The Ethiopians

The Ethiopians operated chiefly as an expressive vehicle for vocalist and composer Leonard Dillon across their most prominent years, standing among Jamaica's foremost vocal ensembles of that era. Completed by Stephen Taylor, the pair not only guided the passage from ska into rocksteady but also, via Dillon's intensely Rastafarian lyrics, prepared the ground for the socially aware roots reggae phase that lay ahead.

Dillon entered the world in Port Antonio in 1942, growing up inside a Christian household where music reached him through church activities. After penning several original pieces he shifted to Kingston in 1963; facing obstacles, he withdrew home temporarily to recover before returning to Kingston for good in 1964. Shortly afterward he encountered Peter Tosh, who admired the material and brought Dillon to the remaining Wailers. They in turn escorted him to Clement "Coxsone" Dodd's Studio One, where his earliest sides appeared under the Jack Sparrow name. The two Sparrow singles, "Ice Water" and "Suffering on the Land," both surfaced in 1965.

Around that period Dillon came upon a street-corner vocal duo formed by Taylor and singer/guitarist Aston Morris. He first engaged them as backing singers before establishing the complete unit called the Ethiopians. In 1966 the trio recorded several standout singles at Studio One, among them "Free Man," "Live Good," and the ska-to-rocksteady link "Owe Me No Pay Me." Morris, himself a songwriter, opted to exit by the close of 1966, shrinking the Ethiopians to a duo. During the same stretch Dillon held daytime construction work where he met singer Albert Griffiths, later founder of the Gladiators. Together they persuaded their employer to fund a session, producing the Ethiopians' breakthrough smash "Train to Skaville," which even reached the lower reaches of the U.K. Top 40.

Building on that momentum, the Ethiopians recorded extensively through the rest of 1967, yielding hits such as "Engine 54," "Train to Glory," "Stay Loose Mama," and the percussion-driven smash "The Whip"; all but the first were made for rocksteady producer Sonia Pottinger, and they also worked briefly with Lee "Scratch" Perry. The year 1968 brought their debut LP, Engine 54, and the addition of a semiofficial third vocalist, Melvin Reid. Late that year the group joined forces with producer Carl "Sir J.J." Johnson in what became their most celebrated collaboration. Their opening success for Johnson, the proto-reggae number "Everything Crash," offered a socially conscious, rhythmically uneven powerhouse that stands as arguably the ensemble's signature song. Through 1970, Johnson and the Ethiopians delivered further groundbreaking hits including "What a Fire," "Gun Man," "Hong Kong Flu," "Woman Capture Man" (title track of their third LP), and "The Selah," sustaining popularity in both the U.K. and Jamaica.

Dillon subsequently moved the Ethiopians across successive labels and producers; between 1969 and 1971 they cut popular material for Harry Robinson ("Fire a Mus Mus Tail"), Lloyd Daley ("Satan Girl"), Derrick Harriott ("Lot's Wife," "No Baptism"), and Duke Reid ("Good Ambition," "Pirate"). As the act developed a rootsier reggae sound over the following years, the producer changes grew still more frequent, encompassing Vincent Chin, Prince Buster, Joe Gibbs, Bob Andy, and Rupie Edwards among many others. Part of the impetus was Dillon's inability to collect his proper share of earlier royalties, obliging him to record nonstop simply to earn a living. Reid departed permanently in 1974, by which time Dillon and Taylor had resumed daytime jobs. Tragically, Taylor's employment ended in calamity during September 1975: while working at a gas station he was struck by a van while crossing the street.

Taylor's untimely death effectively closed the Ethiopians' most fertile period. Dillon, deeply shaken, withdrew from music for a spell, returning to Port Antonio for two years. Eventually he contacted original member Aston Morris and revived the Ethiopians name, releasing the roots-infused, politically charged album Slave Call in 1977 with producer Winston "Niney" Holness. Dillon continued to tour intermittently under the Ethiopians banner afterward, sometimes alongside Harold Bishop and Neville Duncan, while also issuing occasional solo recordings through the 1980s and 1990s. Near the end of the millennium he assembled a new Ethiopians lineup featuring female backing vocalists and arrangers Sister JiJi and Gina Murrell, who appeared on the 1999 album Tuffer Than Stone.