Steely and Clevie, others honoured at Reggae Gold Awards
Veteran artistes inducted into Jamaica Music Museum Hall of Fame
Cleveland “Clevie” Browne, whose digital productions alongside Wycliffe “Steely” Johnson transformed dancehall music in the 1980s and 1990s, believes the genre has lost its way and has “become something else”.
Clevie spoke to the Jamaica Observer last Sunday, three days after accepting a Reggae Gold Award from the Jamaican Government at the National Indoor Sports Centre.
He and Johnson were honoured for their contribution to music as Steely and Clevie.
“In my view, much of what you hear now, it’s not dancehall, it’s something else. It doesn’t have that soul. We programmed [instruments], but we did it with soul, because we appreciated the analogue experience,” said Clevie.
Prior to officially forming Steely and Clevie, Johnson and Browne were session musicians. Steely played keyboards with the Roots Radics Band, while Clevie was drummer for the Browne Bunch, which included his three brothers, and the Generation Gap Band.
Clevie credits an appreciation for live music and respect for senior musicians for their development in the late 1970s and early 1980s. That reverence is not evident today, he noted.
“A lot of them [artistes, producers] don’t know the history of the music, and those who know may consider us old people now. Some of this generation have gone off on a tangent and forget the achievements of the greats, and that’s not good,” he said.
The veteran musician stressed the importance of accepting accolades for him and Steely, who died at age 47 in 2009.
“It’s my duty to attend any event on his behalf. There’s a lot the public don’t know, what Steely and Clevie went through to be a success. It wasn’t a lot of bed and roses,” Clevie stated.
It was mostly ‘bed and roses’ for the duo, who played on or produced hit songs by Dawn Penn, You Don’t Love Me (No, No, No), Shabba Ranks (Dem Bow, Caan Dun), Garnet Silk (Love is The Answer), Nitty Gritty (Run Down The World), Bushman (Call The Hearse), Buju Banton (It’s All Over), and Cocoa Tea (Love Me).
Several acts were inducted into the Jamaica Music Museum Hall of Fame during the event. They include Yellowman, Ken Boothe, Josey Wales, Leroy Sibbles, Third World, The I Three, Big Youth, and Bounty Killer.
