"My Boy Lollipop" may be debatable but Desmond Dekker's "Israelites" was a top 10 hit in the U.S. in 1969 and Jimmy Cliff's "Wonderful World, Beautiful People" followed shortly thereafter. A case could even be made for "Hold Me Tight" by Johnny Nash, recorded in Jamaica and top 5 in the U.S. in 1968.
I went to what I later learned what the first date on the tour for Natty Dread at Toronto's Massey Hall, Toronto has always had a large Jamaican community on Bathurst Street between Bloor and Davenport (just about every store on that strip was an X+record store e.g. Hardware Store + record store or Hair Dresser + record store, we used to walk along from store to store to buy dub platters!). At Massey Hall there were me and 2 buddies and a sea of Jamaicans; there was an after-party at a Danforth club called These Eyes, we cruised by but eventually decided not to go in (regrets)! I eventually got a recording of the Massey Hall show and it's just as good as I remember! Two years later he came back for a Convocation Hall show that had fist-fights and a near riot - but that's another story!
We were early Wailers LP owners, having bought albums at either Licorice Pizza or Hezekia McCains back in the day when there were still record stores; I'm guessing 1975 or thereabouts. In 1976, we were driving north from Huntington Beach, as we passed Santa Barbara where Marley was to play in concert that day, we learned that the show was burned out due to wildfires.
"My Boy Lollipop" may be debatable but Desmond Dekker's "Israelites" was a top 10 hit in the U.S. in 1969 and Jimmy Cliff's "Wonderful World, Beautiful People" followed shortly thereafter. A case could even be made for "Hold Me Tight" by Johnny Nash, recorded in Jamaica and top 5 in the U.S. in 1968.
I went to what I later learned what the first date on the tour for Natty Dread at Toronto's Massey Hall, Toronto has always had a large Jamaican community on Bathurst Street between Bloor and Davenport (just about every store on that strip was an X+record store e.g. Hardware Store + record store or Hair Dresser + record store, we used to walk along from store to store to buy dub platters!). At Massey Hall there were me and 2 buddies and a sea of Jamaicans; there was an after-party at a Danforth club called These Eyes, we cruised by but eventually decided not to go in (regrets)! I eventually got a recording of the Massey Hall show and it's just as good as I remember! Two years later he came back for a Convocation Hall show that had fist-fights and a near riot - but that's another story!
Thanks for this compilation of videos! I'd add three little birds, but I love these. And you shared a spliff with the great man himself!
We were early Wailers LP owners, having bought albums at either Licorice Pizza or Hezekia McCains back in the day when there were still record stores; I'm guessing 1975 or thereabouts. In 1976, we were driving north from Huntington Beach, as we passed Santa Barbara where Marley was to play in concert that day, we learned that the show was burned out due to wildfires.