Hortense Ellis (18 April 1941 – 19 October 2000) was a
reggae musician, and the younger sister of fellow artist
.
[Hortense Ellis, Underrated Talent]
, ''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 ...
'', 24 February 2022. Retrieved 26 February 2022
Biography
Born in
Trenchtown,
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'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 and The Dragonaires and had begun recording with some of the island's top producers such as
Ken Lack
Ken Lack (born Blondel Keith Calnek, 1934, died June 6, 2001, Miami) was a Jamaican ska, rocksteady and reggae record producer active in the latter half of the 1960s, who also ran the Caltone and JonTom record labels.Williams, Mark (2001)Obituary o ...
("I Shall Sing", "Hell And Sorrow" and "Brown Girl in the Ring"),
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 ...
"I'll Come Softly" in 1963 and
Duke Reid "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, she recorded several sides including "
Right on the Tip of My Tongue
"Right on the Tip of My Tongue" is a song written by Van McCoy and Joe Cobb and performed by Brenda & the Tabulations. It reached #10 on the U.S. R&B chart and #23 on the U.S. pop chart in 1971.
The song was arranged by Van McCoy and prod ...
" and "Piece of My Heart".
Ellis' success came in the late 1970s with a song recorded for
Gussie Clarke
Augustus "Gussie" Clarke (born 1954) is a reggae producer who worked with some of the top Jamaican reggae artists in the 1970s and later set up his own Music Works studio.
Career
Clarke started working in the music industry by cutting dub plat ...
; "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's big hit "
Uptown Top Ranking", 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,
The Aggrovators and the up-and-coming team of
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 ...
and
Robbie Shakespeare. 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
Patricia Louise Holte (born May 24, 1944), known professionally as Patti LaBelle, is an American R&B singer, actress and businesswoman.
LaBelle is referred to as the " Godmother of Soul".
She began her career in the early 1960s as lead singe ...
) and "
Young Hearts Run Free" (
Candi Staton
Canzetta Maria "Candi" Staton (, ) (born March 13, 1940) is an American singer–songwriter, best known in the United States for her 1970 remake of Tammy Wynette's " Stand by Your Man" and her 1976 disco chart-topper "Young Hearts Run Free". In E ...
). 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
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