Laurel Aitken

Laurel Aitken earned the nickname "the Godfather of Ska" as Jamaica's earliest genuine recording artist. His innovations extended further: he ranked among the initial performers to issue a ska single, the first Jamaican musician to actively promote his catalog across the U.K., and an early participant in sessions for the pioneering Island imprint, which itself accelerated the global reach of Jamaican sounds. Grounded in the jump blues and boogie shuffles that defined the opening era of American R&B, Aitken produced a steady stream of successes on assorted imprints, reaching his creative and commercial height across the 1960s. His sustained residency in Britain later cast him as a respected elder for the Two Tone ska revival that accompanied the punk years, and he maintained an active touring schedule well into the new millennium.

Born in Cuba on April 22, 1927, Aitken relocated to his father's native Jamaica in 1938. At fifteen he claimed victory in a notable talent contest by delivering "Pennies From Heaven"; around the same period he performed with a calypso ensemble that entertained visitors arriving by cruise ship. His vocal and compositional skills developed across an eclectic range that encompassed jump blues—particularly the work of Louis Jordan and the young Nat King Cole—New Orleans R&B, calypso, and the local Jamaican folk form mento. He became a familiar nightclub attraction in Kingston before entering the emerging Jamaican recording scene in 1957 with his own production of the R&B/calypso spiritual "Roll Jordan Roll." The next year he began working with producer Chris Blackwell's new Island label; the double-A-sided single "Little Sheila"/"Boogie in My Bones" marked Island's debut release and counted among the very first ska records. It dominated Jamaican charts for nearly three months and became the first Jamaican disc to appear in the U.K.

Further success arrived with the 1959 gospel-tinged "Judgement Day," an early production from the renowned Duke Reid, followed by 1960's "Boogie Rock." During this stretch Aitken worked with several leading producers, among them Reid, Leslie Kong, and Ken Khouri. Drawn by the reception his records enjoyed in England, he settled in London in 1960, specifically in the West Indian district of Brixton. There he recorded for Blue Beat, Britain's first label focused on Jamaican immigrant preferences. Blue Beat's inaugural single was a reissue of "Boogie Rock," and shortly afterward "Mary Lee" became the first track Aitken cut expressly for the imprint. As a well-known Jamaican who had chosen Brixton as home, Aitken soon commanded greater popularity among Britain's West Indian communities than he had previously known in Jamaica.

He issued more than fifteen singles on Blue Beat before returning temporarily to Jamaica in 1963 for an intensive recording period that frequently featured the Skatalites. Some of those sides, including "Weary Wanderer" and "Zion," were supervised by Reid; another, the hit "Bad Minded Woman," appeared on Aitken's fresh U.K. outlet, Rio. He remained with Rio through 1966, releasing roughly twenty singles while also cutting material for additional small labels. After Rio's bankruptcy, Aitken signed with the Pama group of imprints (Nu Beat, Doctor Bird, and others) in the late 1960s, partly because the company assisted with his accumulated child-support obligations. The association yielded several of his most substantial U.K. successes, many self-penned: "Fire in Mi Wire," "Pussy Price" (both early slack recordings), "Landlord and Tenants," "It's Too Late," "Jesse James," "Rise & Fall," "Woppi King," and "Skinhead Train." These tracks proved among his most durable and expanded his audience to include white listeners, chiefly skinheads and mods.

The rise of Bob Marley and the Rastafarian focus on socially conscious reggae rendered Aitken's approach somewhat unfashionable during the 1970s. He relocated to Leicester, outside London, and although he performed sporadically he had largely stepped away from recording. The late-1970s Two Tone ska revival, however, restored currency to his style; the English Beat adapted the lyrics of "Pussy Price" for their own "Ranking Full Stop." Aitken reentered the studio and delivered "Rudy Got Married," which became his first U.K. chart single in 1981. He resumed regular British tours throughout the 1980s and spent eighteen months with the band the Potato 5, recording for Gaz's Rockin' Records. In 1986 he appeared with David Bowie in the mod film Absolute Beginners; additionally, UB40 included a cover of Aitken's single "Guilty" (issued under the name Tiger) on their successful Labour of Love album, raising his profile further. He collaborated with several third-wave ska acts across the 1980s and 1990s; although new recordings became infrequent, he continued touring into the new millennium and preserved one such performance on the 2004 release Live at Club Ska. After six decades of recording and performing, Laurel Aitken's long reign as the Godfather of Ska concluded on July 17, 2005, when the eighty-seven-year-old singer suffered a fatal heart attack.