Derrick Harriott

b. February 6, 1939 - Kingston, Jamaica

b. Derrick Clifton Harriott, 6 February 1939, Kingston, Jamaica, West Indies. While a pupil at Excelsior High School, Harriott formed a duo with Claude Sang Junior, and in 1958 formed the Jiving Juniors with Eugene Dwyer, Herman Sang, and Maurice Winter. In 1960-61 they had hits with "Over The River" for Coxsone Dodd and "Lollipop Girl" for Duke Reid. In 1962, Harriott left the group and formed his own label, Crystal. His first solo recording, "I Care", was a hit, as were "What Can I Do" (1964), "The Jerk" (1965) and "I'm Only Human" (1965). All of these were included on his debut, The Best Of Derrick Harriott.

In 1967 he had hits with his own "The Loser" and "Solomon", the Ethiopians' "No Baptism" and Keith And Tex's "Tonight" and "Stop That Train". Harriott's sophisticated, soul-styled sound caught the imagination of the Jamaican public - his recordings in the rocksteady style were superlative and still sound fresh and vibrant today. In 1970 he issued the Crystalites' The Undertaker, an excellent instrumental album in a similar vein to the early music of the Upsetters, which had been highly popular with the skinhead audience in the UK. Other albums included DJ Scotty's Schooldays, Dennis Brown's Super Reggae And Soul Hits and his own 14 Chartbuster Hits.

Under the Crystalites banner he issued one of the earliest dub albums, Scrub A Dub, becoming one of the first producers to use the talents of King Tubby at his Waterhouse Studio. He followed it with the sublime More Scrubbing The Dub, a collection of dub and instrumental versions of his best rhythms. In the late 70s he utilized the Revolutionaries for Winston McAnuff's Pick Hits To Click (1978), DJ Ray I's Rasta Revival (1978) and his own Enter The Chariot and Disco 6, a fine compilation featuring Dennis Brown, Cornell Campbell and Horace Andy. In the 80s he continued to have hits with soul cover versions such as "Skin To Skin" and "Checking Out", and in 1988 scored with "Starting All Over Again", a duet with Yellowman, concerning the affects of Hurricane Gilbert.

-- Courtesy (Encyclopedia of Popular Music) --