Nora Dean

Born around 1952 in Jamaica, Dean entered a lineage of female reggae artists stretching from the ska era onward who specialized in suggestive material, among them the Soul Sisters, Patra, Lady G and Lady Saw. She launched her recording career in 1970 under Byron Smith at Treasure Isle’s rooftop studios on Bond Street. Her first success came with a bawdy reworking of the Techniques’ rocksteady number ‘You Don’t Care’, issued as ‘Barbwire’; the track quickly became a dancehall favorite. The suggestive follow-up ‘Night Food Reggae’ matched its popularity, though Des’ All Stars later adapted the rhythm for a male-voiced counterpart. Working with Bunny Lee she cut a version of Doris Day’s ‘Whatever Will Be, Will Be (Que Sera, Sera)’ under the title ‘Kay Sarah’, then followed it with ‘How Could You Do This’. The 1950s American hit ‘Eddie My Love’, originally popularized by the Teen Queens and later reaching the US Top 20 for both the Chordettes and the Fontane Sisters, prompted Dean’s own 1974 interpretation; Hortense Ellis subsequently recorded the song with Bunny Lee for the album Jamaica’s First Lady Of Songs. The same year also saw the release of the largely unremarkable ‘Judge Dread Is My Lover’ on the UK Magnet label. Mid-decade brought further attention via ‘Scorpion’ and ‘What’s Your Plan’, after which her output declined for a period. She returned in 1980 working in a lovers rock vein.