Derrick Harriott
Encyclopedia
Derrick Harriott is a singer and record producer
. He has produced recordings
by Big Youth
, Chariot Riders, The Chosen Few
, Dennis Brown
, The Ethiopians
, Keith & Tex
, The Kingstonians, Rudy Mills, Scotty
, Sly
& Revolutionaries, and Winston McAnuff.
with Claude Sang Jr.- an extremely talented reggae artist from Kingston, Jamaica. Claude Sang Jr. had many hits including Daffodil and Birds of Britain. In 1958 Harriot formed the Jiving Juniors with Eugene Dwyer, Herman Sang, and Maurice Winter. In 1960 and 1961 the group had hit single
s with "Over The River" (for Coxsone Dodd
) and "Lollipop Girl" (for Duke Reid
). In 1962, Harriott left to form his own record label
, Crystal, and embark on a solo career. His first solo
release, "I Care", was a hit, with further hits following with "What Can I Do" (1964), "The Jerk" (1965) and "I'm Only Human" (1965), all of which were included on his debut album
, The Best Of Derrick Harriott. In 1967 he had further solo hits with "The Loser" and "Solomon", as well as with productions of other artists, including The Ethiopians
' "No Baptism", and Keith And Tex's "Tonight" and "Stop That Train".
Harriott patriotically noted, "Ask any Jamaican musician and they'll tell you the rocksteady days were the best days of Jamaican music".
The lyrics
to his song
"Message from a Black Man" (circa 1970) echoed the growing black consciousness in American
soul music
of that time. In 1970 he issued The Crystalites' The Undertaker, an instrumental
album in a similar vein to the early music of The Upsetters
. He produced successful albums by other artists, including DJ Scotty's Schooldays, Dennis Brown
's Super Reggae and Soul Hits, and also his own 14 Chartbuster Hits.
In 1971, Swing magazine named Harriott the Top Producer of 1970. He was one of the first producers to use King Tubby
mixing talents at his Waterhouse studio, issuing one of the earliest dub
albums, Scrub A Dub, credited to The Crystallites. Harriott followed this with another dub/instrumental album, More Scrubbing The Dub. His late 1970s productions used backing from The Revolutionaries
on albums such as Winston McAnuff's Pick Hits To Click (1978), DJ Ray I's Rasta Revival (1978) and his own Enter The Chariot and Disco 6 (a compilation album
featuring Dennis Brown, Cornell Campbell
and Horace Andy
).
In the 1980s, he continued to have hits with soul cover versions, such as "Skin To Skin" and "Checking Out". In 1988 he scored with "Starting All Over Again", a duet with Yellowman
, with lyrics about Hurricane Gilbert
. The mid to late 1990s saw solo efforts such as Sings Jamaican Rock Steady Reggae, For a Fistful of Dollars, Derrick Harriott & Giants, and Riding the Roots Chariot being released.
In July 2002 in Toronto
, Canada
, Harriott performed at the two-night Legends of Ska festival. Other performers included: Skatalites, Rico Rodriguez
, Lester Sterling
, Johnny Moore
, Lynn Taitt
, Prince Buster
, Alton Ellis
, Lord Creator
, Justin Hinds
, Derrick Morgan
and Lord Tanamo
.
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...
. He has produced recordings
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...
by Big Youth
Big Youth
Manley Augustus Buchanan , better known as Big Youth , is a Jamaican deejay, mostly known for his work during the 1970s....
, Chariot Riders, The Chosen Few
The Chosen Few (reggae group)
The Chosen Few were a reggae group from Kingston, Jamaica, formed in 1969 and active until the mid-1980s.-History:The Chosen Few evolved from The Federals, with the latter's Franklin Spence and David Scott joined by Noel Brown and Richard McDonald. They initially recorded reggae covers of songs by...
, Dennis Brown
Dennis Brown
Dennis Emmanuel Brown was a Jamaican reggae singer. During his prolific career, which began in the late 1960s when he was aged eleven, he recorded more than 75 albums and was one of the major stars of lovers rock, a sub-genre of reggae...
, The Ethiopians
The Ethiopians
The Ethiopians were a ska, rocksteady, and reggae vocal group, founded by Leonard Dillon , Stephen Taylor and Aston Morris.-History:...
, Keith & Tex
Keith & Tex
Keith & Tex were the Jamaican rocksteady duo of Keith Rowe and Texas Dixon, best known for their 1967 hit "Stop That Train".-History:Keith Rowe grew up in the Washington Gardens area of Saint Andrew Parish, across the road from Lee "Scratch" Perry's home and future studio, on the outskirts of...
, The Kingstonians, Rudy Mills, Scotty
Scotty (musician)
Scotty performed as a reggae vocalist and deejay.-Biography:...
, Sly
Sly Dunbar
Lowell "Sly" Fillmore Dunbar is a drummer.-Biography:Dunbar, whose nickname was reportedly given for his passion for Sly & the Family Stone, launched his musical career while still in his adolescence, playing with a local group, The Yardbrooms, at the age of fifteen...
& Revolutionaries, and Winston McAnuff.
Biography
As a student at Excelsior High School, Harriott formed a duoDuet (music)
A duet is a musical composition for two performers. In classical music, the term is most often used for a composition for two singers or pianists; with other instruments, the word duo is also often used. A piece performed by two pianists performing together on the same piano is referred to as...
with Claude Sang Jr.- an extremely talented reggae artist from Kingston, Jamaica. Claude Sang Jr. had many hits including Daffodil and Birds of Britain. In 1958 Harriot formed the Jiving Juniors with Eugene Dwyer, Herman Sang, and Maurice Winter. In 1960 and 1961 the group had hit single
Hit single
A hit single is a recorded song or instrumental released as a single that has become very popular. Although it is sometimes used to describe any widely-played or big-selling song, the term "hit" is usually reserved for a single that has appeared in an official music chart through repeated radio...
s with "Over The River" (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 "Lollipop Girl" (for 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....
). In 1962, Harriott left to form his own 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,...
, Crystal, and embark on a solo career. His first solo
Solo (music)
In music, a solo is a piece or a section of a piece played or sung by a single performer...
release, "I Care", was a hit, with further hits following with "What Can I Do" (1964), "The Jerk" (1965) and "I'm Only Human" (1965), all of which were included on his debut 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...
, The Best Of Derrick Harriott. In 1967 he had further solo hits with "The Loser" and "Solomon", as well as with productions of other artists, including The Ethiopians
The Ethiopians
The Ethiopians were a ska, rocksteady, and reggae vocal group, founded by Leonard Dillon , Stephen Taylor and Aston Morris.-History:...
' "No Baptism", and Keith And Tex's "Tonight" and "Stop That Train".
Harriott patriotically noted, "Ask any Jamaican musician and they'll tell you the rocksteady days were the best days of Jamaican music".
The lyrics
Lyrics
Lyrics are a set of words that make up a song. The writer of lyrics is a lyricist or lyrist. The meaning of lyrics can either be explicit or implicit. Some lyrics are abstract, almost unintelligible, and, in such cases, their explication emphasizes form, articulation, meter, and symmetry of...
to his 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...
"Message from a Black Man" (circa 1970) echoed the growing black consciousness in American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
soul music
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...
of that time. In 1970 he issued The Crystalites' The Undertaker, an instrumental
Instrumental
An instrumental is a musical composition or recording without lyrics or singing, although it might include some non-articulate vocal input; the music is primarily or exclusively produced by musical instruments....
album in a similar vein to the early music of The Upsetters
The Upsetters
The Upsetters was the name given to the house band for Jamaican reggae producer Lee "Scratch" Perry. The name of the band comes from Perry's nickname of Upsetter, after his song "I Am The Upsetter", a musical dismissal of his former boss Coxsone Dodd....
. He produced successful albums by other artists, including DJ Scotty's Schooldays, Dennis Brown
Dennis Brown
Dennis Emmanuel Brown was a Jamaican reggae singer. During his prolific career, which began in the late 1960s when he was aged eleven, he recorded more than 75 albums and was one of the major stars of lovers rock, a sub-genre of reggae...
's Super Reggae and Soul Hits, and also his own 14 Chartbuster Hits.
In 1971, Swing magazine named Harriott the Top Producer of 1970. He was one of the first producers to use King Tubby
King Tubby
King Tubby was a Jamaican electronics and sound engineer, known primarily for his influence on the development of dub in the 1960s and 1970s...
mixing talents at his Waterhouse studio, issuing one of the earliest dub
Dub music
Dub is a genre of music which grew out of reggae music in the 1960s, and is commonly considered a subgenre, though it has developed to extend beyond the scope of reggae...
albums, Scrub A Dub, credited to The Crystallites. Harriott followed this with another dub/instrumental album, More Scrubbing The Dub. His late 1970s productions used backing from The Revolutionaries
The Revolutionaries
The Revolutionaries is a Jamaican reggae band.-Career:Set up in 1975 as the house band of the Channel One Studios owned by Joseph Hoo Kim, The Revolutionaries with Sly Dunbar on drums and Robbie Shakespeare on bass, created the new "rockers" style that would change the whole Jamaican sound The...
on albums such as Winston McAnuff's Pick Hits To Click (1978), DJ Ray I's Rasta Revival (1978) and his own Enter The Chariot and Disco 6 (a compilation album
Compilation album
A compilation album is an album featuring tracks from one or more performers, often culled from a variety of sources The tracks are usually collected according to a common characteristic, such as popularity, genre, source or subject matter...
featuring Dennis Brown, Cornell Campbell
Cornell Campbell
Cornell Campbell aka Don Cornell or Don Gorgon is a reggae singer, best known for his trademark falsetto voice, and his recordings at Studio One in the late 1960s and his later work with Bunny Lee in the 1970s.-Biography:Cornel has one of the sweetest falsettos of any Jamaican vocalist and uses it...
and Horace Andy
Horace Andy
Horace Andy is a roots reggae songwriter and singer, known for his distinctive vocals and hit songs such as "Government Land", "Angel", "Five Man Army" and a cover version of "Ain't No Sunshine"....
).
In the 1980s, he continued to have hits with soul cover versions, such as "Skin To Skin" and "Checking Out". In 1988 he scored with "Starting All Over Again", a duet with Yellowman
Yellowman
Yellowman is a Jamaican reggae and dancehall deejay, widely known as King Yellowman...
, with lyrics about Hurricane Gilbert
Hurricane Gilbert
Hurricane Gilbert was an extremely powerful Cape Verde-type hurricane that formed during the 1988 Atlantic hurricane season and created widespread destruction in the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico. It is the second most intense hurricane ever observed in the Atlantic basin behind only...
. The mid to late 1990s saw solo efforts such as Sings Jamaican Rock Steady Reggae, For a Fistful of Dollars, Derrick Harriott & Giants, and Riding the Roots Chariot being released.
In July 2002 in Toronto
Toronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
, Harriott performed at the two-night Legends of Ska festival. Other performers included: Skatalites, Rico Rodriguez
Rico Rodriguez
Rico Rodriguez MBE , also known as Reco or El Reco, is a ska and reggae trombonist. He has recorded with many producers, including Karl Pitterson, Prince Buster, and Lloyd 'Matador' Daley...
, Lester Sterling
Lester Sterling
Lester Sterling is a Jamaican trumpet and saxophone player.-Biography:Like many Jamaican musicians of his generation, Sterling attended the Alpha Boys School....
, Johnny Moore
Johnny Moore
Johnny Moore may refer to:*Johnny Moore , basketball player*Johnny Moore , American baseball player*Johnny Moore , American soul singer and songwriter, played with The Drifters...
, Lynn Taitt
Lynn Taitt
Lynn Taitt was a reggae guitarist born in San Fernando, Trinidad and Tobago, closely associated with Jamaican rocksteady music.-Biography:...
, 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...
, Alton Ellis
Alton Ellis
Alton Nehemiah Ellis, OD, was a Jamaican musician best known as one of the innovators of rocksteady music and was often referred to as the "Godfather of Rocksteady". In 2006, he was inducted into the International Reggae And World Music Awards Hall Of Fame.-Biography:Ellis was born in 1938 and...
, Lord Creator
Lord Creator
Lord Creator is a calypso and soca artist. Alongside Cuban born Rolando Alphonso, Barbadian Jackie Opel and fellow Trinidadians Lynn Taitt and Lord Bryner, Lord Creator was an important and positive 'outside' influence during the early development of the Jamaican music scene.-Career:He started as...
, Justin Hinds
Justin Hinds
Justin Hinds was a Jamaican ska vocalist, with his backing singers the Dominoes.He is best known for his work with Duke Reid's Treasure Isle Records, where his most notable song, "Carry Go Bring Come" recorded in late 1963, went to number one in Jamaica...
, Derrick Morgan
Derrick Morgan
Derrick Morgan is a musical artist popular in the 1960s and 1970s. He worked with Desmond Dekker, Bob Marley, and Jimmy Cliff in the rhythm and blues and ska genres, and he also performed rocksteady and skinhead reggae.-Biography:In 1957 Morgan entered the Vere Johns Opportunity Hour, a talent...
and Lord Tanamo
Lord Tanamo
Lord Tanamo is best known as a mento and ska performer and songwriter. He helped create the sound we now know as ska, by combining elements of calypso gleaned from Lord Kitchener, with the lilting mento rhythms of his childhood...
.
Albums
- The Best Of Derrick Harriott - 1965 - 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...
- The Best Of Derrick Harriott Volume 2 - 1968 - 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...
- Sings Jamaican Reggae - 1969 - Crystal/PamaPama RecordsPama records was a United Kingdom record label active during the 1960s and 1970s. Initially focused on soul music, it became one of the major outlets for reggae in the UK.-History:...
- The Crystalites - Undertaker - 1970 Trojan
- Psychedelic Train - 1970 - Crystal/Trojan
- Presents Scrub-A-Dub Reggae - 1974 - Crystal
- More Scrubbing The Dub - 1975 - Crystal
- Songs For Midnight Lovers - 1976 - Crystal/Trojan
- Derrick Harriott & The Revolutionaries - Reggae Chart Busters Seventies Style - 1977
- Reggae Disco Rockers - 1977 - Charmers
- Born to Love You - 1979 - Crystal
Compilation albums
- Derrick Harriott & Various Artists - 14 Chartbuster Hits - 1973 - Crystal
- Derrick Harriott & The Crystalites / Chariot Riders - 1970 - Blockbuster Reggae Instrumentals
- Greatest Reggae Hits - 1975 - Crystal/Trojan
- Disco 6 - 1977
- Enter The Chariot - 1978
- Derrick Harriott & Various Artists - Those Reggae Oldies - 1978
- Derrick Harriott & The Jiving Juniors - The Donkey Years 1961-1965 - Jamaican Gold (1993)
- Derrick Harriott & Various Artists - Step Softly 1965-1972 - Trojan (1988)
- Derrick Harriott - Sings Jamaican Rock Steady Reggae - Jamaican Gold
- Derrick Harriott & The Crystalites - For A Fistful of Dollars - Jamaican GoldJamaican GoldJamaican Gold is an independent record label from Netherlands specialized in Jamaican music reissues.Aad Van Der Hoek founded the label in 1992 and has since been working closely with Jamaican producers and sound engineers, transferring usually the music directly from the original mastertape in...
- From Chariot's Vault Volume 2: 16 Reggae Hits - Jamaican Gold
- Derrick Harriott & Various Artists - Riding the Roots Chariot - 1998 - Pressure SoundsPressure SoundsPressure 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...
- Derrick Harriott & Various Artists - Skin To Skin - 1989 - Sarge
- Derrick Harriott & Various Artists - Musical Chariot - 1990 - Charly Records
See also
- List of reggae musicians
- Island Records discographyIsland Records discographyGiven the longevity of the Island Records record label it is inevitable that a large amount of data has to be gathered, managed and presented not only correctly but also usably...
- List of Jamaican record producers
- List of Jamaican backing bands