Alton Ellis – Heather Augustyn

Hortense Sings the Blues

April 18, 2017February 22, 2023 haugustyn

Okay, so maybe this blog title is clickbait, but it’s only done to bring attention to the challenges that women in early Jamaican music, like Hortense Ellis, experienced in the 1960s and beyond. This is a topic I have addressed in my book, Songbirds: Pioneering Women in Jamaican Music, and Hortense Ellis was an artist who was perhaps most vocal about being treated unwell. Over the years we have heard plenty about artists not feeling that they were paid their due, but Hortense Ellis was frequently not paid at all! And she had nine children and so her work, her labors and talent, were of even more importance. Her recordings put food on her table, so she had to fight for what was hers.

One of my good friends recently shared this Star Newspaper article with me. He knew I had long championed the career of Hortense Ellis and was further frustrated this past February when attending the Trenchtown Music Festival after hearing Alton Ellis’s son, Christopher Ellis, give a roll call of the musicians who came from Trenchtown, yet he omitted his own aunt!

I have previously written about Hortense Ellis HERE so you can have a read.

But here is the text transcribed from that Star Newspaper article from September 2, 1966:

Singing in the bath tub usually leads to nothing but shouts of protest from the neighbours or starts the dog howling in the backyard. But for Hortense Ellis, it has led to a very successful singing career. Now known as Jamaica’s first lady of song, Hortense has gone just about as far as a girl can in local entertainment circles and now she wants to go abroad.

Brother Alton Ellis, himself a popular vocalist, was the one who first got Hortense into the show business world ,by introducing her to the ten popular Vere Johns Opportunity Hour Shows.”

I pause here to note that though she may have been introduced to the talent show by her brother, animosity was created in the family when she beat him! That’s right, in the grand championships, Hortense took first place and Alton took second! And her oldest daughter told me that this rivalry continued throughout her life. Alton never seemed to get over it, according to her daughter. That story is in Songbirds: Pioneering Women in Jamaica Music.

Back to the article:

“And it was through these shows that bandleader Byron Lee heard her sing and signed her up for some stage shows that really got her career going. The stage show fans really took to Hortense and when she recorded ‘I’ll Come Softly’ it was at the top of the hit parade for a month.

Since then, Hortense has been on nearly every local stage show and has been among the supporting artistes at shows starring the most famous names in show business–names like Ben E. King, Doris Troy, Patty [sic] LaBelle and the Blue Bells, Mamie Harvey, Solomon Burke and Dionne Warwick.

Patty [sic] LaBelle had for a long time been a favourite of Hortense and when Patti heard her sing, she gave her considerable encouragement. But Solomon Burke was even more enthusiastic about Hortense’s talent. He said that she only needed a little more experience to be a big hit. He advised her to go to the United States and ‘try to make the big time.’

‘But I’m weak to help myself,’ she confesses sadly. ‘I need a manager to help me.’ Hortense loves show business. But hates the way the artistes are often treated by some of the promoters.

‘I have a special love for my fans,’ she told me. ‘And I love the excitement of stage shows. I usually have to have six songs ready when I go on because they always want an encore. So although I want to leave Jamaica now to get some experience I would never leave here forever.’

I asked her if she thought she could make a living here without having to go abroad.

Don’t want to pay

You can make a living here, but we are not treated fairly by some of the promoters. They don’t want to pay us. We see a full house at a show and then they tell us that they didn’t make enough at the gate to meet expenses. They say that most of the people crashed the gate and got in free. Maybe the Government could do something for us instead of letting us suffer under local promoters.’

I reminded her of the Tops in Local show, which was put on by the artistes and backed by a loan from the Ministry of Development and Welfare.

‘Yes,’ said the young vocalist, ‘but we had to pay back the money and there wasn’t anything left. They should have helped us with more shows.’

Promptness at rehearsals was something promoters were always claiming the artistes ignored, and I asked Hortense about this.

‘When you are not paid for a job and not given a proper contract and no one seems interested in you, you don’t have any impetus to turn up.’

And this is why Hortense is now looking for someone to help her as a manager or promoter.

Speaking for herself and her fellow artistes she said: ‘If we know there is someone interested in us, we will be prompt and turn up for every rehearsal and do anything he wants, as long as we get a fair deal. What they are giving us now is not even taxi fare. We are being trampled.’

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Memories of Chocomo Lawn

March 4, 2016February 22, 2023 haugustyn

This week I am asking for you, the reader, to share your memories of Chocomo Lawn, should you have the experience in your past. Even better, if you have photos of Chocomo Lawn, then or now, I would be very interested in hearing from you. This site was a “ground zero” of ska, as were other sites such as Forrester Hall, Orange Street, Brentford Road, and many more. Chocomo Lawn was/is in West Kingston and was the headquarters for Edward Seaga during his early years in politics. In a Daily Gleaner article on December 23, 1967, Seaga held a holiday party for thousands of children in West Kingston, and he held the fete at Chocomo Lawn. The article read, “About 4,000 children were given a Christmas treat at Chocomo Lawn, Wellington Street, on Thursday afternoon sponsored by the West Kingston Constituency Committee and the Hon. Edward Seaga, Minister of Finance and Planning. This was the fourth Christmas treat for children of the area since Monday. Mr Seaga assisted by Miss Veronica Carter handed out the gifts at all the treats. Mr. Seaga announced that a special feature of this year’s Christmas treat for the constituency application forms for admittance to two youth camps for boys in the area
between 15 and 16 years were available at the constituency headquarters. To close the series of treats a special dinner for 1000 old people of the area was given yesterday afternoon, Supt. Joe Williams of the Denham Town Police was special guest.”

Years before this charitable gathering, Seaga, had come to West Kingston as a site of culture where he would study and cultivate the music–music of the revivalist religions (kumina, pukumina) and ska. In a Jamaica Observer article on March 21, 2004, former Kingston mayor Desmond McKenzie recalls this era at Chocomo Lawn. The article states, “A decisive turning point in the lives of the residents, particularly the young people in Western Kingston, came with the arrival of Edward Seaga, McKenzie remembers. He would make an awesome impression on them and under his tutelage some would rise to national prominence, notably “Babsy” Grange, Daphne Hurge, Samuel Dreckette, the late reggae superstar Dennis Brown, Winston Bopee who was lead guitarist for We the People band, the Techniques, among others. Seaga had entered West Kingston on grounds that he was researching culture and revivalism in the area. . . . They were also thrilled by the way Seaga could move to the beat of the revival drums. Seaga eventually bought out Victor’s Pop Band that gave birth to the Techniques. Many young Jamaican talents were nurtured there. Young upcoming stars such as Jimmy Cliff, Marcia Griffiths, Delroy Wilson, Count Prince Miller and the like played at Chocomo Lawn, the cultural centre that Seaga developed. Such was the reputation and prestige of the place that ‘anybody who was anybody played the Chocomo Lawn.'”

One of these “anybodys” was Byron Lee & the Dragonaires who came to Chocomo Lawn, along with Ronnie Nasralla, to learn about the ska. Until then, like most other bands on the island, Lee and his group were playing in the American rhythm and blues styles that were popular at dances and in clubs. Other bands, like Carlos Malcolm, performed jazz. Each club, each studio, was an incubator of sounds from the Caribbean, America, and Africa, but at Chocomo Lawn, the scene was ska and Seaga encouraged his friends to come for a listen, to help spread this new sound. In a Daily Gleaner article, October 25, 1980, the writer chronicles a celebration of Seaga’s imprint on the culture. “Mr. Seaga mentioned such names as Jimmy Cliff, Ken Boothe, Stranger Cole, Toots and the Maytals, Hortense and Alton Ellis who he said always frequent Chocomo Lawn in Western Kingston — the place where ska was born. He said that as Minister of Finance and Planning in the JLP government, he tried to popularise ska internationally allowing Jamaica to be known as a country of creative people. After the ska, he said,
there was the rock steady, then reggae from which super stars like Bob Marley were born. Mr. Seaga said that Jamaican music today was acclaimed internationally, ‘It began as a little seed planted at Chocomo Lawn in Western Kingston, nurtured into a bigger tree and blossomed so that the entire world can see its beauty,’ Mr. Seaga said. Mr. Seaga paid tribute to Byron Lee and the Dragonaires who were celebrating 25 years in the music field. He said they have helped to spread Jamaican music abroad more than any other artistes in the country.”

Though I’m sure the above text will cause some debate. For every person who claims they are the one who started ska, there are an equal amount who feel they know who started it. This is good! This speaks to the passion of the music! There is ownership and pride! So those who may have memories to share of one of these sites of creation, Chocomo Lawn, please share your thoughts here and if you have photos, please contact me at haugustyn@yahoo.com. I am researching this time period and would very much like to hear your oral histories!

You can read more about the connection between Chocomo Lawn and ska here.

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Vere Johns is Santa

December 4, 2015February 22, 2023 haugustyn

It’s December, and so the winter holidays are right around the corner. It’s a time of celebration, so why not celebrate Vere Johns, that Santa himself whose show, the Vere Johns Opportunity Hour, gave the world a gift by launching so many musical careers?! Here is our Santa, or a sketch of him, in 1961 in the same newspaper, the Star, where he had his column in which he discussed various aspects of Jamaican culture and life–everything from politics to medical care to labor issues to the mistreatment of the “bearded men.” The column was called “Vere Johns Says” and he always spoke his mind, sometimes eliciting readers to write in their opposing thoughts and maybe throw a barb or two.

In the column from which the illustration above was taken, Johns weighs in on the “gifts” that he would like to give to local leaders in the year before his country would gain their independence. And when I read about the “referendum” I can’t help but cue up Lord Creator’s “Independent Jamaica” in my musical mind.

This is a pretty typical Vere Johns column, and I think it’s interesting in light of the independence on the horizon. On the “crossroads” Jamaica certainly was during this time. And Vere Johns was involved as conduit or a discriminator and analyst of the events, just as he was with the musical acts that came across his stage. He presented this cultural revolution as it was happening, a conduit of the music that would go on to change the world.

Here is Vere Johns and his wife, the lovely Lucille whose idea it was to host a variety show on the stages of the movie theaters the Johns managed.

This is the same Lucille Johns who appeared with Margarita (Anita Mahfood) in the film “It Could Happen to You” which I had the pleasure of sharing with Margarita’s daughter last week. Incidentally, Margarita won the Vere Johns Opportunity Hour herself in 1952 at the age of 12. Below is an excerpt from my book Songbirds: Pioneering Women in Jamaican Music that sheds a little light on this powerhouse couple.

Ask any vocalist from the 1950s and 1960s where they got their start and they will often tell you that they either participated in or attended the Vere Johns Opportunity Hour. This talent show was responsible for launching the careers of a great percentage of Jamaican vocalists during the time when studios were looking for talent. It was a test, a rehearsal, a springboard for further success. They began the show in April, 1939. After the first show, Lucille told a reporter, “Everybody wishes to be a singer,” and she was nicknamed “Lady Luck.” The Daily Gleaner, July 25, 1939 gave a review of the Opportunity Hour series which had just wrapped up for the season. It stated, “At the close of Friday night’s finals of the popular all-Island ‘Opportunity Hour’ at the Palace Theater, Mr. Vere Johns and his popular wife ‘Lady Luck’ received tremendous compliment for their very laudable efforts of unearthing the talent of Jamaica in the entertainment world and for the undoubted success achieved. . . . with the close of the ‘Opportunity Hour’ we say to Mr. and Mrs. Johns ‘THANK YOU!’ We hope Friday night’s close will not bring an end to such fine efforts. We hope that with Friday night’s close the work of unearthing Jamaica’s talent will continue by this pair, and we hope that by their effort bigger and greater things will be achieved for Jamaica in this respect.” If ever there was a statement of prophecy, this was it.

Music historian and journalist Roy Black said of the Vere Johns Opportunity Hour, “It goes without saying that stars such as Millie Small, John Holt, Bob Marley, Jimmy Cliff, Alton Ellis, Hortense Ellis, The Blues Busters, Derrick Harriott, Derrick Morgan, Lascelles Perkins, Higgs and Wilson, Bunny and Scully, Laurel Aitken, Wilfred ‘Jackie’ Edwards. Jimmy Tucker, Girl Satchmo, Lloyd ‘Sparrow’ Clarke, and musicians Roy Richards, Charlie Organaire, and Rico Rodriguez, who all came under his wing, played significant roles in shaping Jamaica’s popular music. They came in droves – hopeful actors, dancers, tricksters, singers, kneeling at his feet for an opportunity to become popular entertainers. There was hardly a performer who grew up in Kingston who didn’t come into his fold. To them it seemed that only one man held the key to the door of success. The city’s famous theatres – The Palace, at the corner of East Queen Street and South Camp Road; The Majestic, which faces Maxfield Avenue from the Spanish Town Road intersection; and The Ambassador, along Seventh Street in Trench Town – were the venues that Johns found logistically convenient to host these shows. The events took on a carnival atmosphere following auditions held mainly in the hometown of the aspirants. With the winners being decided by crowd reaction, competition was fierce and intense.”

Black describes how the idea for the talent show came about. It was a team effort with his wife who also acted as emcee of the events alongside her husband. Black states, “According to Colby Graham, who did extensive research on Johns, the idea for a Vere Johns talent show was born out of a request by the boss of the Savannah Journal newspaper with whom Johns worked, to devise a strategy to boost attendance at cinemas. With the help of his wife, Lillian, they came up with the idea for the show which began in Savannah, Georgia, in 1937, before the couple moved the event to Jamaica in 1939. In the late 1940s, he began a long-running STAR newspaper column ‘Vere Johns Says,’ mainly on the topic of music. But half the story has never been told as, in the 1950s, Johns added another dimension to his already illustrious career where he was a talent scout, impresario, journalist, radio personality, elocutionist and war veteran, by venturing into the world of movies. He played roles in the 1955 adventure thriller Man Fish, which also featured Eric Coverly, and returned a year later in the 26-minute documentary, It Can Happen To You, in which he played the role of a father of two sons who had syphilis.” That film was the same documentary in which Margarita (Anita Mahfood) portrayed a rhumba dancer who performed in a club as patrons watched and caroused with one another.

Not only did Vere Johns encourage other performers to have a career through his talent show, but he himself was a performer on stage and screen. He even dressed up as Santa Claus at some of his holiday shows. He and Lucille performed a comedy radio show in 1943 called “Razzle Dazzle.” Lucille was also a stage actress, “Lady Luck,” who conducted the talent show band and sang at the talent performances. In 1940 on New Year’s Day, Lucille danced in a troupe that performed a production of “Show-Boat,” which was described as a vaudevillian presentation. An article in the February 18, 1941 issue of the Daily Gleaner states, “The cast of ‘Pagan Fire’ stage presentation at popular Majestic tomorrow night is hard at work and will be ready to give of their best. They comprise the following: Mrs. Vere Johns (Jungle girl)—returns to the Jamaica stage and will be seen in two dance specialties . . . Vere Johns (Chief Crandall)–veteran actor and director in a stirring dramatic role. . . . ‘Pagan Fire’ is an original playlet by Mr. Vere Johns. Place: Kango Isle in the South Seas. Production and direction by Mr. Johns, dance sequences by Mrs. Johns.” In 1943 Lucille Johns wrote a play called “Fool’s Paradise” that was directed by Vere Johns. It was performed at the Ward Theatre and was billed as “A Rich Action Packed Drama of Our Every Day Life in 3 Acts.”

Lucille and Vere Johns had served as supporters, mentors, and directors to the Caribbean Thespians, a group of actors from various theaters around the city. An August 5, 1941 Daily Gleaner article stated, “Vere Johns, well known locally for his many talents, has been heard only too infrequently in the one role in which he excels as a truly great artist. Vere Johns is a Shakespearian actor of extraordinary power. His grip and understanding of the dramatic possibilities of the Shakespearian tradition will amaze and delight his audience, sustaining at the same time the lyrical beauty of the Elizabethan English,” showing that both Vere and Lucille were greatly involved in the theater community.

Another article from the Daily Gleaner on June 22, 1939 with the headline “Play at Palace,” detailed another one of the plays presented by the Johns that Lucille herself had written. “’When a Heat Wave Hit Breadnut Bottom,’ a one-act comedy written by Mrs. Vere Johns and directed by her husband, and in which both took leading parts, was presented, at the Palace Theatre last night to a very appreciative audience. Like their ‘Opportunity Hour’ progammes, this presentation was a further endeavour of Mr. and Mrs. Vere Johns to present to the Jamaica public, Jamaica talent, and they succeeded in no uncertain way in this respect. Throughout its 40 minutes duration, the presentation was followed with interest, interspersed with the applause of the audience. Apart from Mr. and Mrs. Johns, outstanding performers in the play were little golden-voiced Frederick Stanley, who sang three very delightful songs, little Lester Johns (son of Mr. and Mrs. Vere Johns), and Ranny Williams, who as Tom, the headman of Mass Charlie’s (Mr. Vere Johns) plantation did justice to his part.” Lucille and Vere also had at least one other son, Vere Johns Jr., who went on to emcee in 1984 for the Vere Johns Opportunity Hour where Bunny and Scully performed. This event took place at the Odeon Theater and Vere Johns Jr. was billed as the “Ace from Outa Space.”

Here is a link to the article I cite from Roy Black, the legendary music columnist: VERE JOHNS

Theophilus Beckford

Easy Snappin’ Theophilus Beckford

April 4, 2014February 24, 2023 haugustyn

I always thought they called him Easy Snappin’, not because his song was arguably the first ska song, but because Theophilus was too hard to say! Kidding of course, but I would like to take some time to look back on Easy Snappin’, or Theo, or Theophilus Beckford, that talented pianist to whom we really owe a debt of gratitude. He helped to launch a genre.

Theophilus Beckford was born in 1939 in Trench Town, the same neighborhood that gave us Bob Marley, Alton Ellis, Hortense Ellis, and even DJ Kool Herc! His father was a skilled pianist but Beckford learned to play piano in school and was also self-taught. He performed in the style of the popular artists of the day—American R&B like Roscoe Gordon and Fats Domino. But he didn’t start recording in this style since the only real recording being done on the island at this point was from Stanley Motta who recorded calypsos. So Beckford recorded for Motta on a number of calypsos and as the recording industry developed when Ken Khouri established Federal Records, Beckford was able to develop the style he loved—American R&B which evolved into ska.

Many will argue that “Easy Snapping” was a boogie shuffle tune, and there is something to be said for that. But Easy Snapping features a more punctuated piano rhythm that is less slippery than the shuffle beat, and it also features brass, so it can easily be argued that it is the first ska song. Some say that it is neither R&B nor ska, it is somewhere in the middle, so it a way it is the Lucy of evolution, the missing link. Whatever your take, it is evident that this song, and this artist, are essential to the creation of ska and the genres that follow.

“Easy Snapping” was recorded for Coxsone at Federal Records in 1956 for Studio One’s first ever recording session. Michael Turner writes in Beat magazine in 2001, “The song was recorded for Coxson Dodd in 1956 at Federal studio, but at the time recordings were pressed onto soft acetate for sound-system use only. Three years later the commercial release of records in Jamaican began . . . ‘Easy Snapping’ was released late in the year and its lazy intonation and emphasis on the offbeat made it a massive hit, and presaged the development of a unique Jamaican sound.”

The song was an immediate hit and stayed on the charts for 18 months. It was also released in the UK on the Blue Beat label. Of course, Beckford received no royalties from this song even though it was used in a European jeans commercial later on. The song on Coxsone’s Melodisc label is credited to Theophilus Beckford, Clue J and His Blues Blasters while the Blue Beat version is credited to Theophilus Beckford, Clue J and His Blues Blasters, Trenton Spence and His Orchestra. The B side of both releases was the tune “Going Home.” He recorded others for Coxsone as well as Simeon Smith who was better known as “Hi-Lite.” He performed piano as a studio musician for hundreds of recordings. According to Mark Lamarr, “As pianist in Cluett Johnson’s Blues Blasters and as a session musician, he played on countless cuts for Prince Buster, King Edwards, Leslie Kong, Duke Reid and Coxsone Dodd.”

Growing frustrated with receiving no pay from Coxsone and others, Beckford established his own label in 1961, King Pioneer, and he released many of his own tunes—perhaps the first DIY guy! He became producer on his label for artists such as Frank Cosmo, Daniel Johnson, Keith Walker, Lloyd Clarke, Wilfred Brown, the Greenbusters, the Meditators, the Pioneers, Toots & the Maytals, and Eric Monty Morris & Patsy Todd on the duet “Don’t Worry to Cry.” Michael Turner writes, “Approximately 50 songs came out on this label between 1962-66, and most of these were strong works exhibiting the many styles and flavors of ska.”

In later years, after ska and rocksteady and reggae was considered “oldies music” or “granny music” by Jamaican youth when dancehall took over, Beckford was able to eke out a meager living by performing at gigs anywhere he could find. “Things are rough on my side and I am surviving through the will of God and the love for the music,” said Beckford in a Jamaica Gleaner article in 2000. “Today as I listen to music on radio and sound system and recognise that I created some of these tunes. I feel strongly that I am not given full recognition for my work.” A year later, Theophilus Beckford was dead.

On February 19, 2001, Beckford went to resolve a dispute with a man in Callaloo Mews. After leaving the residence, the assailant “chopped” Beckford in the back of the head with an axe, according to the Jamaica Gleaner, and he was killed. His son Lloyd stated, “What kind of society is this where a 65-year-old man can be so brutally murdered and to think that it is someone who is well known and has contributed to the development of his country.” Certainly, Beckford has left a legacy. He is to be respected for his contribution to the development of the Jamaican music. The Guinness Book of Who’s Who in Reggae credits Theophilus Beckford with creating “the feel and soul of ska.” Let’s give credit too.

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Ska, Rocksteady, and Boxing?

November 15, 2013February 21, 2023 haugustyn

Bunny_grant

Bunny Grant

Alton Ellis’s classic 1965 song Dance Crasher features the following lyrics in a warning to rude boys to mash up sound system dances:“Don’t break it up, please don’t make a fuss, go to a gym, get yourself in trim, be a prize fighter, instead of a dance crasher, let me tell you, be a gentleman, you could be a champion, like Mr. Bunny Grant.”. Ever wonder who Bunny Grant was and why boxing was such a big deal in this Alton Ellis song? I mean, sure we know about dance crashers and rude boys, but boxers?

Ever wonder who Bunny Grant was? Reggae Archives tells us that “Leslie “Bunny” Grant was a Jamaican light-welterweight boxing champion active during the early 1960s. Whilst there have been many Jamaican-born boxers on the international scene before and since, most fought under the flag of an adopted country such as USA, Canada or Great Britain. Grant was revered in Jamaica largely because he fought as a Jamaican.”

The Jamaica Gleaner, on November 7, 1999, in a series of the 20 Greatest Jamaican athletes of the Century, profiled Bunny Grant. Here is the feature:

BUNNY GRANT has the distinction of being the first Jamaican boxer to fight for a world title.

He fought the American champion Eddie Perkins for the world junior welterweight boxing title at the National Stadium on April 18, 1964, but lost in a unanimous points decision.

In 1962, Grant held as many as four titles simultaneously – the Latin American junior welterweight title, the British Empire lightweight title (renamed the Commonwealth title) and the Jamaica lightweight and welterweight titles.

On August 5, 1962 – on the eve of our Independence from Britain – Grant did Jamaica proud by winning the Commonwealth lightweight title, defeating the Englishman Dave Charnley inside the newly-built National Stadium. It was a fitting Independence gift.

By virtue of his outstanding exploits in the ring that year, Grant at age 22 was named Jamaica’s first ‘Sportsman of the Year’ by the Machado Foundation.

During his heyday, the boxer whose real name is George Leslie Grant, was not only a genuine crowd puller but a role model to young aspiring sportsmen as well. He was immensely popular.

Blessed with a fast pair of hands, good footwork and a punishing left jab, the man who fought eight world champions in the lightweight and welterweight divisions in a career spanning 15 years, ended with a professional ring record of 102 fights, 86 wins, 10 losses and six draws.

After his memorable victory against Charnley, Grant defeated the world number three lightweight Doug Vaillant of Cuba in his next fight at the National Stadium months later, out jabbing and out punching his opponent for his biggest win.

Other notable bouts were his loss to the highly ranked Carlos Hernandez of Venezuela in 1963, which for a time set back his bid for a crack at the world title, and his victory over fellow Jamaican Percy Hayles for the local welterweight title in the early 70s, this inside the National Arena.

Significantly, Ring Magazine, in its ranking for February 1965, named Grant as the number one contender for Carlos Ortiz’s world title. Between 1963 and 1968, he was consistently ranked in the top 10 in the junior welterweight division.

For his outstanding contribution to boxing, Bunny Grant was inducted to Jamaica’s Sports Hall of Fame on October 21.

Okay, okay, so enough about Bunny Grant, still what’s the big deal with boxing? Well boxing was hugely popular in Jamaica and still is today. Boxers were admired for their strength, skill, and sport and so they were idolized by Alton Ellis and others. Sister Ignatius taught her boys at the Alpha Boys School the sport of boxing by sharing films of the greats, instructing the technique as the boys watched. Local theaters like the Ritz screened fight films, like Rocky Marciano vs. Don Cockell. The Jamaica Boxing Board of Control (JBBC) was established as early at 1929 by Jamaican national hero Norman Manley, one of the leaders responsible for negotiating Jamaican independence. Manley even served as president of the JBBC during its infancy.

Today, the outstanding Minneapolis band the Prizefighters have paid homage to this tradition and to Ellis by naming their band after this cultural affinity as they revive the sounds of 1960s Jamaican ska—definitely check them out at theprizefighters.net.

My interest in boxing and ska came as I researched Don Drummond since Anita Mahfood, also known as Margarita, was married to a boxer before she became involved romantically with Drummond. Margarita was married to boxer Rudolph Bent. They had two children together, Suzanne and Christopher. Rudolph Bent was known as the Dark Destroyer. He was born in Belize, which was then called British Honduras and he fought his first professional fight on July 13, 1952 against Jimmy Pollard in Belize City. Rudolph Bent left Belize for Jamaica in 1955 to continue his career and he met Margarita and they had their first child in 1959 getting married afterward and then having a second child two years later.

Perhaps Bent’s most famous moment in his boxing career came on October 20, 1965 when, at the age of 33, he fought against Boxing Hall of Famer Sugar Ray Robinson in Robinson’s final fight. Robinson, who was 45 years old at the time, won his 174th and final victory in a third-round knockout of Rudolph Bent in Steubenville Ohio. Bent had just come off of a 13 fight losing streak when Robinson won. Robinson’s purse for the fight was $500. It was not Bent’s last fight, but his string of loses definitely signaled the end of his career.

You can read more about Bent, see photos of him, and hear about the abusive relationship he had with Margarita before she divorced him and moved in with Don Drummond while her kids were sent away to Belize. My book is available at skabook.com and here are a few recent reviews:

Heather, just letting you know that the Don Drummond book is the best book I have ever read on the subject of Ska. It is so well researched and informative! I particularly liked reading about Graeme Goodall and The Caribs, the Australians who helped pioneer the genre. Keep up the good work, can’t wait to read your next book! cheers, Steve Douglas, guitarist with The Resignators, www.theresignators.com

Well researched. By reg69 on October 22, 2013 For the avid or casual reader on the subject of early Jamaican music this is a must read.Writer has come up trumps here ,cannot have been an easy task extracting information on D.Drummond in his native land. So thank you Heather for sticking your neck out , it must have been a daunting task. On behalf of reggae fans worldwide , thank you.

This man is back !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! By Darren Powell on November 2, 2013 Meticulously researched & beautifully put together – a wealth of new information on a musical giant & a revelation in terms of Margarita Mafood.

Through dozens of interviews Heather Augustyn’s book paints a vivid and at times traumatic picture. She never shrinks from dealing with the cycles of violent abuse and the stigma of mental illness. Her book demands that we learn from the lessons of the past so that we might react differently in the future. Let’s face it, Don Drummond was not alone. He joins a host of stellar artists and musicians who have dealt with depression and psychosis, some of whom were able to deal with it, others who weren’t. In the end ‘Don Drummond: The Genius and Tragedy of the World’s Greatest Trombonist’ leaves us no place to go but the music and that my friends takes us to those Far East melodies, those groundbreaking compositions… minor masterpieces… that allow his melancholy genius to shine. Roll on Don Cosmic… Ungu Malungu Man! –Paul Brad