The Melodians
Encyclopedia
The Melodians were a reggae
band formed in the Greenwich Town area of Kingston
, Jamaica
in 1965, by Tony Brevett (nephew
of The Skatalites
bassist
, Lloyd Brevett
), Brent Dowe and Trevor McNaughton. Renford Cogle
assisted with writing
and arranging
material.
debut with Coxsone Dodd
's Studio One label
with the releases "Lay It On" "Meet Me", "I Should Have Made It Up" and "Let's Join Hands (Together)." From 1967 to 1968 they had a number of hits
on Duke Reid
's Treasure Isle label
, including "You Have Caught Me", "Expo 67", "I'll Get Along Without You", and "You Don't Need Me." After recording "Swing and Dine" for record producer
Sonia Pottinger
, they recorded their biggest hit, "Rivers of Babylon
" for Leslie Kong
. This song
became an anthem
of the Rastafarian movement, and was featured on the soundtrack
for the movie
, The Harder They Come
. After Kong's death in 1971, they recorded for Lee Perry and Byron Lee
's Dynamic Studios. In 1973, Brent Dowe left the group for a solo
career. The group reformed briefly a few years later, and again in the early 1980s.
revival
and continue to perform and record. In 1992 they recorded "Song of Love", which was issued on the Tappa Zukie label. Throughout the later 1990s they continued touring internationally, including appearing at the Sierra Nevada World Music Festival in California
in 2002. In November 2005 The Melodians embarked on a West Coast
tour.
On the evening of 28 January 2006, after a rehearsal in preparation for a performance to take place the following weekend at the Jamaican Prime Minister’s residence, Brent Dowe suffered a fatal heart attack
at the age of 59. The remaining original members Tony Brevett and Trevor McNaughton continued touring in Europe
and the U.S.
backed by the Yellow Wall Dub Squad.
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...
band formed in the Greenwich Town area of Kingston
Kingston, Jamaica
Kingston is the capital and largest city of Jamaica, located on the southeastern coast of the island. It faces a natural harbour protected by the Palisadoes, a long sand spit which connects the town of Port Royal and the Norman Manley International Airport to the rest of the island...
, 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...
in 1965, by Tony Brevett (nephew
Nephew
Nephew is a son of one's sibling or sibling-in-law, and niece is a daughter of one's sibling or a sibling-in-law. Sons and daughters of siblings-in-law are also informally referred to as nephews and nieces respectively, even though there is no blood relation...
of The Skatalites
The Skatalites
The Skatalites are a ska band from Jamaica. They played initially between 1963 and 1965, and recorded many of their best known songs in the period, including "Guns of Navarone". They also played on records by Prince Buster and backed many other Jamaican artists who recorded during that period...
bassist
Bassist
A bass player, or bassist is a musician who plays a bass instrument such as a double bass, bass guitar, keyboard bass or a low brass instrument such as a tuba or sousaphone. Different musical genres tend to be associated with one or more of these instruments...
, Lloyd Brevett
Lloyd Brevett
Lloyd Brevett is a Jamaican double bassist, and a former member of The Skatalites. He was born in Kingston, Jamaica, is a rastafarian, and a brother of The Melodians member, Tony Brevett....
), Brent Dowe and Trevor McNaughton. Renford Cogle
Renford Cogle
Renford "Rennie" Cogle , is a singer and songwriter whose career spans more than three decades and about as many continents. His musical career started in 1972 when his friend, the late Delroy "Smooth Operator" Wilson, listened to his music and recorded "You Keep On Running". This was to be the...
assisted with writing
Songwriter
A songwriter is an individual who writes both the lyrics and music to a song. Someone who solely writes lyrics may be called a lyricist, and someone who only writes music may be called a composer...
and arranging
Arrangement
The American Federation of Musicians defines arranging as "the art of preparing and adapting an already written composition for presentation in other than its original form. An arrangement may include reharmonization, paraphrasing, and/or development of a composition, so that it fully represents...
material.
Career
In 1966 The Melodians made their recordingSound 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...
debut with 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...
's Studio One 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,...
with the releases "Lay It On" "Meet Me", "I Should Have Made It Up" and "Let's Join Hands (Together)." From 1967 to 1968 they had a number of hits
Hit record
A hit record is a sound recording, usually in the form of a single or album, that sells a large number of copies or otherwise becomes broadly popular or well-known, through airplay, club play, inclusion in a film or stage play soundtrack, causing it to have "hit" one of the popular chart listings...
on Duke Reid
Duke Reid
Treasure Isle re-directs here. For the game, see Treasure Isle .Arthur "Duke" Reid, CD was a Jamaican record producer, DJ and label owner....
's Treasure Isle 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,...
, including "You Have Caught Me", "Expo 67", "I'll Get Along Without You", and "You Don't Need Me." After recording "Swing and Dine" for 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...
Sonia Pottinger
Sonia Pottinger
Sonia Eloise Pottinger OD was a Jamaican reggae record producer.The most important Jamaican woman involved in music business, Sonia Pottinger was the first female Jamaican record producer and produced artists from the mid 1960s until the mid 1980s.Married to music producer Lyndon Pottinger, she...
, they recorded their biggest hit, "Rivers of Babylon
Rivers of Babylon
"Rivers of Babylon" is a rastafarian song written and recorded by Brent Dowe and Trevor McNaughton of the Jamaican reggae group The Melodians in 1970. The Melodians' original versions of the song appeared in the sound track to the 1972 movie The Harder They Come and the 1999 Nicolas Cage movie...
" for Leslie Kong
Leslie Kong
Leslie Kong was a Chinese Jamaican record producer.-Career:Leslie and his two older brothers Cecil and Lloyd ran a restaurant, ice cream parlour and record shop called Beverley's in Orange Street, Kingston...
. This 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...
became an anthem
Anthem
The term anthem means either a specific form of Anglican church music , or more generally, a song of celebration, usually acting as a symbol for a distinct group of people, as in the term "national anthem" or "sports anthem".-Etymology:The word is derived from the Greek via Old English , a word...
of the Rastafarian movement, and was featured on the soundtrack
The Harder They Come (soundtrack)
The Harder They Come is the soundtrack album to the iconic film of the same name, released in 1972 in the United Kingdom as Island Records ILPS 9202. It was issued in February 1973 in North America as Mango Records SMAS-7400. It peaked at #140 on the Billboard 200.-Content:The heart of the...
for the movie
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
, The Harder They Come
The Harder They Come
The Harder They Come is a 1972 Jamaican crime film directed by Perry Henzell.The film stars reggae singer Jimmy Cliff, who plays Ivanhoe Martin, a character based on Rhyging, a real-life Jamaican criminal who achieved fame in the 1940s...
. After Kong's death in 1971, they recorded for Lee Perry and Byron Lee
Byron Lee
Byron Lee OD, OJ was a musician, record producer, and entrepreneur, best known for his work as leader of Byron Lee and the Dragonaires.-Biography:Lee was born in Christiana in Manchester Parish to an Afro-Jamaican mother and a Chinese father Byron Lee OD, OJ (born Byron Aloysius St. Elmo Lee, 27...
's Dynamic Studios. In 1973, Brent Dowe left the group for a solo
Solo (music)
In music, a solo is a piece or a section of a piece played or sung by a single performer...
career. The group reformed briefly a few years later, and again in the early 1980s.
Band revival
The Melodians regrouped again in the 1990s as part of the rootsRoots reggae
Roots reggae is a subgenre of reggae that deals with the everyday lives and aspirations of the artists concerned, including the spiritual side of Rastafari and with the honoring of God, called Jah by rastafarians. It also is identified with the life of the ghetto sufferer, and the rural poor...
revival
Roots revival
A roots revival is a trend which includes young performers popularizing the traditional musical styles of their ancestors. Often, roots revivals include an addition of newly-composed songs with socially and politically aware lyrics, as well as a general modernization of the folk sound.After an...
and continue to perform and record. In 1992 they recorded "Song of Love", which was issued on the Tappa Zukie label. Throughout the later 1990s they continued touring internationally, including appearing at the Sierra Nevada World Music Festival in California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
in 2002. In November 2005 The Melodians embarked on a West Coast
West Coast of the United States
West Coast or Pacific Coast are terms for the westernmost coastal states of the United States. The term most often refers to the states of California, Oregon, and Washington. Although not part of the contiguous United States, Alaska and Hawaii do border the Pacific Ocean but can't be included in...
tour.
On the evening of 28 January 2006, after a rehearsal in preparation for a performance to take place the following weekend at the Jamaican Prime Minister’s residence, Brent Dowe suffered a fatal heart attack
Myocardial infarction
Myocardial infarction or acute myocardial infarction , commonly known as a heart attack, results from the interruption of blood supply to a part of the heart, causing heart cells to die...
at the age of 59. The remaining original members Tony Brevett and Trevor McNaughton continued touring in Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
and the U.S.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
backed by the Yellow Wall Dub Squad.
Albums
- Rivers of Babylon (TrojanTrojan RecordsTrojan 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...
, 1970) - Sweet Sensation (Trojan, 1976)
- Sweet Sensation: The Original Reggae Hit Sound (IslandIsland RecordsIsland 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...
, 1980) - Irie Feelings (Ras, 1983)
- Premeditation (Skynote, 1986)
Compilation albums
- Swing and Dine (Heartbeat, 1993)
- Rivers of Babylon (Trojan, 1997)
- Sweet Sensation: The Best of the Melodians (Trojan, 2003)