Honour, no joke for Charlie Chaplain
DANCEHALL fans flocked Stur Gav sound system dances in the 1980s to hear deejays Charlie Chaplin and Josey Wales throw down the cultural doctrine.
On Monday evening, the 51-year-old Chaplin was awarded an Order of Distinction (OD), Jamaica’s fifth highest honour. He will receive his award on October 21 at King’s House during the National Honours and Awards ceremony.
“This is a very proud moment for me, as, after more than four decades in the business, finally the Jamaican government sees it fitting to award us. I really appreciate it,” he told Splash.
While he is grateful for national recognition, Chaplin hopes his contemporaries such as Josey Wales, Admiral Tibet and Brigadier Jerry will be similarly rewarded.
Chaplin (born Richard Patrick Bennett), along with Josey Wales and Brigadier Jerry, kept the conscious flag flying in the 1980s when ‘slack’ lyrics dominated.
“We grew up with biblical principles, therefore we stick to consciousness when everyone was doing slackness. Because we didn’t divert, it was much harder for us to get a break but we deejayed for the few that would listen to us and it worked,” he explained. Chaplin’s debut album was Presenting Charlie Chaplin in 1982, followed three years later by the George Phang-produced Que Del.
In 1984, he and the ribald Yellowman featured on the clash album, Slackness vs Pure Culture.
Prior to launching a recording career, Chaplin honed his skills working with Stur-Gav, owned by pioneer deejay U-Roy.
“I was barely nine and I was so short that they would have to place me on about two to three crates for people to see me,” the entertainer recalled, laughing.
Chaplin, along with fellow deejays General Trees and Little Twitch, still perform on Stur Gav, which is based in the Cling Cling Avenue section of Kingston.
Singer Beres Hammond leads the entertainers in this year’s national honours. He has been awarded the Order of Jamaica, the country’s fourth highest honour.
Impresario Ronnie Nasralla, musician Filberto ‘Fil’ Callender, deejay Richard Bennett, best known to dancehall fans as Charlie Chaplin, classical pianist Orrett Rhoden and veteran actor Volier Johnson, will also receive ODs.
