Biography of Alton Ellis

One of Jamaica's first singers, the silken-smooth Alton Ellis made his first hit "Muriel" in 1959 as part of a duo with Eddie Perkins. Producer Coxsone Dodd oversaw a string of subsequent successes. Eventually Ellis, seeing little financial remuneration, left for Coxsone's archrival Duke Reid and his Treasure Isle label. Tunes like "Dance Crasher," "Cry Tough," and "Girl, I've Got a Date" gave Reid his first chance to pass Dodd in the popular mind as Jamaica's heaviest studio and sound system.By 1966 the red-hot double-time ska beat had given birth virtually overnight to a much slower, hiccupping rhythm dubbed "rock-steady," and it was Alton who was to be its midwife. "One evening in the studio," Alton recalls, "the bass man didn't show up. So Jackie Mittoo, the keyboardist, had to play the bass pattern on the piano with his left hand, but he couldn't hold it steady, and we all thought the line was so fresh and nice. When the bass player turned up next time, Jackie insisted that he play what Jackie was playing with his left hand. That's how rock-steady was born; we called it so that night."Coxsone lured Alton back, and by 1968 Alton was the undisputed King of Rock-Steady with shots like "Willow Tree," "I'm Just a Guy," and "Sitting in the Park," often highlighted with his trademark yelp of "Looka here now!" Again, the money failed to follow the hits, and somewhat disillusioned, Alton spent several years in the U.S. and Canada before pulling up stakes and moving permanently to England in 1973. Scores of songs were issued steadily, cementing his reputation as one of the most consistent reggae artists around. By 1984 he was celebrated internationally for his 25 years in show business, making a pair of critically acclaimed appearances at Jamaica's Sunsplash festival in 1983 and 1985. From 1989 on, he has been releasing compilations on his own Alltone label of his early masterpieces, and he even recorded Man from Studio One, a new 12-inch for Coxsone in 1991. One of the real gentlemen of reggae, Alton is a satisfying and scintillating singer, one of Jamaica's extraordinary gifts to the world, right up there with Bob Marley. ~ Roger Steffens