancehall artists had to change their profile and baptised their new showmanship as conscious dancehall. In 2005, the Gladiators released '' Fathers and Sons'' which has been regarded as Albert Griffiths' farewell after ill health forced him to retire from touring, with his sons, Alan and Anthony, joining the group. In June 2013, the group announced that their next album would be a collaboration with deejay

Droop Lion To droop means to hang down, to sag, particularly if limp. Droop may refer to: Technical usage * Droop nose (aeronautics), an adjustable nose found on some supersonic aircraft * Droop quota, a type of quota for counting and transferring votes in a ...

, nephew of original Gladiators' member David Webber, performing new versions of some of the group's most popular tracks.Morgan, Simone (2013)
The Gladiators back in arena
, ''

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 ...

'', 16 June 2013. Retrieved 20 June 2013

Discography

Studio albums

Index of 1966 - 1975 singles and recordings

Compilation and live albums

References

External links

* * as The Gladiators Band {{DEFAULTSORT:Gladiators, The 1968 establishments in Jamaica Jamaican reggae musical groups Roots Reggae Library Musical groups established in 1968 Heartbeat Records artists