Biography
Little Roy remained largely overlooked beyond reggae’s deepest roots scenes, yet during the 1970s he supplied the genre with several unmistakable classics—broadly appealing successes that also carried his Rastafari-inspired message. Earl Lowe, later known as Little Roy, entered the world sometime between 1950 and 1953 in Kingston’s Whitfield Town district; as a youngster he drew inspiration from the songwriting of his elder brother Campbell. Though he soon started writing his own songs, it was Campbell’s composition “I’m Going to Cool It” that the thirteen-year-old Lowe used to audition for Jackie Mittoo in the mid-1960s, securing a Studio One session. The resulting single made no commercial impact, prompting Lowe to turn instead to producer Prince Buster. Now performing as Little Roy, he cut just two sides for Buster before shifting allegiance once more, this time to Lloyd “Matador” Daley. Supported by the Hippy Boys, he achieved his breakthrough in 1969 with “Bongo Nyah,” which ascended to the top of the Jamaican singles chart and stayed there for several weeks.
Around the same period, acquaintance with Rastafari adherents in the Washington Gardens neighborhood deepened his engagement with the faith and prompted him to pursue total artistic autonomy. Viewing the established Jamaican record industry as too cautious for his chosen themes, Roy launched his own Tafari and Earth imprints alongside Munchie Jackson and Lloyd Barnes. In 1974 he approached the Black Ark, the Washington Gardens facility operated by Lee “Scratch” Perry, an idiosyncratic producer open to Rastafari viewpoints. Perry allocated studio time for “Black Bird” and “Tribal War”; the latter became a hit and later attained roots-classic stature through numerous subsequent versions, including vocal renditions by John Holt, Junior Reid, and Freddy McKay as well as deejay interpretations by Dillinger, Trinity, and Prince Far I. Roy followed with a run of strong, Rasta-themed singles on his own labels—“Prophesy,” “Christopher Columbus,” “Earth,” and “Jah Can Count on I” among them—that upheld comparable quality, yet without major-label support these tracks gradually faded from attention, and his Tribal War album received only limited distribution in the United States. His most notable work remained largely neglected until Pressure Sounds issued the compilations Tafari Earth Uprising and Packin’ House in the latter half of the 1990s.
Roy maintained a recording career into the early 1980s. The late-1970s 12-inch singles “Long Time Rock Steady” and “Skanking on the Banking,” cut for Herman Chin-Loy, showed him experimenting with dancehall approaches, while the 1981 album Columbus Ship—tracked at Channel One and mixed by Scientist—returned him to roots-oriented sounds. After remaining relatively inactive for the rest of the decade, he resurfaced in 1989 with Prophesy, a collection that revisited his 1970s repertoire in both original and updated forms. A one-rhythm project titled Victory Dance, built around “Prophesy,” again brought him into public view at the start of the 1990s. Subsequent releases included the 1990 live set Live On and a European tour alongside Gregory Isaacs; later, Pressure Sounds founder Adrian Sherwood convened sessions in London that produced the album Longtime, carrying the singer’s distinctive outlook forward into the new century.
Around the same period, acquaintance with Rastafari adherents in the Washington Gardens neighborhood deepened his engagement with the faith and prompted him to pursue total artistic autonomy. Viewing the established Jamaican record industry as too cautious for his chosen themes, Roy launched his own Tafari and Earth imprints alongside Munchie Jackson and Lloyd Barnes. In 1974 he approached the Black Ark, the Washington Gardens facility operated by Lee “Scratch” Perry, an idiosyncratic producer open to Rastafari viewpoints. Perry allocated studio time for “Black Bird” and “Tribal War”; the latter became a hit and later attained roots-classic stature through numerous subsequent versions, including vocal renditions by John Holt, Junior Reid, and Freddy McKay as well as deejay interpretations by Dillinger, Trinity, and Prince Far I. Roy followed with a run of strong, Rasta-themed singles on his own labels—“Prophesy,” “Christopher Columbus,” “Earth,” and “Jah Can Count on I” among them—that upheld comparable quality, yet without major-label support these tracks gradually faded from attention, and his Tribal War album received only limited distribution in the United States. His most notable work remained largely neglected until Pressure Sounds issued the compilations Tafari Earth Uprising and Packin’ House in the latter half of the 1990s.
Roy maintained a recording career into the early 1980s. The late-1970s 12-inch singles “Long Time Rock Steady” and “Skanking on the Banking,” cut for Herman Chin-Loy, showed him experimenting with dancehall approaches, while the 1981 album Columbus Ship—tracked at Channel One and mixed by Scientist—returned him to roots-oriented sounds. After remaining relatively inactive for the rest of the decade, he resurfaced in 1989 with Prophesy, a collection that revisited his 1970s repertoire in both original and updated forms. A one-rhythm project titled Victory Dance, built around “Prophesy,” again brought him into public view at the start of the 1990s. Subsequent releases included the 1990 live set Live On and a European tour alongside Gregory Isaacs; later, Pressure Sounds founder Adrian Sherwood convened sessions in London that produced the album Longtime, carrying the singer’s distinctive outlook forward into the new century.
Albums
Rough Waters
2025
God is Good
2023
Roots Reggae Got Soul
2018
Love Is Not Too Late (feat. Owen Issac)
2017
Longtime
2015
Battle for Seattle
2011
Singles
