77 minutes of rare, memorable, vintage rocksteady roots reggae music for your musical pleasure. Featuring John Holt, Alton Ellis, Bernard Collins (The Abyssinians), Winston Jarrett (The Righteous Flames), Barbara Jones, Tyrone Taylor, and Ronnie Davis & The Itals. Musical royalty at their best. Interestingly, three artists on this videotape performed with each other, at one time or the other, as a group; John Holt, Alton Ellis and Winston Jarrett.

JOHN KENNETH HOLT (born 11 July 1947 in Kingston, Jamaica; died 19 October 2014 in London, England) was a reggae singer and songwriter who first found fame as a member of The Paragons before establishing himself as a solo artist. Amongst the songs he wrote was “The Tide Is High” (later made famous by Blondie and also covered by Atomic Kitten).

On an island renowned for its superb vocalists and composers, John Holt remains head and shoulders above the rest as one of Jamaica’s sweetest singers and enduring songwriters. He voiced and penned so many of the country’s classics that, in a way, Holt defined the island’s sound. Born in the Greenwich Farm area of Kingston, Jamaica, on July 11, 1947, the young Holt took his first steps into the music business via the talent show circuit. Talent shows have always had massive popularity in Jamaica, and the top ones were initially broadcast live on the radio and later on television. Many of the island’s greatest artists, including Gregory Isaacs, amongst them) made their first appearances in talent shows, and it proved an excellent training ground for young hopefuls.

In 1958, the 12-year-old Holt entered his first contest, run by promoter Joseph Verejohn. Over the next four years, the youngster became a staple of these shows, notching up a record-breaking 28 titles. His dulcet tones were soon familiar to a much larger audience, as a number of these contests were broadcasts of Radio Jamaica. For his final victory in 1962, Holt performed Solomon Burke’s “Just Out of Reach.” The talented teen was quickly snapped up by producer Leslie Kong, who recorded Holt’s debut single, “Forever I’ll Stay”/”I Cried a Tear.” From there, the youngster began working with producer Clive Chin, debuting the partnership with “Rum Bumper,” a duet with Alton Ellis.

In 1958, the 12-year-old Holt entered his first contest, run by promoter Joseph Verejohn. Over the next four years, the youngster became a staple of these shows, notching up a record-breaking 28 titles. His dulcet tones were soon familiar to a much larger audience, as a number of these contests were broadcasts of Radio Jamaica. For his final victory in 1962, Holt performed Solomon Burke’s “Just Out of Reach.” The talented teen was quickly snapped up by producer Leslie Kong, who recorded Holt’s debut single, “Forever I’ll Stay”/”I Cried a Tear.” From there, the youngster began working with producer Clive Chin, debuting the partnership with “Rum Bumper,” a duet with Alton Ellis.

By 1968, the Paragons were Jamaica’s premier vocal group, with virtually every one of their releases a hit. Although the group did record covers (notably “Island in the Sun”), much of their material was composed by Holt and the popularity of his songs is evident by the number of other prominent vocalists who recorded their own cover versions of them. In 1968, Holt set off on a parallel solo career, recording for producers Bunny Lee and Harry J. The following year, the Paragons returned to Dodd, where the trio continued on a successful path. 1970, however, brought an abrupt end to the group when Evans and Barrett both went to the U.S. after being awarded scholarships. Holt, however, merely picked up the pace of his solo recordings, cutting songs for a variety of different producers. His work with Dodd was particularly exemplary and boasts a slew of classics, including “Tonight,” “Stranger in Love,” and “A Love I Can Feel.” Like a Bolt, released that same year, bundles up recordings done with Duke Reid, including the hit “Ali Baba,” which quickly became one of Reid’s most-covered rhythms. Prince Buster cut several gems with the singer, including the exquisite “Rain From the Sky,” while Alvin Ranglin also recorded some charming numbers, notably “Son of the Wise.” During this same time, Phil Pratt scored a hit with a re-cut, “My Heart Is Gone,” a song Holt initially recorded for Dodd. Arguably, the best work the singer recorded in the early ’70s was for Bunny Lee, including the classic “Tonight.” However, their biggest success was a cover of “Stick By Me,” deliberately arranged to take advantage of the latest dance craze, the John Crow. The song stuck to the Jamaican charts for an amazing 23 weeks and became the biggest-selling single of the year. Having taken ill at the One Love Festival on 16 August, Holt died on 19 October 2014 in a London hospital.

Born in TrenchTown, Kingston, Jamaica, Ellis was raised within a musical family which included his older brothers Leslie [who performed as one of his backup singers and co-wrote some of his songs], and Irving [known as 'Niney'], who was a popular singer and steel pan player on Jamaica's North Coast. He learned to play the piano at a young age. He attended Ebeneezer and Boys' Town schools, where he excelled in both music and sport. While at Boys' Town, Ellis performed as a dancer (in a duo) in the first show that a school director called Mr Bailey had organised for Vere Johns, who had been invited down to be a talent scout. He would later compete on Vere Johns Opportunity Hour. After winning some competitions, he switched to singing, starting his career in 1959 as part of the duo Alton & Eddy with Eddy Parkins.

Ellis and Parkins recorded for Coxsone Dodd at Studio One initially in the R&B style, having a hit in 1960 with "Muriel" (from Dodd's first commercially oriented recording session at Federal studios), a song Ellis had written while working as a labourer on a building site. The duo split after Parkins won a major talent contest and moved to the United States. Ellis remained in Kingston, working as a printer, and after losing his job, he restarted his music career, initially forming a new duo with John Holt. When Holt joined The Paragons, Ellis formed a new group, The Flames. At the start of his career, Ellis recorded with his younger sister Hortense; early tracks with Hortense, like "Don't Gamble With Love" (1965) were still in the R&B style.

By the mid-1960s, ska was evolving, and the beat was slowing down to rocksteady becoming associated with the violent, yet rebellious, rude boy sub culture in Jamaican dancehalls. Many artists made records referring to the rude boys, including Ellis, although his records were consistently anti-rudie, including "Don't Trouble People", "Dance Crasher", and "Cry Tough". Releasing records under the name Alton Ellis and The Flames (the varying line-up of which included his brother Leslie Ellis, David "Baby G" Gordon and Winston Jarrett; the group had hits with "Girl I've Got a Date" and "Cry Tough".

The release of "Rock Steady" (1967) backed by Tommy McCook and the Supersonics, the first song to refer to the name of the new genre, heralded the new direction Jamaican popular music was taking. Ellis continued to have hits for Treasure Isle, working with artists such as Lloyd Charmers, Phyllis Dillion and The Heptones. His Mr Soul of Jamaica album (with Tommy McCook and the Supersonics) is regarded as one of the definitive rocksteady albums.

In 2004, Ellis was awarded the Order of Distinction by the Jamaican government in recognition of his achievements. In December 2007, he was admitted to a hospital in London for treatment of cancer of the lymph glands. Ellis died of cancer on 10 October 2008 at Hammersmith Hospital, London. His death prompted a statement from Jamaica's Minister of Information, Culture, Youth and Sports, Olivia "Babsy" Grange, who said, "even as we mourn the great Alton Ellis, we must give thanks for his monumental contribution to the development of Jamaica's popular music. In 2012, it was announced that the main hall of the new Trench Town Multi-Purpose Building would be named the Alton Ellis Auditorium in his honour.

Winston Jarrett (born 14 September 1940) is a Jamaican reggae singer who was part of Alton Ellis's group The Flames in the 1960s before recording with The Righteous Flames and as a solo artist. Born in 1940 in Lime Tree Gardens, St. Ann, Jamaica, Jarrett grew up in the Jones Town area of Kingston after moving there with his mother at the age of five. There, he was taught to play guitar by Jimmy Cliff and Alton Ellis. Jarrett's introduction to the music industry was as a member of Alton Ellis's backing band The Flames in the early 1960s, formed when Ellis's original singing partner, Eddie Perkins, emigrated to the US, singing on hits such as "Dancecrasher", "Cry Tough", "Rocksteady" and "Girl I've Got a Date". While with Ellis, he wrote songs such as "Sunday Coming" and "True Born African". In 1967, Jarrett parted ways with the UK-bound Ellis and with fellow Flame Edgar "Egga" Gardner, formed The Righteous Flames with Junior Green, and the trio recorded for Arthur "Duke" Reid's Treasure Isle label and then for Clement "Coxsone" Dodd'd Studio One label. In 1969, they also recorded for Lee "Scratch" Perry ("Zion I Love You"). In the 1970s, they were generally billed as 'Winston Jarrett and the Righteous Flames'. Among the members of The Righteous Flames was Danny Clarke, who left to form The Meditations in 1974. In the 1970s, tired of recording for others without receiving adequate payment, Jarrett self-produced much of his output, releasing it on his own Attra, Human Rights and Humble labels. Jarrett recorded as a solo artist in the late 1970s and 1980s, releasing the Wise Man album in 1979 and Rocking Vibration in 1984. He re-formed the Flames, releasing the album Jonestown in the late 1980s, and in the early 1990s recorded a tribute album to Bob Marley, also featuring Peter Tosh and Bunny Wailer.

Neville Bernard Collins. B. November 10, 1948. Vocalist, songwriter & producer who came to prominence as a founder of the legendary close harmony roots reggae trio, The Abyssinians. The Abyssinians are a Jamaican roots reggae group, famous for their close harmonies and promotion of the Rastafari movement in their lyrics. The vocal trio was originally formed in 1968 by Bernard Collins and Donald Manning. Their first song was "Satta Massagana", which was strongly influenced by Carlton Manning's "Happy Land". "Satta Massagana" is a Rastafarian hymn sung partly in the Ethiopian Amharic language. They recruited a third vocalist, who was still at school and often unable to attend rehearsals; he was soon replaced by Donald's brother Lynford Manning, who had previously been a member of their brother Carlton Manning's group Carlton and The Shoes. The group continued to record throughout the 1970s for producers including Lloyd Daley, Tommy Cowan, and Geoffrey Chung, and their debut album, Forward on to Zion, was produced by Clive Hunt and released in 1976. The follow-up, Arise (1978), was recorded under stressful conditions, with internal rivalries threatening to break up the group. After the album's release, Collins left the band to be eventually replaced by Carlton Manning. This line-up performed at the 1979 Reggae Sunsplash festival, but split up the following year.Bernard Collins launched his own version of the group in the late 1980s, with two versions of the group existing for a time. The original line-up reunited in 1998 and went on to record new material, including the singles "African Princess" and "Swing Low" and the album Reunion, although Collins was not involved in songwriting at this time. Collins left again in 1999 and released material as Bernard Collins & the Abyssinians, releasing an album the same year.

The Itals are a Jamaican roots reggae vocal group formed in 1976 by Alvin "Keith" Porter, Lloyd Ricketts, and Ronnie Davis (formerly a member of The Tennors), all of whom had previously also recorded as solo artists. All three had worked together in the late 1960s in The Westmorelites. The group recorded several albums through the late 1970s and 1980s, with Ronnie Davis going on to a successful solo career in 1997 as Ronnie Davis and Idren. The Itals' debut single, "In A Dis Ya Time", is regarded as the group's finest work and topped the Jamaican chart. 1987's Rasta Philosophy was nominated for a Grammy Award as Best Reggae Album. The line-up has changed over the years, with former solo artist David Isaacs joining in 1987 when Ricketts was sentenced to a prison term, preventing him from travelling to the United States.