Jamaican Rocksteady in 10 Clips

The jazzy, soulful genre bridged the celebratory ska and bass-heavy reggae

While hitchhiking through Europe alone in the second half of 1979, I spent a great deal of time in pubs, especially on rainy days when rides were spare. My first stop was London and then Wales, for a month. During my journey through the Welsh countryside, I received quite an education in Jamaican rocksteady. Jukeboxes were loaded with singles.

Rocksteady was a popular home-grown Jamaican style that cropped up in 1966 and continues today. It appeared in the wake of Jamaica’s horn-dominated ska of the late 1950s and early ‘60s and before the bass-heavy reggae emerged in the late 1960s.

The lilting rocksteady merged Jamaica’s rhythms with American romantic soul capped with a beckoning Jamaican vocal. The laid-back genre was perfect for slow-dancing and a welcome alternative to the fast-paced, celebratory ska. In jazz, a parallel would be Lester Young’s tenor saxophone playing American songbook ballads.

Rocksteady was romantic, jazzy and hypnotic, music that let dancers rock to a steady beat. In many instances, the rocksteady versions of American soul were equal to the originals. Overall, the music is tranquil and locks into a seductive groove.

Yesterday, I spent the day listening to rocksteady while writing. Today, I’m sharing 10 tracks plus bonus videos that will likely make you fall in love with the music, if you aren’t already a fan.

Here’s Hopeton Lewis’s Take It Easy (1967), which is widely considered rocksteady’s first release…

Here’s Alton Ellis and the Flames’ Rock Steady (1967), the namesake of the genre…

Here are the Paragons’ The Tide Is High (1967), which was covered by Blondie in 1980…

Here’s Phillis Dean, known as the “Queen of Rocksteady,” singing Perfidia in 1967…

Here’s Alton Ellis, known as the “Godfather of Rocksteady,” singing You’ve Made Me So Very Happy, a 1970 cover of the Blood, Sweat & Tears 1969 hit…

Here’s Freddie McGregor singing Sitting in the Park in 1979, a cover of Billy Stewart’s 1965 hit…

Here’s Johnny Osborne’s 1972 cover of Ready or Not Here I Come, a 1968 Delfonics hit…

Here’s Claudia Fontaine’s 1981 cover of Bloodstone’s 1973 hit Natural High…

Here’s Alton Ellis singing his 1993 cover of the Delfonics’ 1968 hit La La Means I Love You…

And here’s Bitty McLean’s 2004 cover of David Ruffin’s 1975 hit Walk Away From Love…

Bonus: Here’s a concert by rocksteady all-stars at the 2009 Montreal International Jazz Festival…

Here’s Freddie McGregor followed by John Holt in concert in London with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in 2003…

And here’s a documentary on rocksteady…