Pluto, friends for May 28 show
Rasta and songs with black conscious themes come to mind when Jamaican music from the 1970s is discussed. However, that decade produced a catalogue of easy-listening tracks, most of which were recorded at Federal Records in Kingston.
Pluto Shervington is responsible for many of those songs, including Ram Goat Liver, Your Honour, Dat, and I Man Born Ya.
Shervington will sing his humorous hits at the May 28 Pluto And Friends show, scheduled for the Gulfstream Racetrack in Hallandale, Florida.
“I can’t think of any one reason for their longevity other than the songs from that era were very happy, comical and almost folklore. My songs remind people of that era of music,” Shervington, 71, told the Jamaica Observer.
This will be the second Pluto And Friends. The first, in February 2020, was a sold-out event that celebrated Shervington’s 50th anniversary in the music business. Last year’s follow-up was cancelled due to COVID-19; the 2022 gig was rescheduled to May amid fears of the Omicron vuariant.
Shervington moved to South Florida in the late 1970s, at the height of political turmoil in Jamaica. He established himself there as a live act at venues like Sundays On The Bay, which was popular with Jamaicans and well-heeled Americans.
At the inaugural Pluto And Friends, he shared the stage with several contemporaries including Ernie Smith, Boris Gardiner, Inner Circle and Third World. Smith, Gardiner, J C Lodge, Chalice and the Fabulous 5 complete the line-up for next month’s show.
The jocular Shervington recalls a magical atmosphere at Federal Records, which was owned by the Khouri family.
“Recording there was a real pleasure for me mainly because of the interaction between the artistes. Ernie, Ken Lazarus, Tinga (Stewart), Ken Boothe and others. Working with (drummer) Mikey Boo (Richards) and (multi-instrumentalist) Mikey Chung was an absolute pleasure. Them as well as (guitarist) Willy Lindo, (bassist) Val Douglas and (multi-instrumentalist) Geoffrey Chung gave so much to our music and it was always fun and jokes,” he said.
