| "I am dreader than Fred, for he was
shot dead, with two ounces of lead!"
King Stitt started off his musical career
like so many of his contemporaries, at Studio 1. Although never
as well known internationally as other deejays, Stitt turned his
natural good looks to his advantage and worked the parties
and dancehalls, and achieved greatness by being an originator.
Starting off as the third of Coxsone's Big Three deejays
(behind Count Machouki and Red Hopeton) "The Ugly One"
electrified dance halls in 60's Jamaica with his performances
for Coxsone, and evidently ended up running the Number One
set, keeping the great URoy on the Number Two sound system.
Strangely, though Stitt recorded with Coxone for many years, his
recording output was almost nonexistent. It was not until Stitt's
star began to rise with Clancy Eccles that Coxsone released any
of Stitt's songs<
By the time Stitt recorded with Clancy
Eccles, he reigned supreme. This was in no small way due to his
dashing good looks, but also because of the fabulous rhythms his
songs were built on. Most of these tracks used the session musicians
known as The Dynamites, based loosely around the organ
playing talents of Winston Wright, and the lead guitar of Hux
Brown. Other tracks used were versions of Monty Morris hits from
the 60's. 
 Clancy
Eccles started the fire with the releases "Dance Beat",
"Virgorton Two", and the supreme "Herbsman
Shuffle". In England, Trojan released songs like "Lee
Van Cleef" and "Fire Corner", following
which, the Coxsone sides then saw the light of day, and were released
on the Banana label.
During the mid-1990's Studio One released "Dancehall '63"
, a live LP of sorts, with Stitt toasting in the style of the early
1960's over tracks from such artist's as The Maytals, Don Drummond, Joe
Higgs, Roland Alphonso, and many more. King Stitt was recently seen performing
tracks from this album on Channel 4's (England) Caribbean season. The
program, another Bob Marley documentary, (noticeable for its interview
with Coxsone Dodd) gave viewers an insight of what the sound system must
have been like in 1960's Jamaica.
Long may the King continue to reign.
Gary Lewis |
