This is the seventh in the Jamaica Observer’s Entertainment Desk’s series for Reggae Month titled Princess Black.

PHYLLIS Dillon was the undisputed “Queen of the Rocksteady” era. With a career that began in 1965 Dillon reigned for a short time, scoring hits one after the other.

Bass player Jackie Jackson — who played on several of Dillon’s recordings as a member of Tommy McCook and The Supersonics, the house band that played for Duke Reid’s Treasure Isle label — remembers the talented vocalist from Linstead in St Catherine.

“She was brought to the Treasure Isle studio by Tommy McCook. She was a real country girl — nice, pleasant and humble. I didn’t even know she could sing. When she opened her mouth, to me, Phyllis has the nicest voice in Jamaican music,” Jackson told the Jamaica Observer.

Dillion recorded her debut single Don’t Stay Away, an original ballad which, upon its release in 1966, became a smash hit, spending several weeks at the number one spot on the RJRTop 40 chart.

“Working with her, she brought a freshness to the whole recording industry. We didn’t have a lot of female artistes in those days because the music was male-dominated. After the release of her first album, a star was born,” said Jackson.

Perfidia (a cover of a song made popular by American surf band The Ventures), Don’t Touch Me Tomato, Love That A Woman Should Give to a Man, and One Life to Live were among her string of successive hits. She also had hit duets with Alton Ellis and Hopeton Lindo, including Get on the Right Track.

Although her initial recording career was relatively short, Phyllis Dillon made a major impact on Jamaican music and remains one of the most beloved singers associated with rocksteady and early reggae. Blessed with a sweet, smooth soprano, she recorded dozens of songs with producer Reid, comprising originals and covers of American pop and soul recordings.

According to Jackson, the success of Don’t Stay Away changed Dillon’s life.

“She is from Linton in Linstead, so when the song ‘buss’ and she went back home to the country, it was stardom for her. She did several shows and she just took over the scene. Every show, she was on. In the heights of her success, next thing you knew, she migrated to New York,” Jackson shared.

Prior to relocating overseas, Dillon did one album for Treasure Isle titled One Life to Live. She worked in the banking sector in New York while raising her children.

In the early 1990s event promoter Michael Barnett found Dillon and encouraged her to return to Jamaica and perform on the popular Startime series. She did.

Dillon was diagnosed with cancer in the early 2000s, but she lost the battle on April 15, 2004. She was 59 years old.

In 2009 she was posthumously conferred with the Order of Distinction by the Jamaican Government. Her work can be found on solo anthologies and a long list of compilations from Trojan and Heartbeat Records.