Garnett Silk

Emerging from the vibrant dancehall movement of the eighties as one of its most promising newcomers, Garnett Silk launched his path performing as a youthful toaster yet finished it among Jamaica's most remarkable vocalists. His full-bodied and expressive delivery quickly swept across the country, positioning him for worldwide recognition until tragedy ended everything with his passing in 1996.

Garnett Damoin Smith entered the world in Jamaica's Manchester parish on April 2, 1966. From an early age he had fixed on a musical future, and family encouragement soon placed him onstage at the Soul Remembrance sound system when he was only twelve, performing under the name Little Bimbo. The diminutive DJ so impressed listeners that regular appearances followed, first at Soul Remembrance and later, as the decade progressed, at Pepper's Disco, Stereophonic, and Destiny Outernational. It was at the last of these that the teenager encountered Tony Rebel, another Manchester native already gaining notice as a cultural toaster who would exert lasting influence on both the dancehall scene and Little Bimbo himself. Still in his teens, the DJ recorded his earliest known track, the 1985 single "Ram Dance Master," though additional material from that period has not surfaced. Two years later Little Bimbo's debut release, "Problems Everywhere," appeared on Delroy Collins's production; the posthumous Journey album gathers this song together with an entire collection of further recordings the pair made at the time.

In 1987 Little Bimbo joined forces with Sugar Minott to cut the single "No Disrespect" for the Youth Promotion label. At that moment Tony Rebel served as the star DJ for Minott's Youth Promotion sound system, and the two Manchester artists renewed their connection, soon performing together as a duo to widespread praise. The album Garnett Silk Meets the Conquering Lion: A Dub Plate Selection preserves a selection of exclusive sound-system recordings Little Bimbo made from the mid-eighties through the close of the decade. With assistance from dub poet Yasus Afari, the Rastafarian Tony Rebel eventually guided Little Bimbo toward the same faith. While Rebel shaped the younger artist's religious outlook and lyrical focus, veteran singer and producer Derrick Morgan would reshape his professional direction.

In 1989 Morgan escorted Rebel and Little Bimbo into Bunny Lee's Dunhaney Park studio to document solo and joint performances. After a single listen Morgan urged Little Bimbo to abandon toasting in favor of singing. The Heartbeat label's Tony Rebel Meets Garnet Silk in a Dancehall Conference gathers these early Morgan-supervised sides and catches Little Bimbo, still known by that name, at a turning point. Some tracks remain pure toasts, others occupy a middle ground, yet whenever Little Bimbo sang—even with the clipped phrasing of dancehall—he proved extraordinary. His solo treatment of "Killing Me Softly With Her Song" delivered heartbreak, while "Help the Poor and Needy," a version of "A Little Oil in My Lamp" shared with Rebel's rough toasts, proved equally striking.

Over the following year the still-developing vocalist recorded numerous singles for producers including King Tubby, Donovan Germain, and Prince/King Jammy before linking with Steely & Clevie in 1990. He signed a contract with the team and laid down an album's worth of material, yet only the duet "We Can Be Together" with Chevelle Franklin saw release during his lifetime. Disheartened, he returned to Manchester and concentrated on songwriting, frequently collaborating with longtime friend Anthony "Fire" Rochester.

The interval proved productive in other respects: he now possessed a collection of fresh compositions and a new professional identity. Besides issuing that lone single, Steely & Clevie persuaded Little Bimbo to exchange his former moniker for Garnett Silk, the name evoking his smooth, silky timbre. Another meeting with Tony Rebel led to an introduction to Courtney Cole, proprietor of the Roof International label. At Cole's Ocho Rios studio Silk recorded numerous landmark tracks, among them the hits "Mama," "Seven Spanish Angels," and a striking rendition of the Johnny Nash classic "I Can See Clearly Now," the most successful of the set. Roof International later compiled these early singles and additional contemporaneous recordings into the album Nothing Can Divide Us, which VP picked up for American distribution.

By 1992 Silk had relocated to Kingston, where he worked with producer Bobby Digital on his debut album It's Growing. Balancing deeply cultural themes, spiritual material, and romantic numbers, the record became one of Jamaica's strongest sellers that year. Over the next two years he collaborated with nearly every major island producer, both independently and alongside Tony Rebel. Sessions with King Jammy yielded tracks such as "Fill Us Up With Your Mercy" and the superb "Lord Watch Over Our Shoulders." The latter title also named a 1994 Greensleeves compilation that collected seven Jammy productions plus additional hits for other producers.

The U.K. Charm label's 1993 release Gold gathered further successes from this period, including the inspirational "Zion in a Vision," a Jamaican number one recorded with Jack Scorpio, and Silk's first international hit, "Hello Mama Africa," produced by Richard "Bello" Bell for Star Trail and topping Britain's reggae chart. Equally accomplished sides emerged from work with Sly & Robbie, among them the deeply religious "Thank You, Jah" and the haunting "Green Line." Exhaustion eventually forced a collapse onstage at New York's Ritz, compelling the singer to cancel six months of engagements, including a headline appearance at Reggae Sumfest. He recovered in 1994 and resumed activity, returning to Steely & Clevie for the massive hit "Love Is the Answer" and following it with Richie Stephens's "Fight Back." Fully restored, he reclaimed the stage at that year's Reggae Sumfest and Reggae Sunsplash festivals; his commanding Sunsplash performance later appeared on the 1999 Tabou1 album Live at Reggae Sunsplash 1994.

After securing an international distribution agreement with Atlantic Records, Silk entered Tuff Gong studios with producer Errol Brown and Jamaica's finest session musicians to begin his second album. Ten tracks were completed and the project neared finalization when he visited his mother. Having borrowed firearms from his attorney following a burglary, Silk lacked experience with them. On December 9, while demonstrating one of the guns to friends at his mother's home, an accidental discharge struck a propane tank and ignited a blaze. The singer, his companions, and his two brothers escaped, yet his mother remained trapped. Rushing back inside to rescue her, Silk perished with her in the fire. Numerous compilations have since sustained his catalog, among them the dubplate collections Kilamanjaro Remembers Garnett Silk (Jam Down 1999) and Rule Dem (Trojan/Sanctuary 2006).

Atlantic finally issued The Definitive Collection in 2000, a two-CD set spotlighting the ten songs recorded for the unfinished second album. Those tracks eliminate any uncertainty about his trajectory: global stardom lay ahead. Yet dwelling on what might have been serves no purpose; the world retains Silk's substantial body of work, and his influence endures undiminished.