Alton Ellis
June 1st 2006 08:16
Ellis was born in 1944 and like many reggae artists grew up in Trenchtown, Kingston. He attended Kingston Senior School with the likes of Slim Smith and Jimmy Riley and began his recording career with Coxsone Dodd doing a duet with Eddie Perkins titled “Muriel”. (sources vary – some say it was in 1959 while others in 61). When ska came along, he’d moved into Duke Reid’s stable and in 1965 recorded the very popular song Dance Crasher. It was with vocal group The Flames, made up of Winston Jarrett and Eggar Gordon. Rocksteady was upon them by 1966 and it really suited the laidback style of Alton Ellis’ voice. He and The Flames recorded one of the most well known rocksteady songs, Girl I’ve Got A Date in 1966 and it led to much success. Ellis would go on to record a sting of songs with Duke Reid at Treasure Isle and back at Coxsone including Cry Tough, Rock Steady, Can I Change My Mind and I’m Just a Guy and Ain’t That Loving You. His peak period also included a tour to England with the Soul Vendors. He also went in a more conscience direction which resulted in songs such as Back to Africa and Lord Deliver Us for Lloyd Daley and Keith Hudson.
Alton Ellis also did a number of duets with the queens of rocksteady. I’m just a Guy and Why Did You Leave Me to Cry with Phyllis Dillon and an entire album on Coxsone’s Studio One with Hortense Ellis.
Like many Jamaican artists though, Ellis was frustrated by the nature of the Jamaican recording industry giving little money to the artists so in 1972 left for the USA and Canada before settling in the UK. He set up his own record label and shop All Tone Records, which released a combination of his recordings and other artists. During the 80s he returned to Jamaica to play two Sunsplash Festivals and went on reissuing material on his All Tone label. He still performs today.
Alton Ellis for me had an appeal in the smoothness of his delivery. It seemed effortless and yet passionate at the same time. His success came largely through singing crooning love songs, yet they were still very danceable. Songs like Dance Crasher and Rock Steady also show he isn’t entirely a sentimentalist. Try getting a hold of his songs with current Japanese band The Dreamlets.
Also check out the interview with him (and Horace Andy) on Firecorner.
References
Solid Foundation by Jay Katz
BBC
Reggae Train
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