Carey Johnson

Born around 1951 in Kingston, Jamaica, Johnson began his recording career at Coxsone Dodd’s Studio One with the track ‘Scorcher’. That debut’s popularity prompted the follow-up ‘More Scorcher’ along with ‘Call 1143’ and ‘Connection Train’. By the early 1970s he had joined forces with Lloyd Young, formerly of the Groovers, whose earlier success included the hit ‘I Want To Go Back Home’. Recording as Carey And Lloyd, the pair worked at Joe Gibbs’s studio on ‘Joshua Row Us Home’, a release tied to Michael Manley’s political efforts. Further sessions with Alvin ‘GG’ Ranglin yielded ‘Do It Again’ and ‘Only One Wife’, plus the duo’s signature single ‘Scorpion’, built on the Maytones’ rhythm ‘Hands And Feet’. Alongside Karl ‘Sir JJ’ Johnson they issued ‘Soup’, which in turn led to ‘Butter And Bread’ and ‘High Explosion’. They also cut a version of the Maytals’ ‘Pomps And Pride’ under the title ‘Come Down’ and appeared on Joe Higgs’s ‘The World Is Upside Down’, re-titled ‘Down Side Up’.

The pair’s popularity waned by the late 1970s, leaving Johnson largely inactive until the mid-1980s, when ‘Bubbles’ Cameron of Uhuru Productions produced ‘Real Fashion Reggae Style’. Licensed to a major label that had recently enjoyed success with Maxi Priest, the single reached the UK Top 20 and remained on the chart for eight weeks. Its calypso leanings, driven by a festive horn section, made it the defining Caribbean summer anthem of 1987. Johnson followed it with ‘Typical Jamaican’ before again stepping back from the spotlight.