Vincent Ford
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Vincent Ford (c. 1940 – 28 December 2008), known as "Tata" or "Tartar", was a
Jamaica Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of His ...
n
songwriter A songwriter is a musician who professionally composes musical compositions or writes lyrics for songs, or both. The writer of the music for a song can be called a composer, although this term tends to be used mainly in the classical music gen ...
best known for receiving writing credit for "
No Woman, No Cry "No Woman, No Cry" is a reggae song by Bob Marley and the Wailers. The song was recorded in 1974 and released on the studio album '' Natty Dread''. The live recording of this song from the 1975 album '' Live!'' was released as a single and is ...
", the
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 ...
song made famous by Bob Marley & The Wailers, as well as three other
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 ...
songs. However, controversy persisted as to whether the compositions had actually been written by Marley himself, and had been credited to Ford to allow Marley to avoid contractual obligations, resulting in a legal battle that ended with the Marley estate being granted control of the songs.Kenner, Rob
"Vincent Ford Dies at 68; Inspired Classic Bob Marley Songs"
''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'', 3 January 2009. Accessed 5 January 2009.


Biography

Vincent Ford was born around 1940. He used a wheelchair, having lost his legs due to
diabetes Diabetes, also known as diabetes mellitus, is a group of metabolic disorders characterized by a high blood sugar level ( hyperglycemia) over a prolonged period of time. Symptoms often include frequent urination, increased thirst and increased ap ...
. Despite his disability, he was still able to save another youth from drowning when he was a teenager. He ran a soup kitchen 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 t ...
. Ford died at age 68 on 28 December 2008 in
Kingston, Jamaica Kingston is the capital and largest city of Jamaica, located on the southeastern coast of the island. It faces a natural harbour protected by the Palisadoes, a long sand spit which connects the town of Port Royal and the Norman Manley Inter ...
.


Songwriting

Marley had signed a songwriting contract with producer Danny Sims at Cayman Music, and in 1972, Marley and the Wailers were signed by
Chris Blackwell Christopher Percy Gordon Blackwell (born 22 June 1937) is an English businessman and former record producer, and the founder of Island Records, which has been called "one of Britain's great independent labels". According to the Rock and Roll ...
to
Island Records Island Records is a multinational record label owned by Universal Music Group. It was founded in 1959 by Chris Blackwell, Graeme Goodall, and Leslie Kong in Jamaica, and was eventually sold to PolyGram in 1989. Island and A&M Records, anoth ...
. Ford was given writing credit for "
No Woman, No Cry "No Woman, No Cry" is a reggae song by Bob Marley and the Wailers. The song was recorded in 1974 and released on the studio album '' Natty Dread''. The live recording of this song from the 1975 album '' Live!'' was released as a single and is ...
" on the 1974 album ''
Natty Dread ''Natty Dread'' is the seventh album by Bob Marley and the Wailers, released in 1974. Previously Marley had recorded with Peter Tosh and Bunny Wailer as the Wailers, and this was his first record without them. ''Natty Dread'' was most popularly ...
'', as well the songs "Crazy Baldhead" (with Marley's wife
Rita Rita may refer to: People * Rita (given name) * Rita (Indian singer) (born 1984) * Rita (Israeli singer) (born 1962) * Rita (Japanese singer) * Eliza Humphreys (1850–1938), wrote under the pseudonym Rita Places * Djarrit, also known as Rita, ...
), "Positive Vibration" and "Roots Rock Reggae" from the 1976 album ''
Rastaman Vibration ''Rastaman Vibration'' is the eighth studio album by the reggae band Bob Marley and the Wailers, released in April 1976. Critical reception Reviewing for ''Rolling Stone'' in 1976, Robert Palmer said that on the album Marley consummately perfo ...
'', along with "Inna de Red" and "Jah Bless" with Marley's son,
Stephen Stephen or Steven is a common English first name. It is particularly significant to Christians, as it belonged to Saint Stephen ( grc-gre, Στέφανος ), an early disciple and deacon who, according to the Book of Acts, was stoned to death; ...
.Leigh, Spencer
"Vincent Ford: Songwriter credited with composing 'No Woman, No Cry'"
''
The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...
'', 7 January 2009. Accessed 7 January 2009.
Marley had not wanted his new songs to be associated with Cayman and it had been speculated, including in his obituary in ''
The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...
'', that he had put them in the names of his close friends and family members as a means of avoiding the contractual restrictions and as a way to "provide lasting help to family and close friends". Marley's widow was sued by his former manager Danny Sims in a claim for royalty and ownership rights to these songs. Sims claimed that Marley had actually written the songs but had assigned the credit to Ford to avoid meeting obligations under Marley's contract with Sims. A 1987 court decision sided with the Marley estate, which assumed full control of the songs. Marley historian
Roger Steffens Roger Steffens (born June 17, 1942) is an American actor, author, lecturer, editor, reggae archivist, photographer and, producer. Six rooms of his home in Los Angeles house reggae archives, which include the world's largest collection of Bob Mar ...
recounted that Marley had acknowledged in a 1975
Jamaica Broadcasting Corporation The Jamaica Broadcasting Corporation (JBC) was a public broadcasting company in Jamaica founded in 1959 by premier Norman Manley with the aim of emulating the success of other national broadcasting companies such as the BBC and CBC.Thomas, Pradip ...
interview that he had written "No Woman, No Cry" while tuning a guitar in Tata's yard. While in Trenchtown in the late 1970s, Marley biographer
Vivien Goldman Vivien Goldman (born 1952) is a British journalist, writer and musician. Early life and education Goldman was born in London in 1952, the child of two German-Jewish refugees from Nazi Germany. She studied English and American literature at th ...
asked Ford point-blank "Was it you?" who wrote the songs. Ford never responded to the question directly, answering "Well, what do you think?" Goldman described Ford as "an unbroken link to a generation, many of whom are now gone", reminiscing that "The last time I saw him he was going into a Marley family gig in Kingston, and he was just borne along on a wave of youth, all admiring him and understanding what he’d come to represent." Given the collaborative nature of reggae, Goldman described how "That song may very well have been a conversation that they had sitting around one night. That's the way Bob's creativity worked. In the end it didn't matter. The point is Bob wanted him to have the money."


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ford, Vincent 1940s births 2008 deaths Deaths from diabetes Jamaican songwriters