Lloyd Parks is a 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...

 vocalist and bass player

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...

.

Biography

Parks' interest in music was fuelled by his uncle Dourie Bryan, who played in a calypso

Calypso music

Calypso is a style of Afro-Caribbean music that originated in Trinidad and Tobago from African and European roots. The roots of the genre lay in the arrival of enslaved Africans, who, not being allowed to speak with each other, communicated through song...

 band, and Parks became the band's singer. In the late 1960s, he performed with the Invincibles band

Band (music)

In music, a musical ensemble or band is a group of musicians that works together to perform music. The following articles concern types of musical bands:* All-female band* Big band* Boy band* Christian band* Church band* Concert band* Cover band...

 (whose members also included Ansell Collins

Ansell Collins

Ansell Collins is a Jamaican keyboard player, producer, and occasional singer. Born 1949 in Kingston, Jamaica.-Biography:...

, Sly Dunbar

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...

 and Ranchie McLean) before teaming up with Wentworth Vernal in The Termites

The Termites

The Termites are a 5-piece psychobilly musical group from Scotland that formed in the 1980s. Their most recent CD, "Kicked In The Teeth" on Crazy Love Records, was released in 2008.- History of the band :...

. In 1967, they recorded

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...

 their first single

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...

, "Have Mercy Mr. Percy", and then an 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...

 Do the Rocksteady 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...

'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,...

. After recording "Rub Up Push Up" for the Dampa label, Parks and Vernal split up. Parks then briefly joined The Techniques

The Techniques

The Techniques were a Jamaican rocksteady vocal group mainly active in the 1960s.-History:The group was formed by Winston Riley in 1962 while still at school, with the initial line-up also featuring Slim Smith, Franklyn White, and Frederick Waite...

 as a replacement for Pat Kelly

Pat Kelly (musician)

Pat Kelly is a reggae singer whose career began in the late 1960s.- The Techniques :Kelly was born in Kingston in 1949. After leaving school, he spent a year studying electronics in Springfield, Massachusetts, United States during 1966, before returning to Jamaica...

, recording tracks such as "Say You Love Me", before embarking on 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 and later starting his own label, Parks. His second single was the classic "Slaving", a moving 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...

 about the struggles of a working man. As a solo artist, he recorded a number of 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...

s for Prince Tony Robinson, including "Trenchtown Girl" and "You Don't Care". Some of his best known solo 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...

 include "Officially", "Mafia" (both 1974), "Girl In The Morning" and "Baby Hang Up The Phone" (both 1975).

Parks was a 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...

 bass

Bass guitar

The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....

 player, backing many of the reggae artists

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....

, including 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...

 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. He was a member of Skin, Flesh and Bones along with Ansell Collins

Ansell Collins

Ansell Collins is a Jamaican keyboard player, producer, and occasional singer. Born 1949 in Kingston, Jamaica.-Biography:...

 on keyboards

Keyboard instrument

A keyboard instrument is a musical instrument which is played using a musical keyboard. The most common of these is the piano. Other widely used keyboard instruments include organs of various types as well as other mechanical, electromechanical and electronic instruments...

, Tarzan on keyboards, and Ranchie MacLean on guitar

Guitar

The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...

. This group backed Al Brown on his hit "Here I am Baby", and many other artists. When Skin Flesh and Bones started playing for the Channel One Studios

Channel One Studios

Channel One is a recording studio in Maxfield Avenue, West Kingston, Jamaica. The studio was built by the Hoo Kim brothers in 1972, and has had a profound influence on the development of reggae music....

, Parks renamed the band 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...

. Parks was also a member of Joe Gibbs

Joe Gibbs (record producer)

Joe Gibbs born Joel A. Gibson was a Jamaican reggae producer.-Biography:Joe Gibbs worked as an electronics engineer in the United States before his career in music started. Gibbs eventually returned to Kingston, Jamaica and opened an electrical repair shop with television repairs and sales as its...

' house band

House band

For the British band that existed from 1984-2001, see The House BandA house band is a group of musicians, often centrally organized by a band leader, who regularly play an establishment. It is widely used to refer both to the bands who work on entertainment programs on television or radio, and to...

, The Professionals, performing hits such as Althea & Donna

Althea & Donna

Althea & Donna were a Jamaican reggae singing duo, best known for their 1977 single "Uptown Top Ranking" which was a number one hit in the United Kingdom in 1978.-Career:...

's "Up Town Top Ranking", and in the 1970s he backed artists including 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 Abyssinians

The Abyssinians

The Abyssinians are a Jamaican roots reggae group, famous for their close harmonies and promotion of the Rastafari movement in their lyrics.-History:...

, The Itals

The Itals

The Itals are a Jamaican reggae vocal group formed in 1976 by Alvin "Keith" Porter, Ronnie Davis, and Lloyd Ricketts , all of whom had previously also recorded as solo artists. All three had worked together in the late 1960s in The Westmorelites...

, The Gladiators

The Gladiators (band)

The Gladiators are a Jamaican roots reggae band, most popular during the 1970s. The core was Albert Griffiths , Clinton Fearon and Dallimore Sutherland bass guitar and singer. The two most famous albums are Trenchtown Mix Up and Proverbial Reggae with songs as "Hearsay", "Jah Works", "Dreadlocks...

, Culture

Culture (band)

Culture was a Jamaican roots reggae group founded in 1976. Originally they were known as the African Disciples.The members of the trio were Joseph Hill , Albert Walker and Kenneth Dayes ....

 and Prince Far I

Prince Far I

Prince Far I was a Jamaican reggae deejay, producer and a Rastafarian. He was known for his gruff voice and critical assessment of the Jamaican government. His track "Heavy Manners" used lyrics against measures initiated towards violent crime.-Biography:He was born Michael James Williams in...

.

In 1974, he founded the We the People Band, who backed 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...

 on tour and have been regulars at the Reggae Sunsplash

Reggae Sunsplash

Reggae Sunsplash is a reggae music festival first staged in 1978 in the northern part of Jamaica. In 1985 it expanded with the addition of an international touring festival...

 and Reggae Sumfest

Reggae Sumfest

Reggae Sumfest is the largest concert festival in Jamaica, taking place each year in mid-July in Montego Bay. Sumfest, started in 1993, is officially sponsored by Red Stripe....

 festivals. The band also included singer Ruddy Thomas

Ruddy Thomas

Ruddy Thomas was a Jamaican reggae singer, musician, and recording engineer, who had his greatest successes as a singer in the late 1970s and early 1980s with lovers rock songs.-Biography:...

and a horn section of Tony Greene (saxophone), Everol Wray (trumpet), and Everald Gayle (trombone), and with the band continuing for over thirty-five years, the line-up has included Parks' daughter Tamika on keyboards and his son Craig "Leftside" Parks on drums.

Solo discography

• Officially (1974, Attack)
• Girl In The Morning (1975, Trojan)
• Loving You (1976, Trojan)
• Meet the people (1978, Parks)
• Jeans, Jeans (1985, Tad's)
• What More Can I Do (1983)
• Still Officially Yours, The Collection 1970-2004 (2005, Parks Records)