Oil In My Lamp, If I Had The Wings of A Dove and Sammy Dead are some of the classics that ska legend Eric ‘Monty’ Morris has delivered over his fifty-year career as a singer.

With so many years in the biz, one would have thought that this singer would have released many albums — instead he is just getting ready to put out his debut album.

In an email query by Sunday Observer Morris gave a simple explanation for it all, “After recording for so many producers in Jamaica, no one decided to compile a set of Monty songs. I don’t know if it was because I was singing for different producers. But some of them had a good amount of songs where if they decided to put together a number of songs they could have compiled them. I couldn’t tell you exactly why it never happened. I think if I had the money to do it at the time I would have done it myself.”

Now thanks to producer Buckley Records, music lovers will have brand new recordings of classic Morris hits as part of a series called The Living Legends Collection.

The first single from the project, Into This Beautiful Garden, features Sadiki and was released on March 1 in digital format.

Singer/songwriter Sadiki worked very hard on this project. Along with his work as artiste, he wore the producer hat and even served in the role of recording and mixing engineer.

In commenting on his role in the production Sadiki said, “Doing this album was a great journey into an area of our music that had its heyday in Jamaica, a bit before my time.”

“I’d always been a fan of ska, but I became even more involved when I was asked to manage Morris in early 2010. My hope for this release is that it helps to not only kick-start the fourth wave of the Ska music genre, but that it also helps to put some of the spotlight back upon traditional ska music,” Sadiki said about his effort.

According to Sadiki, recreating the classics on a studio album didn’t come without its challenges. “The major one was recreating classic songs with an updated feel so that they captivate a new audience, yet making certain that Morris’ tried and true fans would be appreciative of the new recordings.”

The young producer is confident that he has managed to do just that. “I believe that we’ve hit the mark. The album’s 11 tracks were chosen on the basis of their popularity and how well they fit into the all-round vision for the album. European and UK performances are scheduled for mid-April. The Living Legends Collection – Eric Monty Morris was released worldwide in digital format on March 29.

Eric ‘Monty’ Morris, considered to be one of the ska pioneers, was the original vocalist for The Skatalites. In 1961 he recorded a medley of nursery rhymes as Humpty Dumpty providing the vocals to Arkland Drumbago Parks All-Star Band’s shuffling beat. The song proved a phenomenal success and is regarded as pivotal in the progress of Jamaican music, introducing the emphasis on the half beat in comparison to earlier local recordings which simply mirrored American R&B.

Morris recorded an abundance of hits throughout the first half of the 60s, most notably What A Man Doeth, Money Can’t Buy Life, Into My Garden, and Enna.

At the beginning of the Jamaican music industry many singers received a single fee for their performance in the studio. This motivated singers to record for anyone who would pay. Morris was no exception, and he recorded several tracks including Seek And You Will Find, Home Sweet Home and River Come Down for Vincent Edwards. The singer also found success with Leslie Kong who released the favoured Solomon A Gundy alongside Strongman Sampson (Sampson Was The Strongest Man), while sessions with Neremiah Reid resulted in Words Of Wisdom, Supper In The Gutter and Words Of My Mouth.

In the latter half of the 60s several commentators considered that while Morris was an esteemed ska singer he would not adapt to the new sound of rocksteady. Adding the ‘Monty’ tag to his name, the singer proved the critics were mistaken with the sublime, Say I’m Back and the defiant Last Laugh. By 1970 Morris had left Jamaica, and did not return until 1998 when he was invited to appear at the monthly Heineken

Show Series held in Half-Way-Tree. The singer had not performed live for over 15 years.

With the album out of the way, Morris is now looking forward to doing some more studio work where he will be “trying some different styles and advancing my talents”. After that he will be looking forward to his trip to Europe which he says will be his first time “after all these years.”

Commenting on today’s music Morris says that music must live. “Nowadays I don’t find a lot of creativity going on in the music world. It is still good and I respect the new artiste dem that come on the scene because them shed a different light to the world. But there was something in the music back in the day where it can never die.”

Morris says if he could have his way in helping to change things he would start with the quality of some of the songs being released. “A lot of the music being made is not being arranged properly and lack the right instruments. One time you would have four or five musicians lay a track. Nowadays there might be one or two. There must be a good balance between the digital and the live musician,” he pointed out.

His advice to the upcoming generation is “try and come into it the right and proper way. Sometimes you have a good song and you want to record it, but the business arrangements that are made are not substantial. You never know, sometimes you can have a little funny tune and it sound a way and when you check it out and take a stock it might tear down the whole place.”

Raring and ready to go is the best way to describe Eric Monty Morris’s current state of mind. “Well I’d like to let the people, know that I am open and available for shows and to thank them for their support over all these years.”