THIS Sunday is Ken Boothe Sunday at Studio 38.

Boothe will perform an extended set live at the new Studio 38 Bistro at the Pulse Centre on Trafalgar Road. His is the latest in the Live at Studio 38 series and his performance follows John Holt’s at the same venue on February 3. Boothe will be backed by Lloyd Parkes and We The People.

Ken Boothe is one of the most popular and soulful singers of the rocksteady era. First rising to popularity as part of a ska duo with Stranger Cole, Boothe forged a solo career on Clement ‘Coxsone’ Dodd’s Studio One label during rocksteady’s prime, building a generous part of his repertoire on American soul covers. Even after the advent of Rastafarian roots reggae, he managed to score further hits with other producers, most notably the UK #1 chart-topper Everything I Own.

Boothe was born in the Denham Town area of Kingston and grew up listening mostly to American soul music. He started performing in his teenage years, forming the duo Stranger & Ken with his friend Winston ‘Stranger’ Cole. They cut several singles for Duke Reid and Leslie Kong before hitting their stride on Coxsone’s Studio One label with a string of ska hits — World’s Fair, Artibella, Hush, Thick in Your Love and All Your Friends. Dodd encouraged Boothe to record as a solo artiste, and he and Cole both embarked on solo careers.

Boothe notched his first solo hit that year with The Train Is Coming, a soulful rocksteady track (with backing by the Wailers) that established him as one of the new style’s hottest stars. A Boothe original, the song was used several years later as the sound track for a popular Hollywood movie, Money Train.

Boothe truly struck gold, however, when he teamed up with producer Lloyd Charmers on the UK Trojan label in 1971. Charmers suggested that Boothe cover the Bread hit Everything I Own.

Released as a single, Boothe’s version became a left-field pop smash in the UK, going all the way to number one. His 1975 follow-up, Crying Over You, nearly made the Top Ten. UB40 covered several of his songs on their Labour of Love albums.

In 2003, the Jamaican government awarded Ken Boothe the Order of Distinction for his contribution to Jamaican music.