Little Roy
Encyclopedia
Little Roy is 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...

 artist
Musician
A musician is an artist who plays a musical instrument. It may or may not be the person's profession. Musicians can be classified by their roles in performing music and writing music.Also....* A person who makes music a profession....

.

Biography

Little Roy launched his career in the rocksteady
Rocksteady
Rocksteady is a music genre that originated in Jamaica around 1966. A successor to ska and a precursor to reggae, rocksteady was performed by Jamaican vocal harmony groups such as The Gaylads, The Maytals and The Paragons. The term rocksteady comes from a dance style that was mentioned in the Alton...

 age, recording
Sound recording and reproduction
Sound recording and reproduction is an electrical or mechanical inscription and re-creation of sound waves, such as spoken voice, singing, instrumental music, or sound effects. The two main classes of sound recording technology are analog recording and digital recording...

 a few singles
Single (music)
In music, a single or record single is a type of release, typically a recording of fewer tracks than an LP or a CD. This can be released for sale to the public in a variety of different formats. In most cases, the single is a song that is released separately from an album, but it can still appear...

 for Coxsone Dodd
Coxsone Dodd
Clement Seymour "Sir Coxsone" Dodd, CD was a Jamaican record producer who was influential in the development of ska and reggae in the 1950s, 1960s and beyond...

 and Prince Buster
Prince Buster
Cecil Bustamente Campbell, O.D. , better known as Prince Buster, and also known by his Muslim name Muhammed Yusef Ali, is a musician from Kingston, Jamaica. He is regarded as one of the most important figures in the history of ska and rocksteady music...

, none of which made much headway. As reggae itself unfolded, Roy switched to Lloyd Daley
Lloyd Daley
Lloyd Daley also known as Matador is a Jamaican electronic technician, sound system pioneer and reggae producer.-Career:...

's recording studio
Recording studio
A recording studio is a facility for sound recording and mixing. Ideally both the recording and monitoring spaces are specially designed by an acoustician to achieve optimum acoustic properties...

. He then had a number one hit in 1969 with "Bongo Nyah", which topped the charts in Jamaica, and was important for being the first commercially successful song
Song
In music, a song is a composition for voice or voices, performed by singing.A song may be accompanied by musical instruments, or it may be unaccompanied, as in the case of a cappella songs...

 to sing directly about the Rastafari movement
Rastafari movement
The Rastafari movement or Rasta is a new religious movement that arose in the 1930s in Jamaica, which at the time was a country with a predominantly Christian culture where 98% of the people were the black descendants of slaves. Its adherents worship Haile Selassie I, Emperor of Ethiopia , as God...

. Then followed several other recordings under Daley's watchful eye, but occasionally Little Roy recorded for other record producer
Record producer
A record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...

s, including Lee "Scratch" Perry, who oversaw the "Don't Cross the Nation" in 1970, and brought in the Wailers to help out on the session.

In 1972, Roy teamed up with Maurice "Scorcher" Jackson, and later Maurice's brother Munchie, launching the Tafari and Earth record label
Record label
In the music industry, a record label is a brand and a trademark associated with the marketing of music recordings and music videos. Most commonly, a record label is the company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the production, manufacture, distribution, marketing and promotion,...

s, homes for a stream of the singer's self-produced cultural singles. Roy had further hits in the 1970s with tracks such as "Tribal War" and "Prophecy". When the "Prophecy" rhythm was re-recorded by Steely & Clevie
Steely & Clevie
Steely & Clevie, aka Wycliffe Johnson and Cleveland Browne, was a Jamaican dancehall reggae production duo. It worked with artists such as the Specials, Gregory Peck , Bounty Killer, Elephant Man and No Doubt....

 in 1990, forming the basis for a hit by Freddie McGregor
Freddie McGregor
Freddie McGregor has been variously a singer, musician and producer. According to Allmusic he is one of reggae's most durable and soulful singers, with a steady career that started in the 1960s, when he was just seven years old.-Biography:In 1963 he joined with Ernest Wilson and Peter Austin to...

, interest in the original prompted Roy to issue a collection of his old material, Prophesy. A new album, Live On, was released in 1991, and he worked with Adrian Sherwood
Adrian Sherwood
Adrian Sherwood is an English record producer best known for his work with dub music as well as for remixing a number of popular acts such as Coldcut, Depeche Mode, The Woodentops, Primal Scream, Pop Will Eat Itself, Sinéad O'Connor, and Skinny Puppy...

 on the 1996 album Long Time.

Even though Roy is not a prolific singer, he did release a new album
Album
An album is a collection of recordings, released as a single package on gramophone record, cassette, compact disc, or via digital distribution. The word derives from the Latin word for list .Vinyl LP records have two sides, each comprising one half of the album...

 in 2005, Children of the Most High.

In May 2011 Little Roy collaborated with Prince Fatty and the Mutant Hi-Fi to record Sliver/Dive cover of Nirvana
Nirvana (band)
Nirvana was an American rock band that was formed by singer/guitarist Kurt Cobain and bassist Krist Novoselic in Aberdeen, Washington in 1987...

's early single. An album of Nirvana songs, Battle for Seattle, is due for release in September 2011 on Ark Recordings
Ark Recordings
Ark Recordings is a London based independent record label run by Jamie Davis and Russell Warby ....

.

Albums

  • Tribal War (1976)
  • Columbus Ship (1981), Tafari/Copasetic
  • Live On (1991)
  • Long Time (1996), On-U Sound
  • More From A Little (1999)
  • Children of the Most High (2005)
  • Heat (2011), Pharos
  • Battle for Seattle (2011), Ark (UK chart peak: #111)


Compilations:
  • Prophesy (1989), Tafari
  • Tafari Earth Uprising (1996), Pressure Sounds
  • Packin' House (1999), Pressure Sounds
    Pressure Sounds
    Pressure Sounds is a British record label, specializing in releasing reggae music. It is run by Pete Holdsworth although Adrian Sherwood was involved at the inception of the imprint...

    - (Little Roy & Friends)
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