Lord Creator
Encyclopedia
Lord Creator is a calypso
and soca
artist
. Alongside Cuba
n 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.
Lord Creator, and moved to Jamaica
in the late 1950s. There he recorded
his first hit
, "Evening News", in 1959 with Fitz Vaughan Bryan's big band
. In 1962, he recorded "Independent Jamaica", which became the official song
marking Jamaica’s independence
from the British Empire
on 6 August 1962. That song was also the first record
on Chris Blackwell
's newly founded Island Records
label
in the United Kingdom
(Island 001). In 1963, "Don't Stay Out Late", produced
by Vincent Chin
, became a hit in Jamaica.
In 1964, he had a further hit with "Big Bamboo", produced by Coxsone Dodd
with Tommy McCook
on saxophone
. After "Little Princess" in 1964, he recorded a calypso album
, Jamaica Time, at Studio One. It included calypso classics like "Jamaica Farewell
" and "Yellowbird", as well as a cover
of Bob Dylan
's "Blowing in the Wind". His next album, Big Bamboo, was recorded at Dynamic Studios sometime after 1969, when the studio
was established by Byron Lee
. Carlton Lee is listed as the producer.
Creator’s biggest hit was "Kingston Town", a tune he recorded for producer Clancy Eccles
in 1970. After that, Lord Creator virtually disappeared from the music industry; although in 1976, he still recorded "Big Pussy Sally", a no-holding-back, free-spirited song which was done on the same tape as Fay Bennett's equally lewd and light-hearted "Big Cocky Wally" for Lee 'Scratch' Perry in the Black Ark
studio. Both songs were released on two separate Island Records
singles in the UK
, both on the B-side
accompanied by two different Upsetters
dubs
. In 1978 Creator returned to the Black Ark to re-record his 1969 song, "Such is Life".
In 1989, the British
band
UB40
recorded a cover version
of "Kingston Town
".
There is a story that after this, Eccles saw Creator, who had become homeless and destitute, on a Kingston
street. When Eccles called out to him, Creator fled thinking Eccles had come to collect $30 he owed him. Eccles chased him down and told him UB40 had recorded "Kingston Town" and that Creator had earned substantial royalties
. Creator also did a slightly faster version of this song, where the word 'Kingston' is replaced by 'Babylon'. With the money he earned in royalties, Creator revitalized his life and career. He appeared in oldies shows in Jamaica, and toured Japan
.
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...
and soca
Soca music
Soca is a style of music from Trinidad and Tobago. Soca is a musical development of traditional Trinidadian calypso, through loans from the 1960s onwards from predominantly black popular music....
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....
. Alongside Cuba
Cuba
The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...
n born Rolando Alphonso, Barbadian
Barbados
Barbados is an island country in the Lesser Antilles. It is in length and as much as in width, amounting to . It is situated in the western area of the North Atlantic and 100 kilometres east of the Windward Islands and the Caribbean Sea; therein, it is about east of the islands of Saint...
Jackie Opel
Jackie Opel
Born Dalton Sinclair Bishop in Bridgetown, Barbados, Jackie Opel possessed a rich, powerful voice with a high octave range. He was known as the "Jackie Wilson of Jamaica", and was a gifted dancer....
and fellow Trinidadians Lynn Taitt
Lynn Taitt
Lynn Taitt was a reggae guitarist born in San Fernando, Trinidad and Tobago, closely associated with Jamaican rocksteady music.-Biography:...
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 a calypso singer under the stage nameStage name
A stage name, also called a showbiz name or screen name, is a pseudonym used by performers and entertainers such as actors, wrestlers, comedians, and musicians.-Motivation to use a stage name:...
Lord Creator, and moved to 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 the late 1950s. There he 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...
his first hit
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...
, "Evening News", in 1959 with Fitz Vaughan Bryan's big band
Big band
A big band is a type of musical ensemble associated with jazz and the Swing Era typically consisting of rhythm, brass, and woodwind instruments totaling approximately twelve to twenty-five musicians...
. In 1962, he recorded "Independent Jamaica", which became the official 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...
marking Jamaica’s independence
Independence
Independence is a condition of a nation, country, or state in which its residents and population, or some portion thereof, exercise self-government, and usually sovereignty, over its territory....
from the British Empire
British Empire
The British Empire comprised the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom. It originated with the overseas colonies and trading posts established by England in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. At its height, it was the...
on 6 August 1962. That song was also the first record
Gramophone record
A gramophone record, commonly known as a phonograph record , vinyl record , or colloquially, a record, is an analog sound storage medium consisting of a flat disc with an inscribed, modulated spiral groove...
on Chris Blackwell
Chris Blackwell
Christopher Percy Gordon "Chris" Blackwell is a British record producer and businessman, who was the founder of Island Records, acknowledged as the most successful and groundbreaking independent record company in history. Blackwell has been a music industry mogul for over fifty years...
's newly founded 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...
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,...
in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
(Island 001). In 1963, "Don't Stay Out Late", produced
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...
by Vincent Chin
Vincent "Randy" Chin
Vincent "Randy" Chin was a Jamaican record producer and label owner who ran the Randy's shop, recording studio, and record label, later moving to New York City and setting up the VP Records empire, now the world's largest independent label and distributor of Caribbean music in the...
, became a hit in Jamaica.
In 1964, he had a further hit with "Big Bamboo", produced by 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...
with Tommy McCook
Tommy McCook
Tommy McCook was a Jamaican saxophonist. A founding member of The Skatalites, he also directed The Supersonics for Duke Reid, and backed many sessions for Bunny Lee or with The Revolutionaries at Channel One Studios in the 1970s.-Biography:McCook was born in Havana, Cuba, and moved to Jamaica in...
on saxophone
Saxophone
The saxophone is a conical-bore transposing musical instrument that is a member of the woodwind family. Saxophones are usually made of brass and played with a single-reed mouthpiece similar to that of the clarinet. The saxophone was invented by the Belgian instrument maker Adolphe Sax in 1846...
. After "Little Princess" in 1964, he recorded a calypso 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...
, Jamaica Time, at Studio One. It included calypso classics like "Jamaica Farewell
Jamaica Farewell
"Jamaica Farewell" is a calypso about the beauties of the West Indian Islands.The lyrics for the song were written by Lord Burgess . Lord Burgess was born in Brooklyn, New York in 1926. His mother was from Barbados and his father was from Virginia. The song first appeared on Harry Belafonte's...
" and "Yellowbird", as well as a cover
Cover version
In popular music, a cover version or cover song, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording of a contemporary or previously recorded, commercially released song or popular song...
of Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter, musician, poet, film director and painter. He has been a major and profoundly influential figure in popular music and culture for five decades. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s when he was an informal chronicler and a seemingly...
's "Blowing in the Wind". His next album, Big Bamboo, was recorded at Dynamic Studios sometime after 1969, when the 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...
was established by 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...
. Carlton Lee is listed as the producer.
Creator’s biggest hit was "Kingston Town", a tune he recorded for producer Clancy Eccles
Clancy Eccles
Clancy Eccles was a Jamaican ska and reggae singer, songwriter, arranger, promoter, record producer and talent scout. Known mostly for his early reggae works, he brought a political dimension to this music...
in 1970. After that, Lord Creator virtually disappeared from the music industry; although in 1976, he still recorded "Big Pussy Sally", a no-holding-back, free-spirited song which was done on the same tape as Fay Bennett's equally lewd and light-hearted "Big Cocky Wally" for Lee 'Scratch' Perry in 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. Both songs were released on two separate 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...
singles in the UK
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
, both on the B-side
A-side and B-side
A-side and B-side originally referred to the two sides of gramophone records on which singles were released beginning in the 1950s. The terms have come to refer to the types of song conventionally placed on each side of the record, with the A-side being the featured song , while the B-side, or...
accompanied by two different 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....
dubs
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...
. In 1978 Creator returned to the Black Ark to re-record his 1969 song, "Such is Life".
In 1989, the British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
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...
UB40
UB40
UB40 are a British reggae/pop band formed in 1978 in Birmingham. The band has placed more than 50 singles in the UK Singles Chart, and has also achieved considerable international success. One of the world's best-selling music artists, UB40 have sold over 70 million records.Their hit singles...
recorded a cover version
Cover version
In popular music, a cover version or cover song, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording of a contemporary or previously recorded, commercially released song or popular song...
of "Kingston Town
Kingston Town (song)
"Kingston Town" is a 1970 song by Lord Creator. It was covered in 1990 by reggae group UB40 and was the second single from their 1989 album Labour of Love II, reaching #4 on the UK singles chart....
".
There is a story that after this, Eccles saw Creator, who had become homeless and destitute, on a 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...
street. When Eccles called out to him, Creator fled thinking Eccles had come to collect $30 he owed him. Eccles chased him down and told him UB40 had recorded "Kingston Town" and that Creator had earned substantial royalties
Royalties
Royalties are usage-based payments made by one party to another for the right to ongoing use of an asset, sometimes an intellectual property...
. Creator also did a slightly faster version of this song, where the word 'Kingston' is replaced by 'Babylon'. With the money he earned in royalties, Creator revitalized his life and career. He appeared in oldies shows in Jamaica, and toured Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
.