Ernie Smith

Born as Glenroy Ernest Smith around 1948 in Jamaica, West Indies, the singer first drew widespread attention in 1973 when his single “Pitta Patta,” paired with “Lichfield Gardens” on the flip side, reached the top of the Jamaican charts by riding Lee Perry’s “musical transplant” rhythm. Swing magazine later selected the track as the island’s best recording of the year. Lloyd Charmers reworked the lyrics into his suggestive “Big Eight,” positioning it as the reggae counterpart to Judge Dread’s hit. An album soon appeared that found Smith interpreting “I Love You To Want Me” and “Help Me Make It Through The Night,” both of which John Holt had already turned into successes.

The following year he issued “Duppy Or A Gunman” alongside the similarly well-received “Key Card,” both tracks adopting the patois approach popularized by Pluto. Inner Circle later covered “Duppy Or A Gunman,” and Yellowman revived interest in the original a decade afterward. Smith joined the Wildflower collective, operating as XYZ Productions with Lloyd Charmers, and the partnership yielded several chart-topping releases, among them Ken Boothe’s reading of “Everything I Own,” which became an international best-seller. He also supplied Tinga Stewart with “Play De Music,” the winner of the Jamaican Song Festival.

Johnny Nash’s recording of the poorly received “Celebrate Life” prompted the vocalist to travel to Jamaica in search of fresh material; the outcome was Smith’s composition “Tears On My Pillow (I Can’t Stand It),” which ascended to number one on the UK chart in June 1975. Although his approach had fallen out of fashion by 1976, Smith retained a following among older audiences and continued to issue middle-of-the-road and gospel-tinged albums. In 1980 he cut a version of Bob Marley’s “Bend Down Low” in collaboration with Lloyd Charmers.