Desmond
Dekker
Desmond
Dekker
For more than 25 years, Desmond Dekker's name has been synonymous with the sound of ska and rocksteady. America first became aware of him back in 1969, when Desmond Dekker and the Aces' Uni Records single "Israelites" (which I have, original. *cough*) shot to number 9 on the charts. A breath of fresh air in a musical era of bubblegum pap and dinosaur bands the refused to die out gracefully, it would mark the first and last time the Jamaican artist would score a hit record in this country.
But chart success aside, Desmond Dekker's influence has increased exponentially in the decades since. For many listeners, the introduction to Dekker came during the first ska revival in the 1980's, via the Specials' cover of his rude boy classic "007 (Shanty Town)." Desmond's original had featured prominently in 1972's The Harder They Come, still considered to be the most important film to come out of Jamaica.
The Specials and other 2-Tone groups provided entry into the ska world for a generation bred on the frenetic nihilism of punk, but drawn to the danceability of ska. Off we went to sift through piles of used albums in a desperate search for the original ska recordings. When we found them, Desmond Dekker and his fellow pioneers, what a revelation it was!
And today, as the so-called Third Wave ska revival continues, it's the older artists like Desmond Dekker who provide the impetus for the latest bands taking up the ska mantle.
Dekker was born Desmond Dacres in Kingston, Jamaica on july 16, 1941 (some sources say either '42 or '43) As a teenager, he apprenticed as a welder, but dreamed of becoming a singer, and in 1963 he finally received the chance. Dekker's self-penned debut single, "Honour Your Mother And Father," soared to the top of the Jamaican chart. Chris Blackwell, head of the then-embryonic Island label, picked it up, thus launching Dekker into Britain. A stream of hits followed, including "Get Up Edina" (1964) and "King of Ska" (1965).
Jamaica gained its independence in 1962, but by the mid '60s it was obvious that independence didn't equal prosperity, least of all for the denizens of Kingston's wretched, poverty-stricken ghettos. The young are always likely to suffer in silence, and thus began the era of the rude boy. Tension between the rude boys and the police was already high, and when the authorities razed Shanty Town, a dirt-poor area on the outskirts of Kingston, riots ensued.
Music reflected the changing social climate. Gone were the sweet sounds of the early '60s and a chart dominated by covers of American hits with an island beat. A new musical style was forming out of the ashes of ska, rocksteady, and Dekker embraced this burgeoning new sound, with such classic songs as "Rude Boy Train."
Then in 1966, Dekker released what was to quickly become the all-time rude boy anthem, "007 (Shanty Town)". As the riots flared, "007" became the of the day. Its message reverberated across to England's Jamaican community, and from there out onto British airwaves. "007" quickly shot to #14 in the UK, and awakened a whole new audience to both Dekker and the rocksteady scene.
But it is "Israelites" that remains Dekker's greatest legacy. The 1969 hit's lyrics rang true for those eking out an existence in grinding poverty the world over. The single was a chart-topper not just in Jamaica and the UK, but also in South Africa, Canada, Holland, Sweden, and West Germany, in addition to its Top 10 US standing.
Dekker and his backing group, the Aces, (known in an earlier incarnation as the Four Aces), toured Europe in response, and launched the rude boy movement there. Sales of Fred Perry shirts and pants several inches too short soared, as skinheads finally found a sound all to their own.
The onslaught of hits continued with "Mother's Young Girl", and "Music Like Dirt." A re-recording of an earlier Jamaican hit, "It Mek," was next, and rocketed into the British Top 10. The new, punchier version was more appropriate for a song about Dekker's misbehaving younger sister. "Pickney Gal" didn't chart as high, but was still a gem of a reggae song.
In 1970, Dekker recorded his first cover song, not by choice, but under pressure from Leslie Kong, the Chinese businessman come producer, with whom Dekker had been working since the mid-1960's. Taken from the soundtrack of the forthcoming raggae movie The Harder They Come, Jimmy Cliff's "You Can Get It If You Really Want" was a great song to begin with, and Dekker's version was simply sublime. Kong was sure it would be a hit, and he was right; it soared to #2 in Britain.
Tragically, Kong died the following year. Soon after, Dekker left Jamaica, and emigrated to England. There he continued touring, but his career was short eclipsed by Bob Marley. Dekker continued to see some minor chart success, and, as "Hippopotamus" proves, it wasn't from a lack of great material that his career began to slide.
But Dekker re-emerged from the shadows in 1980. By then, a major ska revival was under way in Britain, and a whole new generation was discovering his music. Dekker signed to the seminal punk label Stiff, released two albums, Black and Dekker and Compass Point (with Robert Palmer producing), and performed numerous live shows backed by Graham Parker's Rumour.
As Britain's ska scene sputtered to a close, so, once again, Dekker was forgotten. Bankruptcy and a tentative retirement from music followed, but as the '80s progressed, Dekker returned classic songs as "Young Generation" and "Big Headed." 1990 brought him back into the public eye when "Israelites" was used for a Maxell tapes commercial, with the words changed to "My Ears Are Alright"! The song was resurrected again two years later, this time for a Vitalite ad.
In 1993, Dekker resurfaced once more, accompanied by the Specials. Together they recorded an album of covers of early ska classics, including Justin Hinds and the Dominoes' "Carry Go Bring Come."
