Rocksteady is a music genre that originated in Jamaica around 1966. A successor of ska and a precursor to reggae , rocksteady was the dominant style of music in Jamaica for nearly two years, performed by many of the artists who helped establish reggae, including harmony groups such as the Techniques , the Paragons , the Heptones and the Gaylads ; soulful singers such as Alton Ellis , Delroy Wilson , Bob Andy, Ken Boothe and Phyllis Dillon ; musicians such as Jackie Mittoo , Lynn Taitt and Tommy McCook . The term rocksteady comes from a popular (slower) dance style mentioned in the Alton Ellis song "Rocksteady", that matched the new sound. Some rocksteady songs became hits outside Jamaica, as with ska, helping to secure the international base reggae music has today.
33-731: The Heptones are a Jamaican rocksteady and reggae vocal 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 rocksteady into reggae with their three-part harmonies . The Heptones were contemporaries of the Wailers and the Maytals , and every bit their equal in the mid-1960s. Leroy Sibbles , Earl Morgan, and Barry Llewellyn first came together as "The Hep Ones" in 1965 in Kingston , but they soon changed their name to "The Heptones". The name
66-820: A Date" on his Treasure Isle label, as well as recordings by the Techniques , the Silvertones , the Jamaicans and the Paragons . Reid's work with these groups helped establish the vocal sound of rocksteady. Some would consider the rocksteady years to be Treasure Isle's best. Notable solo artists include Delroy Wilson , Ken Boothe and Phyllis Dillon (known as the "Queen of Rocksteady"). Other musicians who were crucial in creating rocksteady included keyboard player Jackie Mittoo , drummers Joe Isaacs and Winston Grennan, bassist Jackie Jackson and saxophonist Tommy McCook . When ska band
99-470: A Firehouse . In 1980, he appeared on the soundtrack of the documentary DOA . He released Rising Sun in 1986. He also toured throughout the world, recording a live album in Tokyo in 1987. In 1997, he played melodica on Primal Scream 's single " Star ". Augustus Pablo died as a result of a collapsed lung on 18 May 1999. He had been suffering for some time from the nerve disorder myasthenia gravis . Pablo
132-465: A jazz club after work. Other influences were: most notably, American rhythm and blues - Fats Domino, Louis Jordan and many others - mento , Calypso music and African Drumming feature, too. By the time rocksteady came around American Soul music was strong and that had an influence as well. The tempo became slower with the development of rocksteady than it had been in ska. The guitar and piano players began to experiment with occasional accents around
165-572: A long run of success for Coxsone, including "Pretty Looks Isn't All", "Get In The Groove", "Be a Man", "Sea of Love" (a cover of the Phil Phillips and the Twilights doo-wop classic), "Ting a Ling", "Party Time", and "I Hold the Handle." They were the chief rivals to The Techniques , who recorded for Arthur "Duke" Reid , as the top vocal act of the rocksteady era. During their five years at Brentford Road,
198-407: A successful solo career, having already cut a solo version of "Love Won't Come Easy" for Augustus Pablo , and having cut his own solo singles for Lee Perry ("Rasta Fari" and "Garden of Life") and Dennis Brown 's DEB Music ("New Song" and "Ain't No Love"). He was replaced by Dolphin "Naggo" Morris, who had recorded "Su Su Pon Rasta" for Joe Gibbs and "You Should Love Your Brother" for King Jammys, but
231-484: A suggestion to slow the music down whilst recording "Take It Easy". Taitt backed this up in a 2002 interview, stating: "I told 'Gladdy to slow the tempo and that's how Take It Easy and rocksteady came about. Rocksteady is really slow ska." Rocksteady's dominance meant that all record labels of the time released music in the genre; Studio One, Treasure Isle, Bunny Lee and Prince Buster were predominant. The record producer Duke Reid released Alton Ellis' "Girl I've Got
264-588: The Rastafari movement , though not to the same extent as in reggae. Rocksteady coincided with the rise of rude boys and some rocksteady songs reflect this (usually negatively) such as "Rude Boy Gone A Jail" by the Clarendonians and, most famously, "Judge Dread" by Prince Buster. Alton Ellis was anti-rudie, and Alton Ellis and the Flames' "Cry Tough", released before the term rocksteady was in vogue, urged Jamaicans in
297-643: The Jamaican countryside were flooding into the urban ghettos of Kingston —in neighborhoods such as Riverton City, Greenwich Town and Trenchtown . Many of them became delinquents who exuded a certain coolness and style. These unruly youths became known as rude boys . Alton Ellis is sometimes said to be the father of rocksteady for his hit "Rocksteady"; however, other candidates for the first rocksteady single include "Take It Easy" by Hopeton Lewis , "Tougher Than Tough" by Derrick Morgan and "Hold Them" by Roy Shirley . One account of rocksteady's inception comes from
330-744: The Kingston College School, where a girl lent him a melodica. He also met Herman Chin Loy , who after working at his cousin Leslie Kong 's Beverley's record shop, had set up his own Aquarius store in Half Way Tree . Swaby recorded several tracks, including "Higgi Higgi", "East of the River Nile", "Song of the East" and "The Red Sea" between 1971 and 1973, for Chin-Loy's Aquarius Records. Chin Loy had previously used
363-644: The Skatalites disbanded (64/65—accounts vary) McCook went to work at the Treasure Isle label and Jackie Mittoo went to the Studio One label—these two artists/arrangers became instrumental in the way these two labels became dominant and helped to form the sound of Rocksteady. Despite its short lifespan, rocksteady's influence is great. Many reggae artists began in rocksteady (and/or ska)—most commonly reggae singers grew out of rocksteady groups, e.g., Junior Byles came from
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#1732859205588396-507: The Techniques and "Lonely Street" by the Conquerors, both for Treasure Isle label. Augustus Pablo Horace Michael Swaby (21 June 1953 – 18 May 1999), also known as Augustus Pablo , was a Jamaican roots reggae and dub record producer and a multi-instrumentalist that was active from the 1970s until his death. He was born in St. Andrew , Jamaica, and learned to play the organ at
429-707: The Versatiles, John Holt was in the Paragons, both Pat Kelly and Slim Smith sang with the Techniques (Pat Kelly sings lead on "You Don't Care") and Ronnie Davis was in the Tennors while Winston Jarrett was in the Righteous Flames. The Wailing Wailers were similarly a vocal harmony trio (modelled on the Impressions) who came from ska, through rocksteady and became a reggae band with just the one main vocalist. Derrick Harriott noted, "Ask any Jamaican musician and they'll tell you
462-474: The age of 64. As of 2016, the line-up featured Morgan with Robert Dacres and Carlton Scarlett. This line-up recorded the album Rebel Love , released in May 2016. Rocksteady The Jamaican musicians and producers who developed rocksteady had grown up learning and playing jazz and had played through ska. In a similar way to what happened at Motown, the musicians responsible for playing this new sound would go to
495-494: The arrangements, and the piano gave way to the electric organ . Other developments included horns fading farther into the background; the introduction of a scratchier, more percussive rhythm guitar; the addition of African-style hand drumming, and a more precise, intricate and aggressive drumming style. Also around this time (1969–70) the use of a vocal-free or lead instrument-free dub or B-side "version" became popular in Jamaica; at
528-402: The basic offbeat pattern. The slowing that occurred with rocksteady allowed bass players to explore more fat, dark, loose, slow tones than ska bass. The slower tempo and smaller band-sizes in turn led to a much larger focus on the bass line in general, which eventually became one of the recognizable characteristics of Jamaican music. In rocksteady, the lead guitar often doubles the bass line, in
561-460: The beginning this involved the use of rocksteady tracks, most notably with U-Roy deejaying over Treasure Isle rhythms (made by a young Osbourne Ruddock, later known as King Tubby , beginning with "Wake the Town"). Indeed, this collaboration provided rocksteady with an afterlife as U-Roy rocksteady-based songs rode high in the charts (1970–71), even as reggae began to establish itself as the new sound. By
594-468: The film "Studio One Drummie and the history of rocksteady music": rock steady music started at Studio One in 1966 because when Joe Isaacs at age 15 replaced Skatalites drummer Lloyd Knibbs, Isaacs could not play drums fast enough to keep up with the pace of ska - music director Jackie Mittoo (The Mozart of Jamaica), slowed down the tempo. Another account comes from a Jamaican radio interview, pianist Gladstone Anderson said that bandleader Lynn Taitt made
627-434: The ghettos to stay tough through the hard times. As a popular musical style, rocksteady was short-lived - the genre's heyday only lasted about two years, from around summer 1966 until spring 1968. However, its influence can still be heard in rhythms used today. Also, in the middle to later part of the decade, as ska began to fade in popularity and the optimism that accompanied Independence in 1962 dwindled, young people from
660-624: The group's few songs not sung by Sibbles. Barry Llewelyn sang lead and co-wrote "Book of Rules". Musically, the song was heavily influenced by Glen Campbell 's "Try A Little Kindness." The song was featured on the soundtrack for the 1978 Jamaican film Rockers , and the 1998 American comedy-thriller film Homegrown . Sibbles emigrated to Canada in 1973 and the group suspended recording activities, returning in 1975 to once again record at Harry J's Kingston studio. In 1975, The Heptones signed an album deal with Island Records . Two albums resulted: Night Food in 1976 and Party Time in 1977. Night Food
693-661: The group's popularity waned. By the late 1970s, their slick stage suits and covers of pop tunes found little favour with audiences more used to more "militant" dreadlocked performers singing of Rastafari , and they began to be perceived as relics of an older era. Despite being produced by Joseph Hoo Kim at Channel One , Good Life (1979) saw the group treading water, and the years that followed brought little success. The original trio reunited in 1995, and released Pressure! , produced by Tapper Zukie . Barry Llewellyn died on 23 November 2011, in Kingston Public Hospital , at
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#1732859205588726-587: The home of Studio One, Leroy Sibbles played bass on numerous sessions, auditioned acts, and, along with Jackie Mittoo, was the chief studio arranger. Some of their instrumental session work was released as the Soul Vendors and Sound Dimension . Amongst the rhythms featuring Sibbles' bass playing are Alton Ellis ' "I'm Still in Love", "Full Up" (used on Musical Youth 's "Pass The Dutchie"), and The Abyssinians " Satta Massagana ". The Heptones remained at Studio One well into
759-698: The labels Hot Stuff, Message and Rockers (named after his brother's soundsystem , Rockers). Pablo's 1974 album This Is Augustus Pablo was recorded with Clive and Pat Chin. This was followed by a collaboration with King Tubby in their 1975's Ital Dub . Pablo produced a number of songs in the 1970s, including "Black Star Liner" (with Fred Locks ). He has also worked with Dillinger , I-Roy , Jacob Miller , The Immortals , Paul Blackman , Earl Sixteen , Roman Stewart , Lacksley Castell , The Heptones , Bob Marley , Delroy Wilson , Junior Delgado , Horace Andy and Freddy McKay . With Jacob Miller, he recorded "Baby I Love You So" in 1974. Pablo's dub version of
792-406: The late 1960s, the Rastafari movement became more popular in Jamaica and rocksteady became less popular. Many reggae songs became focused less on romance and more on black consciousness, politics and protest. The release of the 1972 film The Harder They Come and the rise of Jamaican superstar Bob Marley brought reggae to an international level that rocksteady never reached. Although rocksteady
825-499: The muted picking style created by Lynn Taitt (as on "Run for Cover" by Lee "Scratch" Perry ). Due in part to the heavy borrowing from US soul songs, many rocksteady songs are love songs; e.g. "Sharing You" by Prince Buster, which is a cover of a soul singer Mitty Collier 's original, and "Queen Majesty" by the Techniques , which is a cover of "Minstrel and Queen" by the Impressions . There are rocksteady songs about religion and
858-484: The name Augustus Pablo generically for keyboard instrumentals recorded by Lloyd Charmers and Glen Adams , and Swaby took the name for this recording. He soon joined Now Generation ( Mikey Chung 's band) and played keyboard with them while his friend Clive Chin began his own career as a record producer. Pablo and Chin recorded "Java" (1972) together after Pablo quit Now Generation. He has recorded with Chin and Chin's uncle, Leonard Chin , and Lee Perry . Pablo formed
891-399: The reggae era, where they cut tunes such as "Message from a Black Man", "Love Won't Come Easy", "I Hold (Got) The Handle", "I Love You", and a successful cover version of " Suspicious Minds ", then went on to record with Joe Gibbs and Harry J in the early 1970s. They had a big hit with "Book of Rules" (based on an American poem called "A Bag of Tools" by R.L. Sharpe) in 1973. It was one of
924-409: The rocksteady days were the best days of Jamaican music." Several factors contributed to the evolution of rocksteady into reggae in the late 1960s. The emigration to Canada of key musical arrangers Jackie Mittoo and Lynn Taitt —and the upgrading of Jamaican studio technology—had a marked effect on the sound and style of the recordings. Bass patterns became more complex and increasingly dominated
957-438: The song, titled " King Tubby Meets Rockers Uptown ", was mixed by sound engineer King Tubby. It was named the 266th greatest song of all time by Rolling Stone . Pablo later released a few LPs, including King Tubbys Meets Rockers Uptown (1976) and Hugh Mundell 's Africa Must Be Free by 1983 . This was followed by East of the River Nile (1978), Original Rockers (1979) and another album, Rockers Meets King Tubbys in
990-472: Was a short-lived phase of Jamaican popular music, its influence on what came after: reggae, dub and dancehall is significant. Many bass lines originally created for rocksteady songs continue to be used in contemporary Jamaican music. Such as the rhythm from "Never Let Go" by Slim Smith (sometimes known as the 'answer rhythm') and "Real Rock" both from the Studio One label; "My Conversation" also sung by Slim Smith, produced by Bunny Lee; "Queen Majesty" sung by
1023-448: Was chosen by Morgan after seeing a Heptones Tonic bottle lying in a pile of refuse. The Heptones recorded for major Jamaican record producers at the time. They began their career, after one unsuccessful single for Ken Lack 's "K Calnek" label, under the watchful eye of Coxsone Dodd of Studio One . The Heptones had a number of Jamaican hits for Studio One, beginning with "Fattie Fattie", their first Studio One single in 1966. This began
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1056-471: Was produced by Danny Holloway , and featured several re-recorded Studio One classics, as well as originals such as "Country Boy" and "Mama Say". The group toured England with Toots & The Maytals to support Night Food' s release. In 1977, The Heptones recorded Party Time with Lee "Scratch" Perry . They had issued a number of singles (including a cover of Billy Stewart 's " I Do Love You ") on his Justice League imprint five years previously. Party Time
1089-426: Was recorded during Black Ark 's peak period. Party Time also included remakes of Studio One tunes, as well as Bob Dylan 's " I Shall Be Released ", along with newer compositions such as "Sufferers' Time". In the same era, they released a number of 12" singles with Lee Perry, such as "Mystery Babylon", "Mr. President" (featuring DJ Jah Lloyd), and "Babylon's Falling". Sibbles left the group once more in 1978 to start
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