Earl George Lawrence also known as George Faith, Earl George, and George Earl, was a Jamaica

Jamaica

Jamaica is an island nation of the Greater Antilles, in length, up to in width and 10,990 square kilometres in area. It is situated in the Caribbean Sea, about south of Cuba, and west of Hispaniola, the island harbouring the nation-states Haiti and the Dominican Republic...

n reggae

Reggae

Reggae is a music genre first developed in Jamaica in the late 1960s. While sometimes used in a broader sense to refer to most types of Jamaican music, the term reggae more properly denotes a particular music style that originated following on the development of ska and rocksteady.Reggae is based...

 singer best known for his work in the 1970s with producers such as Lee "Scratch" Perry and Bunny Lee

Bunny Lee

Edward O'Sullivan Lee, better known as Bunny "Striker" Lee is a prominent, prolific and successful record producer best known for his work in the 1960s and 1970s.-Biography:...

.

Biography

Lawrence was the son of a barber and a factory cook. His singing talent was first noted as a member of the school choir. He made his recording debut in 1970 with "See Me," produced by Clancy Eccles. In the early 1970s he worked with singer/producer Glen Lee, recording "Green Hills, I Won't Cry" and "Gonna Give Her All The Love I've Got". During the mid-1970s he was approached by Lee Perry, who ran a record shop a few doors away from Lee's studio, and under the name "George Earl" recorded a cover of William Bell

William Bell (singer)

William Bell is an American soul singer and songwriter, and one of the architects of the Stax-Volt sound. As a performer, he is probably best known for 1961's "You Don't Miss Your Water" ; 1968's "Private Number" ; and 1976's "Tryin' To Love Two", Bell's only US top 40 hit, which also hit #1 on the...

's "To Be A Lover". This was followed by "Soulful Lover", "Since I Met You Baby" and "Island In The Sun" for producer Lloyd Campbell, and "Love Is Something", "So Many Ways" and "Love Depression" for Phil Pratt

Phil Pratt

Phil Pratt, born George Phillips is a Jamaican reggae singer and record producer.Phil Pratt worked at Studio One for Coxsone Dodd as a box-loader during the rocksteady period when Lee Perry was operating there, before moving to the United Kingdom in the early 1960s...

.

Lawrence recorded eight tracks with Perry, all covers of American soul

Soul music

Soul music is a music genre originating in the United States combining elements of gospel music and rhythm and blues. According to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, soul is "music that arose out of the black experience in America through the transmutation of gospel and rhythm & blues into a form of...

 and pop

Pop music

Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...

 hits, at the Black Ark

Black Ark

The Black Ark was the recording studio of reggae and dub producer Lee "Scratch" Perry, built in 1973 and located behind his family's home in the Washington Gardens neighborhood of Kingston, Jamaica...

 studio. These recordings took around eight months, which prompted Perry to suggest a stage name for George, telling him "You have a lot of faith. You should change your name to George Faith". As a result of Perry's deal with Island Records

Island Records

Island Records is a record label that was founded by Chris Blackwell in Jamaica. It was based in the United Kingdom for many years and is now owned by Universal Music Group...

, the first record to be credited to "George Faith" was released in July 1977. "To Be a Lover" was issued on Island's Black Swan label, and proved more popular than any of the previous Jamaican versions of the song. The Jamaican release of the disco (12-inch single) featured a mix lasting nearly twelve minutes. Island issued "I've Got The Groove" as a follow-up, and a third disco 45 was issued later with George's cover of Wilson Pickett

Wilson Pickett

Wilson Pickett was an American R&B/Soul singer and songwriter.A major figure in the development of American soul music, Pickett recorded over 50 songs which made the US R&B charts, and frequently crossed over to the US Billboard Hot 100...

's "Midnight Hour". The productions by Lee "Scratch" Perry were collected together for George Faith's debut album, To Be a Lover, also released in Jamaica under the title Super Eight. The album proved popular, and a further single, "Opportunity" was released in February 1978.

Lawrence recorded a second album with Perry at the Black Ark in 1978, Working On The Guideline, although the album was not released, with only a few tracks being released, the singles "Guideline" and "Don't Be Afraid", Lawrence now recording original material with more "conscious" themes. Lawrence was also due to go on a tour that Perry was arranging with Island Records, but the plans were shelved in the midst of the erratic behaviour of Perry that would eventually lead to the destruction of the Black Ark.

Also in 1978, Lawrence recorded an album with Phil Pratt, One & Only, credited to "Earl George" and issued on the Trojan Records

Trojan Records

Trojan Records is a British record label founded in 1968. It specialises in ska, rocksteady, reggae and dub music. The label currently operates under the Sanctuary Records Group. The name Trojan comes from the Croydon-built Trojan truck that was used as Duke Reid's sound system in Jamaica...

 subsidiary Burning Sounds. He also recorded for Alvin Ranglin

Alvin Ranglin

Alvin 'GG' Ranglin is a Jamaican reggae singer and record producer.-Biography:Ranglin started to sing in public in his teens with an Adventist Church background. As a radio and television technician involved in the jukebox industry, he soon acquired his own sound system he named "GG"...

, these tracks issued in 1979 as the album Loving Something. He then recorded an album for Bunny Lee

Bunny Lee

Edward O'Sullivan Lee, better known as Bunny "Striker" Lee is a prominent, prolific and successful record producer best known for his work in the 1960s and 1970s.-Biography:...

, Soulful, which took a similar approach to his first album and featured new versions of "To Be a Lover" and "Turn Back The Hands of Time". He again worked with Ranglin in the early 1980s on the Since I Met You Baby album. After living in Canada for a few years, he returned to the Jamaican recording scene in 1986, and released another album, Sings For Lovers Only in 1987.

Lawrence died in 2003 from cancer

Cancer

Cancer , known medically as a malignant neoplasm, is a large group of different diseases, all involving unregulated cell growth. In cancer, cells divide and grow uncontrollably, forming malignant tumors, and invade nearby parts of the body. The cancer may also spread to more distant parts of the...

.

Albums

• Super Eight (1977) Black Art, also issued as To Be a Lover (1978) Island
  Island Records
  Island Records is a record label that was founded by Chris Blackwell in Jamaica. It was based in the United Kingdom for many years and is now owned by Universal Music Group...
  
  /Black Swan
• One & Only (1978) Burning Sounds
• Soulful (1979) Hollywood
• Loving Something (1979) GG's
• Since I Met You Baby (1982) GG's
• Happy Anniversary (198?)
• Sings For Lovers Only (1987) Nighthawk
• Just The Blues (1993) Studio One
• Rock For Lovers (1998) Nyam Up
• Reggae Got Soul (1999) Charly
  Charly Records
  Charly Records is a British record label which specialises in reissued material.-History:Among the labels whose original releases are reissued by Charly are Vee-Jay, Sun, Immediate, BYG, Tomato, and Fania. Charly Records was founded in France in 1974 by Jean-Luc Young, who had been a promoter of...
  
  
• Reggae's Love & Affection (2002) Clocktower
• Together Forever (19??), Joe Frasier - Marie Baines & George Faith
• Straight To The Heart (19??), EAD

Singles

• "See Me" (1970)
• "Green Hills, I Won't Cry" (1973)
• "Gonna Give Her All The Love I've Got" (1973)
• "To Be A Lover" (1974)
• ""Soulful Lover" (197?)
• "Since I Met You Baby" (197?)
• "Island In The Sun" (197?)
• "Love Is Something" (197?)
• "So Many Ways" (197?)
• "Love Depression" (197?)
• "To Be a Lover (Have Mercy)" (1977) Island/Black Swan
• "Midnight Hour" (1977) island/Black Swan
• "All The Love I've Got" (1977) Island/Black Swan
• "I've Got The Groove" (1978) Island/Black Swan
• "Opportunity" (1978) Island
• "Guideline" (1978)
• "Don't Be Afraid" (1978) Upsetter
• "So Many Ways" (1978) Sunshot
• "Don't Be Afraid" (Discomix
  Discomix
  A discomix, or simply a disco, is an extended reggae 12-inch single that typically features the vocal track followed by a dub version or a deejay version of the same track. The format became popular in the mid-1970s, with the extended bass range of 12-inch singles being better suited to dub music...
  
  ) (1979) Warrior
• "I Would Be Telling You A Lie" (1979) GG's
• "Sam Stone" (1979) GG's
• "Gipsy Woman"
• "I'm So Glad" (1979) Black & White
• "Follow Jah" (1979) Justice
• "What To Do" (1980) Paradise...
• "Give Me Music" (1981) Nura
• "Stealing Love" GG's
• "Say You Say Me" Top Rank
• "Old Fashioned Love" (1984)
• "Ordinary Girl" (1988) Pickout
• "Loving Someone" (1988)
• "Need to Belong to Someone" (1988) Bunny Lee
• "On My Own" Joe Frasier (with Marie Baines)
• "The End of the World" Studio One
• "Ask Her" Arrows
• "Lavender Blue" (1996)

External links

• George Faith at Roots Archives
• Planer, Lindsay "[ To Be a Lover Review]", Allmusic, Macrovision Corporation