Prince Far I
Encyclopedia
Prince Far I was a Jamaica
n 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.
, Jamaica
. Williams' first job in the music industry was as a deejay
on the Sir Mike the Musical Dragon sound system, also working as a security guard at Joe Gibbs
' studio, and later as a bouncer at Studio One, but after recording "The Great Booga Wooga" for Bunny Lee
in 1969 (under the name King Cry Cry, a reference to his habit of breaking into tears when angered), he got the chance in 1970 to record for Coxsone Dodd
when King Stitt
failed to turn up for a session. Dodd was sufficiently impressed to release the resulting recordings, Williams now using the name Prince Far I at the suggestion of another producer he had worked with, Enos McLeod
). With a unique deep bass voice and talking over style, preferring to describe himself as a "chanter" rather than a "toaster", he became a popular reggae musician, styling himself "The Voice of Thunder".
His first album, Psalms For I
, featuring the Lord's Prayer
and various psalms, was dedicated to the illiterate
who could not read the Bible for themselves. He then worked with Joe Gibbs
on the second album, Under Heavy Manners, before being signed by Virgin Records
for their Frontline label. Twelve albums followed between 1978 and 1981, including the highly regarded Cry Tuff Dub Encounter series of dub
albums, produced by Williams and released on his Cry Tuff label, and featuring the Roots Radics
under the pseudonym The Arabs. Spending an increasing amount of time in England
, he also collaborated with UK On-U Sound Records
including providing vocals in the reggae collective Singers & Players
and may be considered a mentor figure to Adrian Sherwood
. In 1983, he was recording the album Umkhonto We Sizwe (Spear of the Nation)
with producer Roy Cousins
in Kingston. Before the album was finished he was shot at his home in Kingston, Jamaica
during a robbery, allegedly relating to a dispute over money, and died later in hospital.
He is referred to by The Clash
in their single "Clash City Rockers
" and also by The Mountain Goats
in the song "Sept. 15th 1983", a reference to the date of his death.
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...
deejay
Deejay
A deejay is a reggae or dancehall musician who sings and toasts to an instrumental riddim .Deejays are not to be confused with disc jockeys from other music genres like hip-hop, where they select and play music. Dancehall/reggae DJs who select riddims to play are called selectors...
, 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...
and a Rastafarian
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...
. 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 Spanish TownSpanish Town
Spanish Town is the capital and the largest town in the parish of St. Catherine in the county of Middlesex, Jamaica. It was the former Spanish and English capital of Jamaica from the 16th to the 19th century...
, 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...
. Williams' first job in the music industry was as a deejay
Deejay
A deejay is a reggae or dancehall musician who sings and toasts to an instrumental riddim .Deejays are not to be confused with disc jockeys from other music genres like hip-hop, where they select and play music. Dancehall/reggae DJs who select riddims to play are called selectors...
on the Sir Mike the Musical Dragon sound system, also working as a security guard at 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...
' studio, and later as a bouncer at Studio One, but after recording "The Great Booga Wooga" for Bunny Lee
Bunny Lee
Edward O'Sullivan Lee, better known as Bunny "Striker" Lee is a prominent, prolific and successful record producer best known for his work in the 1960s and 1970s.-Biography:...
in 1969 (under the name King Cry Cry, a reference to his habit of breaking into tears when angered), he got the chance in 1970 to record 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...
when King Stitt
King Stitt
King Stitt, born Winston Spark , is a Jamaican DJ.- Biography :King Stitt is the oldest living Jamaican deejay. Sparkes was given the nickname Stitt as a boy and decided to use it as his stage name, becoming King Stitt when he was crowned 'king of the deejays'...
failed to turn up for a session. Dodd was sufficiently impressed to release the resulting recordings, Williams now using the name Prince Far I at the suggestion of another producer he had worked with, Enos McLeod
Enos McLeod
Enos McLeod is a Jamaican reggae singer and record producer whose career dates to the mid-1960s.-Biography:McLeod was born in 1946 in Trenchtown, Kingston, Jamaica, and before his career in music he trained as a cabinet-maker and a boxer. His debut release was "Mackie", which was produced by Sid...
). With a unique deep bass voice and talking over style, preferring to describe himself as a "chanter" rather than a "toaster", he became a popular reggae musician, styling himself "The Voice of Thunder".
His first album, Psalms For I
Psalms For I
Psalms For I is the debut album by reggae chanter Prince Far I recorded in 1975 and released on the Carib Gems label in 1976. The album features nine tracks based on psalms and "The Lord's Prayer", over rhythms largely played by The Aggrovators and produced by Bunny Lee, notable exceptions being...
, featuring the Lord's Prayer
Lord's Prayer
The Lord's Prayer is a central prayer in Christianity. In the New Testament of the Christian Bible, it appears in two forms: in the Gospel of Matthew as part of the discourse on ostentation in the Sermon on the Mount, and in the Gospel of Luke, which records Jesus being approached by "one of his...
and various psalms, was dedicated to the illiterate
Literacy
Literacy has traditionally been described as the ability to read for knowledge, write coherently and think critically about printed material.Literacy represents the lifelong, intellectual process of gaining meaning from print...
who could not read the Bible for themselves. He then worked with 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...
on the second album, Under Heavy Manners, before being signed by Virgin Records
Virgin Records
Virgin Records is a British record label founded by English entrepreneur Richard Branson, Simon Draper, and Nik Powell in 1972. The company grew to be a worldwide music phenomenon, with platinum performers such as Roy Orbison, Devo, Genesis, Keith Richards, Janet Jackson, Culture Club, Lenny...
for their Frontline label. Twelve albums followed between 1978 and 1981, including the highly regarded Cry Tuff Dub Encounter series of 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, produced by Williams and released on his Cry Tuff label, and featuring the Roots Radics
Roots Radics
The Roots Radics Band was formed in 1978 by bass player Errol "Flabba" Holt and guitarist Eric "Bingy Bunny" Lamont. They were joined by many great musicians. As a combined force the Roots Radics became a well-respected studio and stage band, which dominated the sound in the first half of the 1980s...
under the pseudonym The Arabs. Spending an increasing amount of time in England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, he also collaborated with UK On-U Sound Records
On-U Sound Records
On-U Sound Records is an English record label best known for releasing its own unique flavour of dub music since the 1980s. The label is owned by producer Adrian Sherwood and home to acts such as Tackhead, Dub Syndicate, African Head Charge, The London Underground, Little Annie, Creation Rebel,...
including providing vocals in the reggae collective Singers & Players
Singers & Players
Singers & Players were a reggae collective made up of vocalists and musicians associated with Adrian Sherwood's On-U Sound Records. They recorded five albums between 1981 and 1988....
and may be considered a mentor figure to 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...
. In 1983, he was recording the album Umkhonto We Sizwe (Spear of the Nation)
Umkhonto We Sizwe (Spear of the Nation)
Umkhonto We Sizwe is a reggae album by Prince Far I, released in 1984 and which he was recording when he was murdered in 1983. The album is named in honor of the fight of the militant wing of the ANC....
with producer Roy Cousins
Roy Cousins
Roy Cousins is a reggae singer, producer, and record label owner, known for his work as leader of The Royals, his productions of artists such as Charlie Chaplin, Prince Far I, and Cornell Campbell, and his record labels such as Tamoki Wambesi.-Biography:Cousins worked for the Jamaican Post Office...
in Kingston. Before the album was finished he was shot at his home in Kingston, Jamaica
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...
during a robbery, allegedly relating to a dispute over money, and died later in hospital.
He is referred to by The Clash
The Clash
The Clash were an English punk rock band that formed in 1976 as part of the original wave of British punk. Along with punk, their music incorporated elements of reggae, ska, dub, funk, rap, dance, and rockabilly...
in their single "Clash City Rockers
Clash City Rockers
"Clash City Rockers" is a song and single by The Clash. First released in February 1978 with the b-side "Jail Guitar Doors," a re-worked version of a song from Joe Strummer's pub rock days, it was later included as the opening track of the belated US version of the band's eponymous debut album.The...
" and also by The Mountain Goats
The Mountain Goats
The Mountain Goats is an American indie rock band formed in Claremont, CA by singer-songwriter John Darnielle. For many years, the sole member of the Mountain Goats was Darnielle himself, despite the plural moniker....
in the song "Sept. 15th 1983", a reference to the date of his death.
Albums
- Psalms For IPsalms For IPsalms For I is the debut album by reggae chanter Prince Far I recorded in 1975 and released on the Carib Gems label in 1976. The album features nine tracks based on psalms and "The Lord's Prayer", over rhythms largely played by The Aggrovators and produced by Bunny Lee, notable exceptions being...
(Carib Gems, 1975) - Under Heavy MannersUnder Heavy MannersUnder Heavy Manners is a reggae album by Prince Far I, released in 1976. The musicians were Joe Gibbs' house band, The Professionals.Heavy Manners refers to the state of emergency declared in Jamaica in 1976.-Track listing:...
(Joe GibbsJoe 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...
, 1976) - Message from the KingMessage from the KingMessage from the King is a reggae album by Prince Far I and the Arabs, released in 1978.-Side one:#"Message from the King"#"The Dream"#"Commandment of Drugs"#"Moses, Moses"#"Black Man Land"-Personnel:...
(Virgin Front LineFront Line (record label)Front Line was a reggae subsidiary of Virgin Records established in 1978. Over forty albums were issued on the label before it folded in 1979.-History:Virgin had been releasing reggae records since BB Seaton's "Dancing Shoes" in 1974...
1978) - Long LifeLong Life-Track listing:All tracks composed and arranged by Michael Williams#"Daughters of Zion"#"Right Way"#"Black Starliner Must Come"#"Praise Him With Psalms"#"In Your Walking Remember Jah Jah"#"Farmyard"#"Love One Another"#"Who Have Eyes to See"#"So Long"...
(Virgin Front Line, 1978) - Cry Tuff Dub Encounter Chapter 1 (Cry Tuff/Hit Run, 1978)
- Cry Tuff Dub Encounter Part 2Cry Tuff Dub Encounter Part 2Cry Tuff Dub Encounter Part 2 is a 1979 reggae album by Prince Far I. It was recorded at Harry J's studio in Kingston, Jamaica and mixed by Prince Jammy...
(Cry Tuff/Virgin Front Line, 1979) - Free From SinFree From SinFree from Sin is a 1979 reggae album by Prince Far I. It was produced by Prince Far I and engineered by Sylvan Morris & Errol Brown.-Track listing:#"Free from Sin"#"When Jah Ready You Got to Move"#"Call On I in Trouble"#"Don't Deal with Folly"...
(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...
, 1979) - Dub To AfricaDub To AfricaDub to Africa is a reggae album by Prince Far I.-Track listing:#"Bass Ace" #"Dub to Africa" #"Good Music Brother" #"Glory to God" #"Hello, Love Brother" #"Cry Tuff and the Originals" #"Give Love"...
(Price Far I, 1979) - Jamaican HeroesJamaican HeroesJamaican Heroes is a 1980 reggae album by Prince Far I. The musicians included Roots Radics and The Flying Lizards. The album was mixed by Anthony "Crucial Bunny" Graham at Studio One, Jamaica. The cover was designed by Jill Mumfield.-Track listing:...
(Trojan, 1980) - Cry Tuff Dub Encounter Chapter 3Cry Tuff Dub Encounter Chapter 3Cry Tuff Dub Encounter Chapter 3 is a 1980 reggae album by Prince Far I & the Arabs. The Album was originally released on vinyl in 1980 on the London-based Daddy Kool label, and was reissued on compact disc in 1996 by Pressure Sounds.-Track listing:...
(Cry Tuff/Daddy Kool, 1980) - Showcase in a SuitcaseShowcase In A SuitcaseShowcase In A Suitcase is a reggae album comprising showcase format material produced by Prince Far I, and performed by Prince Far I, Ashanti Roy, The Wailing Souls, and Naggo Morris. The backing band throughout is the Roots Radics. The tracks on the album were taken from singles released on...
(Pre, 1980) - LivityLivityLivity is a 1981 reggae album by Prince Far I. Livity is a word used by Rastafarians to refer to righteous, ever-living living. The album is generally considered one of Prince Far I's weaker albums. As on many of his albums, the backing comes from the Roots Radics, under the guise of The Arabs...
(Pre, 1981) - Voice of ThunderVoice of ThunderVoice of Thunder is a reggae album by Prince Far I, released by Trojan Records in 1981.-Track listing:All titles written by Michael Williams.#"Ten Commandments"#"Tribute to Bob Marley"#"Hold the Fort"#"Every Time I Hear the Word"...
(Trojan, 1981) - Cry Tuff Dub Encounter Chapter 4 (Cry Tuff/Trojan, 1981)
- Musical HistoryMusical HistoryMusical History is a reggae album by Prince Far I released in the year of his death in 1983.-Track listing:#Everytime I Talk About Jah #Prince Far I Come Again #Tell Them About Jah Love...
(Trojan, 1983) - Musical Revue / Suns of ArqaSuns of ArqaSuns of Arqa are a World Music collective founded in 1979 by Michael Wadada. Since the group's formation, over 200 people from around the world have played and recorded with them, and in many cases these were like-minded musicians Wadada met as he travelled the world...
Live with Prince Far I (1983) - Umkhonto We Sizwe (Spear of the Nation)Umkhonto We Sizwe (Spear of the Nation)Umkhonto We Sizwe is a reggae album by Prince Far I, released in 1984 and which he was recording when he was murdered in 1983. The album is named in honor of the fight of the militant wing of the ANC....
(Kingdom/Tamoki Wambesi 1984) - Health and StrengthHealth and StrengthHealth and Strength is an album by Prince Far I recorded in the late 1970s but not released until 1998.-Recording:It was recorded for Virgin Records' Front Line label between 1978 and 1979 but the master tapes were lost en route to Virgin's offices...
(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...
, 1998)
Compilation albums
- Black Man Land (1990)
- Dubwise (1991)
- Cry Freedom Dub (1994)
- In the House of Vocal & Dub with King Tubby (1995)
- DJ Originators Head To Head Volume Two Prince Far I & Trinity (1996)
- Megabit 25, 1922-Dub (1998)
- Ten Commandments (1999)
- The Golden Years 1977-1983 (1999)
- Heavy Manners: Anthology 1977-83 (Trojan, 2003)
- Silver & Gold 1973-1975Silver & Gold 1973-1975Silver & Gold 1973–1975 is a compilation record album by Prince Far I, released posthumously in 2005 and containing material recorded between 1973 and 1975.-Track listing:#"Johnny get worse"#"Yes, Joshua"#"Let Jah Arise"#"Dub version"...
(Blood and Fire, 2005)
External links
- Tribute site to Prince Far I
- Prince Far I discography
- Prince Far I information at On-U Sound site