In commemoration of Jamaica’s 50th anniversary of Independence from Britain, the Jamaica Observer’s Entertainment section recognises 50 persons who made significant, yet unheralded contributions, to the country’s culture.

This week we feature songwriter Jackie Edwards.

IN the early years of Jamaican popular music, there were not many original songwriters.

One of the first singers/songwriters was Wilfred ‘Jackie’ Edwards, whose smooth ballads made him a star during the early 1960s.

Edwards rose to stardom with easy-listening songs like Tell Me Darling and What’s Your Name.

Significantly, he was one of Chris Blackwell’s earliest signings when he started Island Records in Kingston in 1959.

Indeed, Edwards followed Blackwell to London when the latter moved operations to Britain three years later.

Edwards wrote two of the label’s biggest hits, Keep On Running and Somebody Help Me, for the Spencer Davis group which was

led by teenaged singer Steve Winwood.

Jackie Edwards’ skills as a songwriter set the pace for other Jamaican songsmiths like Bob Andy and BB Seaton who both emerged during the rocksteady era of the late 1960s.

Though he recorded for various producers, Edwards was not as prolific in the 1970s when the rebel sounds of roots-reggae dominated.

He died from a heart attack in 1992 and has been hailed by contemporaries and admirers as a true original.