| Little Roy returns after 26 years! |
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To make the Little Roy paradox even more interesting other artistes have reaped rich dividends by covering some of his songs. |
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His songs are well known, yet he is somewhat an unsung hero as many people don't associate his name with some of his more famous works.
This is the rather interesting paradox of Little Roy, one of reggae's vintage singers/songwriters who will be performing for the first time in 26 years on a local stage at Saturday night's Heineken Startime at the Cable and
Wireless Golf Academy on Knutsford Boulevard in Kingston.
To make the Little Roy paradox even more interesting other artistes have reaped rich dividends by covering some of his songs.
Freddie McGregor s version of Prophecy,, as well as George Nooks' remake of Tribal War, are just two examples of Little Roy's originals which have been covered and have been successful.
The gifted songwriter, born Earl Lowe in Whitfield Town, is best known for Bongo Nyah and to a lesser extent, Columbus.
"I'm looking forward to performing on this show to let Jamaica know the true history of Little Roy," the Rastafarian entertainer told the Observer in a recent telephone interview from England.
"Little Roy is firm and can still do the work, I'm still good at it," said the artiste who stumbled into the music business when he followed friends to auditions at Studio One in the late 1960s.
The friends, Harold Burgess and Barrington Bailey, currently play in the horns section of Bunny Wailer's band.
"They went for an audition at Studio One, which is not far from our school in the Cross Roads area of Kingston. I followed them just as friends. When they finish singing to Jackie Mittoo, I was standing on the side and Jackie Mittoo said to me, sing me something. Singing really wasn't on my mind because I was more into school work as a youth. But I started to write songs and even started singing at home with my friends them...and they encouraged me to do recordings," Little Roy said.
Then he went to Prince Buster who was living in his neighbourhood in Washington Gardens, and with whose son he was very close.
"Eventually I recorded a song for Prince Buster who gave me the name Little Roy," Little Roy said.
Little Roy questions the origins of the name reggae. According to him, his second song for Prince Buster, Reggae Soul, was the first record of the genre.
"I've started asking the question, when the name reggae really came about. Because in 1967, I did a song called Reggae Soul, and if the word reggae came after 1967, when I recorded the song for Prince Buster, I would be the first artiste to have actually used the name reggae."
The singer, who performs occasionally in Europe,, is also claiming that his Bongo Nyah is the first Rasta song to reach number one on the local charts.
"In 1969/70, I went among the Twelve Tribes organisation, at the time was called Charter 15 Ethiopian World Federation. I was still in school in 1969, I had a song called Bongo Nyah, that was the first Rasta song to go to number one. This song was done for Lloyd 'Matador' Daley. It used to play on both JBC and RJR one time. I was the foundation."
Little Roy says he will be performing his most current recording, Stay A Little Bit Longer, a cover of another reggae pioneer, Delano Stewart, on the Heineken Startime show.
"I did it (Stay A Little Longer) for a white company with a different kind of beat beneath it. This song has three different formats. It has the reggae format, it has a house format, and it has a format that makes it eligible to play in carnivals."
His most recent album is called Children of the Most High.
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Posted by: Hacki
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| LINK:
www.jamaicaobserver.com/lifestyle/html/20050621... |
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