Barrington Levy

Barrington Levy stood among the standout achievements of the 1980s by stepping onto the dancehall landscape and quickly reshaping it around his personal vision. While countless DJs and vocalists rose and faded throughout the decade, Levy proved one of the rare exceptions who maintained longevity, issuing substantial hits that stretched well into the 1990s.

Born during 1964 in Clarendon, Jamaica, the young Levy formed the Mighty Multitude alongside his cousin Everton Dacres. The pair began performing on sound systems and cut their initial single, “My Black Girl,” in 1977. At just fourteen years old, Levy launched a solo career the following year with the debut release “A Long Time Since We Don’t Have No Love.” Although the track made limited waves, audiences in the dancehalls eagerly anticipated his live appearances. One such performance brought him into contact with former vocalist turned producer Junjo Lawes and New York-based producer Hyman “Jah Life” Wright.

The two producers escorted the teenager into Channel One studio with the Roots Radics in tow and captured a series of recordings. The earliest results included “Ah Yah We Deh,” followed in quick succession by “Looking My Love,” “Englishman,” and “Wedding Ring Aside.” Immediate acclaim arrived, yet the powerful “Collie Weed” truly solidified the teenager’s command of dancehall. “Shine Eye Girl” delivered another major success, placing the youthful Levy in high demand. A steady flow of singles ensued, among them “Wicked Intention,” “Jumpy Girl,” a graceful rendering of Horace Andy’s “Skylarking,” the playful “Disco Music,” “Reggae Music,” and a second take on “Wicked Intention.”

Levy next collaborated with producer Alvin Ranglin on further chart successes such as “Never Tear My Love Apart,” “Jah,” “You Made Me So Happy,” and “When You’re Young and in Love.” His resonant vocals lent themselves naturally to duets with fellow vocalists and DJs, prompting a series of joint singles. Toyan proved an effective partner on “Call You on the Phone,” Jah Thomas joined him for “Moonlight Lover” and “Sister Debby,” and Trinity appeared on “Lose Respect” plus its 1980 successor “I Need a Girl.” That same year Levy delivered a standout performance at Reggae Sunsplash and returned to the festival in 1981. During these formative periods the singer divided nearly all his time between studios and dancehalls. Amid the torrent of singles, four albums surfaced between 1979 and 1980.

Bounty Hunter appeared first, containing three major singles—“Reggae Music,” “Shine Eye Girl,” and “Looking My Love”—plus additional tracks of comparable strength. In Britain the Burning Sounds label issued Shine Eye Gal, another collection heavy with hits that featured the title track, “Collie Weed,” and “Ah Yah We Deh.” Englishman arrived soon afterward, a superb album shaped by the formidable studio team of Junjo Lawes together with two of King Tubby’s protégés, Scientist and Prince Jammy. Jammy brought veteran experience, while the still-young Lawes rapidly built a reputation as one of Jamaica’s leading producers. Scientist, still in his late teens, had already earned recognition as an engineer and remix specialist, and Lawes called on those skills repeatedly. The Roots Radics supplied the rhythmic foundation for Lawes’s sound, which remained deeply roots-oriented yet carried a forceful edge that dominated dancehalls.

Roots music was meanwhile losing ground within Jamaica’s contemporary scene, and conditions were ripe for musical, political, and cultural shifts. Listeners had grown weary of militant Rastafarian themes and sought lighter material that retained dancehall immediacy. Levy supplied an ideal solution. A seasoned performer in the clubs, he infused his recordings with the spontaneity of the DJ while restoring vocals to the sound-system environment previously dominated by DJs alone.

By adapting classic roots rhythms refreshed by the Radics and sharpening the material with a hard yet danceable quality, Lawes and Levy together forged an entirely new dancehall aesthetic. The 1980 album Robin Hood confirmed what Jamaican audiences already recognized: Levy had become the island’s premier star, possessing an unrivaled talent. More precisely, he reigned as king among singers, sharing the throne with DJ Yellowman, another Lawes discovery. Robin Hood matched the impact of its predecessor and began attracting attention in Britain, where both it and Englishman appeared on the Greensleeves label. The heavy rhythms from these albums naturally supplied source material for the Scientist V Prince Jammy dub clash set.

Levy’s rising popularity soon created complications. Even before widespread fame, he had observed fans taping his dancehall performances, and those tapes later returned to trouble him. Bootleg albums flooded the market, mixing older pirated live recordings with unreleased outtakes and reissued older singles. In reaction Levy withheld new albums for two years, though fresh singles continued to compensate. Hits from 1980 included the evocative Lawes-produced “Mary Long Tongue,” Linval Thompson’s “Too Poor,” and several tracks recorded with Karl Pitterson such as “I Have a Problem” and “Even Tide Fire a Disaster.” The stream of successes persisted into the early 1980s with “I’m Not in Love,” “You Have It,” “Tomorrow Is Another Day,” “Robberman,” “Black Rose,” “My Woman,” and “Money Move,” the last of these proving the strongest. Levy also experimented with self-production on strong cuts like “In the Dark” and “Love of Jah.” Additional singles for Joe Gibbs included another version of “My Woman.” The Reggae Vibes album later gathered Levy’s finest work with that producer alongside material from dancehall singer Sammy Dread.

Two new albums finally surfaced in 1983: the outstanding Lifestyle, expertly guided by Alvin Ranglin, and Money Move, which featured exceptional rhythms crafted specifically for George Phang by Sly & Robbie. In the U.K. the Burning Sounds label released Hunter Man, a greatest-hits package. Hits kept arriving, with “Under Mi Sensi,” produced by Jah Screw in 1984, ranking among the year’s biggest. The same partnership yielded the album Here I Come, whose title track reached the U.K. Top 50. The record itself captivated British audiences and earned Levy the Best Vocalist Award at Britain’s Reggae Awards. That year he also teamed with another rising dancehall favorite, Frankie Paul, for the sound-clash project Barrington Levy Meets Frankie Paul.

Prison Oval Rock appeared in 1985 on the Volcano Jamaican label (distinct from the similarly titled RAS U.S. compilation). Levy reunited with Lawes for another roots-driven set that equaled earlier efforts. Six years had passed since Levy’s explosive arrival on the scene. Now in his early twenties, his release pace noticeably slowed. He returned to Reggae Sunsplash in 1987 and remained a featured attraction there through 1995. Love the Life You Live arrived in 1988, a somewhat uneven effort relative to prior work, and marked his final new album until 1991.

Levy had not yet exhausted his momentum. Before the decade closed he scored further successes with “My Time” and “Too Experience,” both produced by Jah Screw and both covers of Bob Andy compositions originally performed with the Paragons and Bob & Marcia. As the 1990s began, Levy signed with Island’s Mango subsidiary and delivered the strong comeback album Divine. He collaborated with Rebel MC and Tenor Fly on the hit single “Tribal Base,” which climbed into the British Top 20. Signing next with MCA in the United States, Levy sought broader North American appeal with the 1993 album Barrington. Produced by Lee Jaffe, it included a re-recorded “Under Mi Sensi” alongside tracks such as “Murderer” and “Jeep.” The MCA association proved short-lived, however, and Levy soon moved on. Back in Britain he added another hit with “Work.”

In 1994 Levy joined Beenie Man on the singles “Two Sounds” and “Under Mi Sensi.” Both later resurfaced as energetic jungle remixes, with “Sensi” in particular igniting dancefloors. Under Jack Scorpio’s guidance the singer next recorded “She’s Mine” with Mega Banton. Jah Screw expanded the collaborative approach into a full album of shared tracks titled Duets in the United States (released by RAS) and Barrington Levy’s DJ Counteraction in the U.K. (via Greensleeves). From this project “Living Dangerously,” featuring Bounty Killer, surged up the Jamaican charts and gained international club traction. Follow-up “Bad Talk” achieved more modest results yet remained a solid release. Time Capsule followed closely in 1996, a compact eight-track set augmented by five dubs that compensated for brevity with high quality.

Over the subsequent two years Levy’s network of collaborators expanded further. The 1998 album Living Dangerously showcased a broad range of guests, including rap artist Snoop Doggy Dogg and Southern California punk-reggae outfit Long Beach Dub All-Stars. In 2003 the original Bounty Hunter album was resequenced and reissued as Moonlight Lover on the Burning Bush label. Two years later Sanctuary compiled Levy’s early recordings with Henry Lawes and Alvin Ranglin on Love Your Brother Man: The Early Years. Additional compilations have continued to surface, preserving much of the singer’s most notable material.