Wingless Angels are a 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...

n Rastafari 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...

 group led by 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...

, best known for their self-titled album executive produced by Keith Richards

Keith Richards

Keith Richards is an English musician, songwriter, and founding member of the Rolling Stones. Rolling Stone magazine said Richards had created "rock's greatest single body of riffs", and placed him as the "10th greatest guitarist of all time." Fourteen songs written by Richards and songwriting...

 and issued on his Mindless Records imprint.

History

Veteran reggae musician Justin Hinds had by the 1990s moved back to live in his rural home town of Steertown near Ocho Rios

Ocho Rios

Ocho Ríos is a town in the parish of Saint Ann on the north coast of Jamaica. Although he landed in many spots along the Jamaican coast, many believe that Christopher Columbus first set foot on land in Ocho Rios...

 where he led a group of nyabinghi musicians, including Winston "Black Skull" Thomas (who had previously worked with Talking Heads

Talking Heads

Talking Heads were an American New Wave and avant-garde band formed in 1975 in New York City and active until 1991. The band comprised David Byrne, Chris Frantz, Tina Weymouth and Jerry Harrison...

 and Bad Brains

Bad Brains

Bad Brains is an American hardcore punk band formed in Washington, D.C., in 1977. They are widely regarded as among the pioneers of hardcore punk, though the band's members objected to this term to describe their music. They are also an adept reggae band, while later recordings featured elements of...

), Milton "Bongo Neville" Beckerd, "Bongo" Locksey Whitlock, Warrin Williamson, Maureen Fremantle (aka Sister Maureen), Vincent "Jackie" Ellis, and Bongo Jackie (aka Iron Lion). Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards had bought a home in Ocho Rios in the mid-1970s and befriended Hinds. Richards and producer Rob Fraboni

Rob Fraboni

Rob Fraboni is a California-born record producer and audio engineer well-known for his work with Bob Dylan, The Band, Eric Clapton, The Rolling Stones, Tim Hardin, The Beach Boys, Joe Cocker, and Bonnie Raitt, and as Vice President at Island Records where he remastered the entire Bob Marley catalog...

 recorded the group one evening in 1995 playing in his own living room, shortly after the death of Bongo Jackie, and with overdubs added by himself, Blondie Chaplin

Blondie Chaplin

Terence William 'Blondie' Chaplin is a musician from Durban, South Africa who first became known to international audiences through his brief stint in the early 1970s as a singer and guitarist for The Beach Boys...

, and Irish

Irish people

The Irish people are an ethnic group who originate in Ireland, an island in northwestern Europe. Ireland has been populated for around 9,000 years , with the Irish people's earliest ancestors recorded having legends of being descended from groups such as the Nemedians, Fomorians, Fir Bolg, Tuatha...

 violin

Violin

The violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....

ist Frankie Gavin

Frankie Gavin

Frankie Gavin, b.1956, Corrandulla, County Galway, is a fiddle player of traditional Irish music.Frankie Gavin is from a musical family; parents and siblings being players of the fiddle and accordion. As a child he played the tin whistle and, later, the flute. He received some formal training in...

, he released the recordings as an album on his own Mindless Records imprint (via 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...

) in 1997, dubbing the group "Wingless Angels".

The album was reissued on keithrichards.com in 2003 and by Polygram

PolyGram

PolyGram was the name of the major label recording company started by Philips from as a holding company for its music interests in 1945. In 1999 it was sold to Seagram and merged into Universal Music Group.-Hollandsche Decca Distributie , 1929-1950:...

in 2008.

According to a news release on winglessangels.com in June 2010, new recordings made shortly before the death of Justin Hinds will be issued in September 2010 on Mindless Records. Wingless Angels II, the last known recording of Justin Hinds is now available for pre-order from winglessangels.com.

Discography

• Wingless Angels (October 1997), Mindless/Island Jamaica
• Wingless Angels II (September 23, 2010), Mindless Records
• Wingless Angels Deluxe Edition (September 23, 2010), Mindless Records