Johnny Osbourne

Johnny Osbourne charted a long course through Jamaican music, shifting from soul-infused reggae into an expansive dancehall output. His warmly expressive voice, rich in conviction and longing, places him among the island’s finest, above all on enduring pieces like “Ice Cream Love,” “Water Pumping,” and a wealth of rub-a-dub singles.

He first appeared in 1969 as frontman of the Wildcats, cutting a session at Coxsone Dodd’s Studio One that produced his initial release, “All I Have Is Love.” After issuing Come Back Darling that same year as leader of the vocal group the Sensations, Osbourne moved to Toronto, where he sang lead for Ishan People and completed two albums with them before resettling in Jamaica in 1979.

Not long after his return he cut the songs “Forgive Them” and “Jealousy, Heartache and Pain,” together with the stunning album Truths and Rights. Between 1980 and 1982 a surge of further material reached the public, among them Fally Lover, Warrior, Innah Disco Style, and Never Stop Fighting. Across the 1980s he tallied a run of successes that included “Water Pumping,” “Good Time Rock,” and “Rude Boy Skank,” the last two drawn from the 1989 Bobby Digital production Rougher Than Them.