Artist Tribute

Alton Nehemiah Ellis, OD, was born September 1, 1938 and grew up in Kingston's Trench Town district in Jamaica. He attended Ebeneezer and Boy's Town schools, where he excelled in both music and sports.

Ellis initially sought fame as a dancer, competing on Vere John's Opportunity Hour. After winning a couple of competitions, he switched to singing, starting his career in 1959 as part of the duo Alton & Eddy with Eddy Perkins.

Ellis and Perkins recorded for Coxsone Dodd at Studio One, initially in the R&B style, having a massive hit with Muriel, a song Ellis had written whilst working as a laborer on a work site. He also recorded follow-ups songs My Heaven, Lullabye Angel, I Know It All, I'm Never Gonna Cry and Yours.

The ...

Garnet Silk, born Garnet Damion Smith in Bromelia, in the parish of Manchester, Jamaica, on the second day of April 1966. Garnett gain his musical aspirations as a young boy and by his mid teens had taken on the moniker “little Bimbo”.

But it was not until his move from rural Jamaica to central Kingston did the artist we know as Garnett Silk begin to take shape. After stints with various labels including stalwarts such as Sugar Minott Youth Promotions and Penthouse Records, he collided with the musical tag team Steele & Clevie, who some credit for discovering the silky smooth voice that became the signature sound behind the man we now know as Garnett Silk.

During a brief sabbatical in 1992, Garnett had become an understudy of Rastafari, and close friends with Tony Rebel, and Yasus Afari, two influential members ...

Ken Boothe was born in the Denham Town area of Kingston in 1948, the youngest of seven children, and began singing in school. His recording career began in the late 1950s when he formed a duo with his neighbour Stranger Cole as 'Stranger & Ken', the first tracks released by them being "Hush Baby" on the B-side of Cole's Island Records single "Last Love", and the "Thick in Love" single on R&B Records, both in 1963. They released several more popular singles between 1963 and 1965, including "World's Fair", "Hush", and "Artibella". Boothe also recorded as a duo with Roy Shirley (as Roy & Ken), releasing the "Paradise" single in 1966.

His first solo tracks were recorded in 1966 after Clement "Coxsone" Dodd had signed him to the Studio One Label. He ...

Freddie McGregor was born June 27, 1956, in Clarendon Jamaica. Freddie McGregor have an incredibly steady career that started all the way back in the 1960s, when he was just seven years old.

In 1963 Freddie McGregor joined with Ernest Wilson and Peter Austin to form The Clarendonians, and began to record for the Studio One label. McGregor worked with producer Niney the Observer during the late 1970s and early 1980s.

In 1975, McGregor converted to Rastafari, which had a profound impact on his music. He is a member of the Twelve Tribes organization.

His popularity soared in the early 1980s with the release of "Bobby Babylon". Other popular hits of McGregor's include "Big Ship", "Push Comes to Shove", "Just Don't Want to Be Lonely ...

Dennis Brown was born on 1 February 1957 at Jubilee Hospital in Kingston, Jamaica. His father, Arthur, was a scriptwriter, actor, and journalist. Dennis Brown grew up in a large tenement yard between North Street and King Street in Kingston, with his parents, three elder brothers and a sister. Sadly, his mother passed away in the 1960s while he was still a child.

Dennis Brown attended Central Branch Primary School and later St. Stephens College. He began his singing career at the early age of nine. His first public performance was at an end-of-term school concert.

Brown's first professional appearance came at the age of eleven, when he visited a local club where his brother, Basil, was performing a comedy routine. There, he made a guest appearance with the club's resident group, the Fabulous Falcons.

Brown's first recording was an original song called Lips of Wine for producer Derrick Harriott, but when this was not released, he recorded for Clement "Coxsone" Dodd's Studio One label; his first session with Studio One yielded the single No Man is an Island, recorded ...

The Honourable James "Jimmy Cliff" Chambers OM, was born April 1, 1948. He is a ska and reggae singer, musician, and actor. He is the only currently living musician to hold the Order of Merit, the highest honour that can be granted by the Jamaican government for achievement in the arts and sciences.

He is best known among mainstream audiences for songs such as "Sitting in Limbo," "You Can Get It If You Really Want," and "Many Rivers to Cross" from the soundtrack to The Harder They Come, which helped popularize reggae across the world and his covers of Cat Stevens' "Wild World" and Johnny Nash's "I Can See Clearly Now" from the film Cool Runnings.


Jimmy Cliff was born in Somerton District of St. James. He began ...