Free Republic

IN 1964, at the height of the ska craze, Edward Seaga, Jamaica's minister of social welfare and economic development, invited Byron Lee and the Dragonaires (BL&D) to his West Kingston constituency to revel in a sound that was rocking Kingston's clubs. "Byron, myself and Ken Lazarus went down there and he (Seaga) said 'listen to this'. We heard these guys making amazing music," recalled BL&D lead singer Keith Lyn. That "amazing music" was ska. The West Kingston trip inspired Lazarus and Lyn to write Jamaican Ska, which remains one of the band's biggest hits. It is one of 20 songs...

A MEMBER of popular ska band Bombskare has branded Edinburgh Airport’s security "humourless" after being ordered to cover up a t-shirt bearing the group’s name before boarding a flight to Shetland on Saturday. The group were catching a flight to Sumburgh Airport before headlining Saturday night’s hugely successful MS fundraising concert at Mareel. Keyboardist Matthew Bartlett told Shetland News that two members of security had told him the t-shirt could offend fellow travellers. After putting his hand luggage through the security machine, he walked through a body scanner which did not bleep, and he was not searched. “But the guy...

Jamaican singer Derrick Morgan recorded the song "Conquering Ruler" in 1967, and it was no empty boast. He dominated his country's airwaves in the early '60s when he was barely out of his teens. Now 73 and performing regularly, Morgan is equally proud of his endurance. But Morgan never had much choice. He grew up near Kingston's Orange Street, which was lined with record stores and producers. Morgan studied bookkeeping at school and began singing for his classmates. An eye disease left him with poor vision and unable to ever crunch numbers professionally. Fortunately, Morgan's winning rendition of Little Richard's...

The British ska-revival band The Selecter formed in the late 1970s, playing what can be described as rock fused with calypso and American jazz. Much of what set the band apart was its charismatic lead singer, Pauline Black. As one of few women in a musical movement dominated by men, she was called "The Queen of British Ska." That experience is one of many recounted in her new memoir, Black by Design, which has just been released in the U.S. Black opens her memoir with a scene from 1958: She is 4 years old and living in the working-class county...

BARRINGTON Llewellyn, founding member of the group Heptones is dead. He was 63. According to Earl Morgan — founder of the trio — Llewellyn began complaining of not feeling well and was rushed to the University Hospital in St Andrew on Tuesday. He passed away at 3:15 a.m. the day after. No cause was given for his death The funeral is scheduled for Jamaica Association for Vintage Artistes and Affiliates (JAVAA) headquarters at 5-7 Hagley Park Road, Kingston 10 on Sunday, December 4. Llewellyn, who would have celebrated his birthday on Christmas, is best remembered as the lead vocals in...

Two minutes into the first song by the opening act, forty teenagers and a few adults spontaneously erupt into a single skanking mass in the center of the dance floor. Just a moment ago they stood mostly still while sizing up the band, a ska outfit from Sacramento called the Street Vendors, and now they've transformed as if through an inexorable scientific reaction into a writhing jumble of knees and elbows. That's what they're here for, after all. With $500 on the line during a ska dancing competition later in the evening, they may as well get warmed up. Ali...

The late pioneer of Soca, Byron Aloysius St. Elmo Lee BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – SOCA pioneer and leader of the world renowned ‘Byron Lee and the Dragonaires’, Byron Aloysius St. Elmo Lee is not dead. Children of the 73-year-old Jamaican icon recently issued a missive which sought to clear the air on the reports that sparked erroneous releases from media houses in Canada, USA and around the Caribbean, including SKNVibes. The missive reads: Dear All, Our Dad is very much alive. Since Tuesday afternoon, we all have been bombarded with e-mails, calls, faxes, etc., re: a rumour which started in...

Born in Christiana, Manchester in 1935, Mr. Lee died at the Tony Thwaites Wing at the University Hospital of the West Indies on Tuesday. Mr. Lee was admitted after developing complications, after being diagnosed with stage three cancer in November 2006. He was conferred with the Order of Jamaica on October 26, whil in hospital, one day after returning home via air ambulance nd being placed in the care of his localdoctors. He had previously been awarded the Order of Distinction, Commander Class.

It was a rousing, rollicking send-off to singer Alton Ellis that was staged at the Scots Kirk on Duke Street yesterday. Actually, Alton's funeral service was a two-part event, with Part one being a true celebration which had those in attendance caught up somewhere between a Heineken Startime and a gospel showcase. And, Alton's family and his peers in the business came out to be a part of this last hurrah, but so too did his numerous fans, music industry personnel, ministers of government, the curious and those who felt the need to be part of history. Bunny & Skully's...

Desmond Dekker dies published: Friday | May 26, 2006 Kandré McDonald, Freelance Writer The three-man singing group, Desmond Dekker and the Aces, is seen before departing on a tour of the United Kingdom, New York, Germany and Ireland, at the Palisadoes Airport. From left are Winston Samuels, the leader, Desmond Dekker, and Easton Howard. - FILE DESMOND ADOLPHUS Dacres, more widely known around the globe as Desmond Dekker, is dead. The ska artiste, who was born on July 17, 1941, in Jamaica, died in the United Kingdom at 4:00 a.m. Thursday.According to his manager, Delroy Williams, Dekker, who is...