Hopeton Lewis BY HOWARD CAMPBELL Observer senior writer Sunday, September 07, 2014 NINETEEN-YEAR-OLD Hopeton Lewis was just hoping for a break when he stepped into the recording booth at Federal Records in late 1966 and cut a song called Take it Easy. It became his first hit and more Take it Easy, according to many students of Jamaican pop music, is the first rocksteady song. It heralded the transition from ska and ensured Lewis a place in the history books. Lewis died Thursday at his Continue reading →

Published: Jamaica Gleaner  Friday | October 1, 2010 Erin Hansen, Gleaner Writer   For vinyl collector Carl Percy, an estimated 70,000 LPs and 9,000 45s is considered a conservative assemblage. “I wanted records I can play today and still enjoy them as I did 30-odd years ago,” says Percy, who, in his early stages of collecting, quickly realised the importance of quality over quantity. As a member of the Vinyl Record Collectors’ Association (VRCA) and recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award at May 2010’s Collectors’ Continue reading →

B. Royal, Jamaica Gleaner Sunday April 6th Over the years, we have witnessed a number of surviving members in various disciplines, who have lived to reveal interesting stories about the activities in which they were involved. Perhaps sports and music, which are closely connected, are the two disciplines from which this is most prevalent. In last week’s Music Diaries, Beverley Kelso, one of the surviving members of the original Wailers, spoke of interesting facts about the group’s development, facts that proved crucial to the formation of a Continue reading →

B. Royal, Jamaica Gleaner.  One of the most commonly accepted inaccuracies in popular music is that there is one surviving Wailer, but that is not entirely true. The surviving Wailer often referred to is Neville O’Riley Livingstone, better known as Bunny Wailer, but Beverley Kelso, a foundation and cornerstone member, is very much alive and well, living in Brooklyn, New York. She was born in Kingston, Jamaica, in April 1948 and attended Miss Nembhard Prep, and later, the Denham Town Primary School in Kingston. Kelso was in Continue reading →

Shereita Grizzle, Gleaner Writer It may come as no surprise as many dubbed him the obvious choice for new lead singer of reggae ambassadors, Third World. He had been filling in for the ailing William ‘Bunny Rugs’ Clarke for most of their 40th anniversary tour last year, and with the death of its lead singer, it seems A.J. Brown has officially been granted ambassador status as part of the iconic reggae band. The singer made the announcement at last Saturday’s R&B Reggae Concert held on the Continue reading →