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Alton Ellis

Alton Ellis, one of the first vocalists to enter the Jamaican music business, was admired as one of the greatest, most soulful singers. Alton Ellis OD, born Alton Neamiah Ellis was born in Kingston, Jamaica, in 1944, and grew up in the Trench Town area as part of a musically inclined family, is a musician best known as one of the innovators of rocksteady music.

As a youngster, he learned to sing and play piano and in his early teens, started his career in 1959 as part of the duo Alton & Eddie with Eddie Perkins. After winning a prominent talent show, they recorded the single 'Muriel', which became a substantial hit in Jamaica. Not long after cutting the follow-up 'My Heaven' Perkins left to try a solo career, leaving Ellis as a solo act.

Ellis had his first hit during the ska craze, but made his true lasting mark as the definitive solo singer of the rocksteady era. Sweet, smooth, and deeply emotive, Ellis was equally at home on Jamaican originals or reggae-fied covers of American R&B hits. He cut a series of ska singles for Clement 'Coxsone' Dodd's Studio One label, but reached his prime during the mid- to late '60s, when he recorded some of rocksteady's signature tunes for Duke Reid's Treasure Isle imprint.

Ellis quickly scored a major hit with the antiviolence plea 'Dance Crasher', and the following year, he released what was arguably the first rocksteady single, 'Get Ready - Rock Steady'. Its innovative beat grew out of a session where the keyboardist Jackie Mittoo had to play the bass part due to the absence of the bassist but couldn't keep up with the frantic ska beat, so he elected to slow down the tempo. The result was a choppier rhythm that wound up allowing the vocalist to stretch out more, and soon the rocksteady sound had taken over Jamaican music, with Ellis leading the charge.

Ellis scored big with the hits 'Girl I've Got a Date', 'Cry Tough' and 'Rock Steady', which lent its name to the newer genre. As rocksteady dominated the Jamaican airwaves for the next two years, Ellis continued to score hits for Treasure Isle, working with artists such as Lloyd Charmers, Phyllis Dillon and the Heptones.

Ellis lived in England since the 1970s. In 2006, he was inducted into the International Reggae And World Music Awards Hall Of Fame. In December 2007, he was admitted to hospital in London for treatment of cancer of the lymph glands and died October 2008. Ellis is survived by his wife and more than 20 children. He is the elder brother of the late Hortense Ellis, and the father of Noel Ellis and Christopher Ellis, who are both reggae singers. Information gathered from music.yahoo.com.

Listen to some of Alton Ellis' songs

Dance Crasher

Willow Tree

You make me so very happy

Why did you leave me to cry (featuring Phyllis Dillon)

I'm still in love with you

Cry Tough

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