Alton Ellis, King of Rocksteady, has died at the age of 70. The story as run in the UK' Guardian:
By David Katz, The Guardian,
Tuesday October 14 2008
Hailed as the king of rock steady, Alton Ellis, who has died aged 70 of cancer, was the first singer to popularise the style that formed the bridge between ska and reggae, and one of Jamaica's best-loved vocalists. Blessed with a distinctive voice whose emotive tones were particularly expressive, he was a constant presence in the island's charts for much of the 1960s and early 1970s. Although he never reached the pop charts in Britain, he maintained a strong fanbase here, not only among the Jamaican immigrant community that thronged to his concerts, but also among the wider population of British reggae fans, many of whom were drawn to his music following the "two tone" ska revival of the 1980s.
Born in downtown Kingston in 1940, he was raised in the heart of Trench Town, the west Kingston ghetto district that would later be home to Bob Marley and the Wailers and countless other Jamaican vocalists. At Boys' Town school, Ellis excelled at sports and music, and often broke into the school in the evening to teach himself to play the piano, sometimes spending entire nights at the instrument.
Many of his peers were reaching the stage through the weekly talent contests held by the journalist Vere Johns, but Ellis was too frightened by the competition to appear on his own, so in 1959 he formed a duo with a friend called Eddie Perkins. While Ellis worked by day on a construction site in Stony Hill, the duo made their first recording, a slow love ballad called Muriel. Produced by Clement "Sir Coxsone" Dodd, founder of Studio One, the song was an immediate success that topped the Jamaican charts.
After recording a couple of follow-ups for Coxsone and My Love Divine for Vincent "Randy" Chin, the duo was forced to disband when Perkins travelled to the US, where he appeared on the Ed Sullivan Show. Ellis worked as a printer for the next year and a half, forming a short-lived new duo with John Holt, cutting Rum Bumpers in 1965. He then continued recording for Coxsone, notably duetting with his younger sister, Hortense.
Moving to the Treasure Isle stable of Coxsone's arch-rival, Duke Reid, Ellis then assembled a backing harmony group called the Flames, scoring one of the biggest hits of 1966 with Dance Crasher, a song decrying the "rude boys" who were wreaking havoc in Jamaica's dance halls. Soon after, still backed by the Flames, Ellis cut Girl I've Got a Date, named by many as the first rock steady recording, and later Rock Steady, the first to refer to the genre by name. Other notable tunes cut for Reid in this period included an original called Breaking Up and brilliant cover versions of Johnnie Taylor's Ain't That Loving You, Chuck Jackson's Willow Tree and the Delfonics' La La (Means I Love You), all of which are confirmed classics frequently covered by others in the decades that followed.
In 1967, Coxsone poached Ellis back from Reid, sending him to the UK to tour with Ken Boothe and the Soul Vendors. Further gems followed, such as A Fool, one of many songs inspired by the tempestuous relationship with his first wife, Pearl, as well as the album Sings Rock and Soul.
After spending several months in the US, Ellis then moved to Canada, where he was largely based for the next three years, working the nightclub circuit as a soul singer. Back in Jamaica in 1970, he scored big with his rendition of You've Made Me So Very Happy, made famous by Blood Sweat and Tears, as featured on the Coxsone-produced 1970 album Sunday Coming, and the following year, the spiritually eloquent and politically relevant Deliver Us, recorded for Lloyd "Matador" Daley; Big Bad Boy, another anti-rude boy song recorded for the producer Keith Hudson (and apparently inspired by him), was another big hit.
In 1973, Ellis moved to the UK, where he continued to record, issuing the excellent self-produced Still in Love in 1977. Although based in the UK since then, he made notable recordings in Jamaica for Sonia Pottinger during the late 1970s and the album Many Moods of Alton Ellis, released by Earl Morgan of the Heptones in 1980. Sporadic recordings continued for UK-based concerns such as Fashion Records and Jamaican producers such as King Jammy, while the series of annual Rock Steady Revues he presented in London were always eagerly anticipated, as were his live appearances in general. In recent years, despite health concerns, Ellis headlined several festivals in the US and Europe.
In 1994, Ellis received the Order of Distinction from the Jamaican government in recognition of his vital contribution to the island's popular culture, and he is to be given a state funeral. He is survived by numerous children from different relationships and many grandchildren.
• Alton Nehemiah Ellis, singer, songwriter, producer and concert promoter, born September 1 1938; died October 11 2008
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