Triston Palma aka Triston or Tristan Palmer (born 1962,

Waltham Park Waltham may refer to: Business * Waltham Watch Company, American watch manufacturer, pioneer in the industrialisation of the manufacturing of watch movements * The Waltham system, industrial efficiency system Music * Waltham (band), American rock ...

, Kingston, Jamaica) is 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 the ...

singer/

deejay A disc jockey, more commonly abbreviated as DJ, is a person who plays recorded music for an audience. Types of DJs include radio DJs (who host programs on music radio stations), club DJs (who work at a nightclub or music festival), mobil ...

. He has been active since the mid-1970s.

Biography

Palma was born in 1962 and grew up in the Waltham Park area of Kingston, and decided from an early age that he wanted to be a singer.Larkin, Colin (1998) "The Virgin Encyclopedia of Reggae", Virgin Books, van Pelt, Carter (1998)
Interview by Carter Van Pelt
, 3 February 1998 He began by singing to the accompaniment of Soul Syndicate

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected string ...

ist Tony Chin. His first recording was "Love Is A Message" for producer

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 ...

when he was eight years old, which was followed by "A-Class Girl" for the Black Solidarity label, which was co-run by Palma and Ossie Thomas.Rebel Base interview
/ref>Barrow, Steve & Dalton, Peter (2004) "The Rough Guide to Reggae, 3rd edn.", Rough Guides, Palma made a major breakthrough with his performance in 1979 at the General Penitentiary Memorial Concert for Claudie Massop, which also featured

Bob Marley Robert Nesta Marley (6 February 1945 – 11 May 1981; baptised in 1980 as Berhane Selassie) was a Jamaican singer, musician, and songwriter. Considered one of the pioneers of reggae, his musical career was marked by fusing elements o ...

.Triston Palma Biography
", Big Up Radio At one point in the early 1980s, Palma had nine songs in Jamaica's Top 40. They included his biggest career hit, the dancehall influenced "Entertainment" produced by Nkrumah Jah Thomas and using a reworking of the rhythm from Vin Gordon's "Heavenless". Palma became a popular artist in the " singjay" style in the early 1980s. enjoying further successes with

Jah Thomas Nkrumah "Jah" Thomas (b. 1955, Kingston, Jamaica) is a reggae deejay and record producer who first came to prominence in the 1970s, later setting up his own ''Midnight Rock'' and ''Nura'' labels. Biography Named Nkrumah after Ghanaian national ...

including: "Water Bubbling", " Spliff Tail", "Raving", "Touch Me, Take Me" and "Run Around Woman". Palma has worked with Linval Thompson, who produced his ''Joker Lover'' and ''Settle Down Girl'' albums, and also George Phang, Tony Robinson, Sugar Minott, Bunny Gemini, and Castro Brown. In the mid-1980s, Palma became involved in the

famine A famine is a widespread scarcity of food, caused by several factors including war, natural disasters, crop failure, population imbalance, widespread poverty, an economic catastrophe or government policies. This phenomenon is usually accom ...

-relief charity project

Music Music is generally defined as the The arts, art of arranging sound to create some combination of Musical form, form, harmony, melody, rhythm or otherwise Musical expression, expressive content. Exact definition of music, definitions of mu ...

is Life, along with

Freddie McGregor Freddie McGregor (born 27 June 1956, in Clarendon, Jamaica) is a Jamaican singer, musician and record producer. His music career began when he was seven years old. Biography In 1963 he joined with Ernest Wilson and Peter Austin to form The C ...

Mutabaruka Allan Hope (born 1952), better known as Mutabaruka, is a Jamaican Rastafari dub poet, musician, actor, educator, and talk-show host, who developed two of Jamaica's most popular radio programmes, ''The Cutting Edge'' and ''Steppin' Razor''. His ...

Gregory Isaacs Gregory Anthony Isaacs OD (15 July 1951 – 25 October 2010)Thompson, p. 127. was a Jamaican reggae musician. Milo Miles, writing in ''The New York Times'', described Isaacs as "the most exquisite vocalist in reggae".Miles, Milo (1992),RECORDI ...

Third World The term "Third World" arose during the Cold War to define countries that remained non-aligned with either NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the Nor ...

, Edi Fitzroy, and

Steel Pulse Steel Pulse are a roots reggae band from the Handsworth area of Birmingham, England. They originally formed at Handsworth Wood Boys School, and were composed of David Hinds (lead vocals, guitar), Basil Gabbidon (lead guitar, vocals), and Ro ...

, contributing to the charity single "Land of

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

". Palma's popularity continued through the 1980s with

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 Ro ...

hits that included "Lick Shot", a track that utilized rhythms by

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 ...

and Sly Dunbar, and he also recorded extensively with Style Scott, Errol Holt ( the

Roots Radics The Roots Radics Band was formed in 1978 by bass player Errol "Flabba" Holt, guitarist Eric "Bingy Bunny" Lamont and drummer Lincoln "Style" Scott. They were joined by many musicians, including guitarist Noel "Sowell" Bailey, Dwight Pinkney ...

) and renowned sound engineer Scientist (musician) and in the 1990s he recorded the ''Three Against War'' song and album with

Dennis Brown Dennis Emmanuel Brown CD (1 February 1957 – 1 July 1999) was a Jamaican reggae singer. During his prolific career, which began in the late 1960s when he was aged eleven, he recorded more than 75 albums and was one of the major stars of lo ...

and Beenie Man. Palma has worked as a producer himself, working with artists such as Phillip Frazer, Josey Wales, and Robert Ffrench, and has provided backing vocals for singers such as Sugar Minott,

Tony Tuff Tony may refer to: People and fictional characters * Tony (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters * Gregory Tony (born 1978), American law enforcement officer * Motu Tony (born 1981), New Zealand international rugby leag ...

, and

.Triston Palma at Roots Archives
/ref> He also built his own ''Star Creation'' studio.

Discography

Albums

*''Presenting Triston Palma'' (1981) Black Roots *''Fancyness'' (1982) Gorgon *''Joker Lover'' (1982) Jah Guidance *''Showcase In A Roots Radics Drum & Bass'' (1982) Midnight Rock/Vista Sounds/Gorgon *''Joker Smoker'' (1982)

Greensleeves "Greensleeves" is a traditional English folk song. A broadside ballad by the name "A Newe Northen Dittye of ye Ladye Greene Sleves" was registered by Richard Jones at the London Stationer's Company in September 1580,Frank Kidson, ''English Fo ...

/Clocktower *''Touch Me, Take Me'' (1982) Midnight Rock/Vista Sounds/A&A *''Nice Time'' (1982) Jam Rock (with Toyan) *''Entertainment'' (1982) Midnight Rock *''Settle Down Girl'' (1983) Trojan *''The Big Showdown'' (1984) Black Solidarity (Trison Palma and Phillip Frazer) *''Triston Palma Meets Early B The Doctor'' (198?) Fantastique (Garrick Robertson Triston Palma and Early B) *''I and I and Inity'' (198?) Drum & Bass (with Philip Frazer) *''Wounded'' (1989) Bungem *''The Best of'' (198?) Rohit *''Three Against War'' (1995) VP (with Dennis Brown and Beenie Man) *''Triston Palmer Meets Jah Thomas Inna Disco Style'' (1996) Munich/Majestic *''Born Naked'' (1997) I&I Foundation *''On The Attack'' Blue Mountain *''Wounded'' Bungem *''Spliff Tail'' Black Solidarity *''Triston Palma Meets Michael Palmer'' Midnight Rock (with Michael Palmer) *''Two Roads'' (2000) Easy Star ;Contributing artist * '' The Rough Guide to Reggae'' (1997)

World Music Network World Music Network is a UK-based record label specializing in world music. The World Music Network website features news, reviews, live music listings, and guide sections on world music. It also features an online "Battle of the Bands" compet ...

Singles

*"Melissa" (1982) JR 7" *"My Father Love" Vasco 7" *"Spliff Tail" Black Solidarity 7" *"Another Girl" with Phillip Frazier Solidarity International 7" *"Ghetto Vibes" I&I Foundation 7" *"The Struggle" with Norris Man I&I Foundation 7" *"Can't Let Them Do That" (1997) Artistic 7" *"Jah Is In Charge" (1997) Ruff Stock 7" *"Cuss Cuss" (1997) Massive B 7" *"Original Fussing & Fighting" (1998) Ranking Joe 7" *"Sweet Reggae Music" "Corner Stone 12"

References

External links

Triston Palma
on Myspace
Triston Palmer at Last.fmTriston Palmer at riddimguide.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Palma, Triston 1962 births Living people Musicians from Kingston, Jamaica Jamaican reggae musicians Easy Star Records artists