Owen Gray has the distinction of being one of the pioneers of
Jamaican music standing alongside such luminaries as Derrick Morgan,
Wilfred 'Jackie' Edwards & Cuban-born Laurel Aitken.
Born in 1939, he found a love of singing through the local
church choir where he was first tenor. His mother played piano in
the church and his father was a professional soldier. Winning his
first talent contest in 1958 set Owen on the road he would follow
for the next forty-five years, and made him the most popular singer
in town at the time.
Recording 'Please Don't Let Me Go' for future Island boss Chris
Blackwell was his breakthrough on the record scene and the disc
rocketed to the number one slot across the small island. Issued in
London on the Jazz imprint Esquire's subsidiary label Starlite, as
the flip-side to 'Far Love', (a heartrending ballad), his gritty R&B
sound was just what the newly arrived Jamaican immigrants wanted to
hear on a cold Saturday night in Brixton.
Owen also has the distinction of having the first solo-artist album
issued in the UK of urban Jamaican music. Starlite issued 'Owen Gray
Sings' in 1961, just as Blue Beat released 'All Star top Hits -
Jamaican Blues', a collection of Coxsone productions. Both albums
were pressed in tiny quantities and sunk without a trace in the
singles dominated market and are now very highly sought after by
collectors.
Citing major US R&B artists such as Fats Domino and Little Richard
as his favourite singers, Owen shook the foundations with his JA
take on the rough and rugged Rhythm & Blues so favoured by the sound
system crowd as the 1960s dawned.
Following his sessions with Blackwell, he quickly became hot
property, with a series of plaintive ballads balanced by rousing
rock 'n' roll sides, recorded for all the big names of the day,
namely Leslie Kong, Prince Buster, Duke Reid and Coxsone Dodd.
His 'On The Beach', a tribute to the Sir Coxsone The Downbeat sound
moved many feet as did the raucous 'Mash It', which both found issue
in the UK on the Melodisc subsidiary Dice and Esquire-Starlite
respectively.
Realisation soon dawned on Owen that he couldn't ever really move
out of the confines of the Jamaican music system if he stayed in
Kingston, so in May 1962 he arrived in London looking to further his
career.
A subsequent contract with Emile Shalit's Melodisc Records resulted
in a fine clutch of London-produced recordings issued by Blue Beat,
with notable groovers, such as 'Do You Wanna Jump'' and 'she's Gone
To Napoli' finding some dance-floor action for him. The former being
recorded with the British based Les Dawson Combo, who had absolutely
nothing to do with the laconic comedian of the same name.
In 1964 he toured Europe singing popular soul and ballad numbers
with a white band, The Big Four and also re-united with fellow
ex-pat Chris Blackwell, whose Island Records vied with Melodisc for
a share of the West Indian music market in the UK. Among his first
recordings for his new label were a version of Frankie Ford's 'Sea
Cruise' issued on Fontana, a fine version of Ike & Tina Turner's 'Gonna
Work Out Fine' and 'Shook, Shimmy And Shake', both of which were
issued on the Aladdin subsidiary, an imprint that specialised in
hopeful club-Soul and Pop hits, Island also issued a few more tracks
of his via their main label, with 'Help Me' b/w 'Incense' from 1966
being without doubt his finest Soul recording.
Owen then moved on to lay a few sides for London sound system
operator, Sir Clancy Collins. These were just as the new sound of
Rocksteady had supplanted Ska and they found little favour at the
time. Collins issued the recordings such as 'I'm So Lonely' on his
distinctive maroon and silver label called unsurprisingly 'Collins
Downbeat', while others were licensed to the newly launched Trojan
and issued on the company's Blue Cat imprint. Among these were
'These Foolish Things' and 'Always', both of which indicated, by
their laidback, balladeering style, the direction in which Owen was
heading. Sadly, once again Owen, although giving a first-rate
performance just didn't find the acclaim he deserved.
prior to the release of the Blue Cat 45s, he also laid a few tracks
for Trojan Records in 1968, produced by one Robert 'Dandy' Thompson
and intended for a solo LP of his, but the project faltered and the
songs appeared on the Brother Dan All Stars LP, 'Follow That
Donkey'. Trojan did issue his 'Reggae With Soul' album in 1969, a
patchy affair, with the highlight being his take on the Bob Andy gem
'Too Experienced'.
The new Melodisc Fab imprint did gain a minor hit with him as lead
singer with the Maximum Band, where their take on the old evergreen
'Cupid', made some inroads up the Reggae charts in 1968. Some more
up-tempo tunes were recorded for Fab the following year, with the
best being 'Apollo 12', a firm favourite with the white skinhead
contingent as it had the obligatory fast jump beat they favoured,
courtesy of the Rudies band. But to the complete opposite Owen went
for the gospel side of things with 'Swing Low' and even film-score
tunes such as 'Three Coins In A Fountain', which only had a very
limited audience mainly with older West Indians.
Owen had also been recording for the Pama Records Group from 1968,
with issues mainly on their Camel sub-label, the best being 'Woman A
Grumble' (having the Pama pop-hopeful 'Girl What You Doing To Me' as
its top-side) and 'Don't Sign The Paper', both which had the old
'Gray Magic', with pumping beat and fiery vocals. He also covered
King Floyd's soul classic (and club smash) 'Groove Me' in a fine
Reggae style before being transferred across to Pama's commercial
and chart-hopeful label Pama Supreme in 1970. Unfortunately Pama
Supreme's ambition of riding the mainstream charts like its main
rival Trojan Records, failed, and the lightweight happy-Reggae of
such songs as 'Summer Sands' shifted few units. The singer had also
recorded for London-based independent label Ackee in 1970 as 'Omen',
sadly the omens were not good and the lacklustre records sunk
without trace.
In 1972 Owen signed a three-year contract with Island Records with
an eye to following Jimmy Cliff up the charts with bright and breezy
Reggae numbers. Unfortunately covers of the Rolling Stones' 'Tumblin'
Dice', Cliff's own 'suffering In The Land' and John Lennon's
'Jealous Guy' made no impact with either the Reggae crowd or the
general music-buying public.
A brief stint in New Orleans followed, before he decided to return
to his native Jamaica in 1974. With the rise of Roots Reggae, Owen
shifted style to the Rasta sound of the day, although he had already
shown allegiance with the new movement back in 1972 with his 'Hail
The Man' single, praising Haile Selassie the Rasta-God on earth.
While resident in Jamaica Owen cut 'Bongo Natty' with Producer
Edward 'Bunny' Lee, which took him way up the JA and UK Reggae
charts. He followed it with an album of the same name, which found
UK release on the Third World label in 1975, and gained him
considerable acclaim among serious Reggae fans. Owen was also
hitting with singles both sides of the Atlantic, most notably 'The
Children A Cry' (1976), which put his masterful vocal on top of a
fine rocking rhythm. It should be noted that Owen wrote much of the
content of his album and the hit singles. Having found his
roots-stride, another strong collection of tracks for one of the top
UK-based producers, Clemnt Bushay, followed and were issued by
Trojan as the 'fire And Bullets' LP in 1977.
By this time the Island contract had expired and with no interest
shown by the label in furthering Owen's career, the performer felt
let down by the label. This added to the blow of Trojan Records
going into liquidation, leaving him penniless in terms of royalties
for 'bongo Natty' which they had issued as a single two years
earlier. The singer did once again put his trust in Trojan, albeit
the 'new Trojan' in 1978 when they issued his 'Dreams Of Owen Gray',
a collaborative effort with fellow Jamaican Alton Ellis. The LP
heralded Owen's move towards recording 'big people's music' that
being gentle tunes aimed at the very lucrative older generation of
West Indians.
Through the 1980s he slipped from the Reggae-public's gaze and less
inspiring works such as a take on Marvin Gaye's 'sexual Healing' for
Pama in 1982, did the fiery voiced and talented singer few favours.
For the remainder of the decade he was very much in the background
and as the 1990s rolled in he could be found on smooth albums
covering old love-songs aimed at the more mature UK-based West
Indian community.
A typical example being his album 'True Vibration' from 1998 for Jet
Star, which was marketed as a celebration of his 40 years in the
music business. the whole album was covers f Soul and Pop classics,
superbly sung and crafted at London's Cave Studio but beyond the
'big people's music' market, sales were disappointing.
There is no doubt Owen has a great gift and is a rare talent,
exemplified by his blistering early R&B work, the super-soul Island
recordings and militant-tough roots tunes. Very few singers can
stand in three camps and excel in all of them - Owen did, and we can
only hope that soon he will again lay down some of his 'Gray magic'
in this faceless music-world of computer producers.
MICHAEL DE KONINGH
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