Harriott remembers the ‘Crown Prince’
FEBRUARY is replete with birthdays of popular reggae acts. Among them are the ‘Crown Prince of Reggae’ Dennis Brown on February 1 and ‘Reggae King’ Bob Marley on February 6.
Reggae singer Derrick Harriott also shares the February 6 date and has had more than a passing acquaintance with Brown. It was Harriott who first recorded the 11-year-old Brown in 1969. The single was
Lips of Wine.
“I was first drawn to Dennis Brown because of his talent, but there are certain other things that you can see in an artiste that will make you take to them even more. With Dennis, it was his exuberance on stage. He had that certain little magic, a composure and that pleasing personality and then to top it off we born in the same month,” Harriott recalled.
“The session took place at Dynamic Sounds and some of the great musicians were with us. The guitarist was Rupert Bent, who was also a pilot with Air Jamaica for years. Jackie Jackson played bass and Esmond Jarrett, the older brother of Carrot Jarrett who played congas for Third World, he was the drummer. I also recorded during that session. I did a song called
Slave, which was a big hit with the sound systems. People like Jack Ruby played this tune a lot on their sound systems,” he continued.
Lips of Wine was not the only track Brown would record for Harriott and his Move & Groove music label. Other tracks includedSilhouettes, Concentration, He Can’t Spell, and Musical Heatwave. Listening back to some of Brown’s work, Harriott said he has always been struck by the artiste’s vocal styling and diction.
“He was very good. He had a way of projecting his voice and the sound that he gave you as a producer was always ‘top a top’. He is one of those artistes that will always give you a thrill to listen to.”
Brown has often been accused of recording for a plethora of producers, which did not do well for his career. Harriott had his own experience with Brown.
“I was the one who first introduced Dennis Brown to the song
No Man Is An Island. I had to go to America and when I came back I realised that he went and recorded the song for somebody else — Coxsone. But that is all behind me. He is still one of the best we have ever known and will always be a favourite of many Jamaicans because of his great talent,” said Harriott.
For 2016, Harriott is planning to release a number of tunes which he has been recording. He is not willing to put a date to the release of the new music, but noted that it is definitely coming this year.
“I have not done any releases for a few years now, but I have been writing and recording. I have been drawing on a lot of international musical styles from my travels including Argentina. The tracks have been recorded and are just to be mixed and mastered right now. I am not putting a date on it but 2016 is the year,” Harriott added.
