Burning Spear, birthed as Winston Rodney OD (born 1 March 1945) is a Jamaican roots reggae singer-songwriter, vocalist, and musician. Rastafarian Burning Spear is one of the most influential and long-lasting roots performers to emerge from the 1970s.
Who is Burning Spear?
Burning Spear, birthed as Winston Rodney was born in the Jamaican town of Saint Ann’s Bay. Sonia Rodney is his wife. As a young guy, he listened to R&B, soul, and jazz music broadcast by US radio stations whose signals reached Jamaica. Rodney names Curtis Mayfield and James Brown as key musical influences in the United States.
As a young man, Rodney was strongly affected by the political activist Marcus Garvey’s ideals, particularly on the investigation of Pan-Africanism and self-determination. After Rodney sought his counsel during a casual discussion in 1969, Bob Marley, who was also from Saint Ann, recommended Rodney to approach Coxsone Dodd’s Studio One label.
What was Burning Spear’s career?
Burning Spear was initially Rodney’s band, named after a military medal bestowed upon Jomo Kenyatta, the first President of an independent Kenya, and included bass singer Rupert Willington. In 1969, the duo auditioned for Dodd, resulting in the publication of their debut single “Door Peep” (the session also featured Cedric Brooks on saxophone).
Tenor Delroy Hinds then joined them. Before moving on to work with Jack Ruby in 1975, the trio released many additional songs and two albums for Dodd. “Marcus Garvey,” their first recording with Ruby, was intended as an exclusive track for Ruby’s Ocho Rios-based Hi-Power sound system, but was released as a single, earning them an immediate smash, and was followed by “Slavery Days.”
The supporting band for these songs was The Black Disciples, who consisted of Earl “Chinna” Smith, Valentine Chin, Robbie Shakespeare, and Leroy Wallace. The band collaborated with Ruby on their third album, Marcus Garvey (1975), which was an instant hit and resulted in a partnership with Island Records to give the music a broader release.
Island remixed and sped up some of the tracks, much to the chagrin of fans and the group, prompting Rodney to form his own Burning Music label for future releases over which he would have complete control, though further Island releases included Garvey’s Ghost, a dub version of the Marcus Garvey album, and Man in the Hills
Rodney broke from Ruby and group members Willington and Hinds in late 1976, and from then on used the name Burning Spear exclusively. Dry and Heavy was released in 1977, self-produced but still on Island, and he performed in London that year with members of Aswad acting as his backing band for a sold-out show at the Rainbow Theatre, which was recorded and released as the album Live!. Aswad also played on his following studio album, Social Living (1978), alongside Sly Dunbar and Rico Rodriguez. Sylvan Morris mixed the album’s dub version, Living Dub (1979).
His popularity was increased much further when he appeared in the film Rockers and performed “Jah no Dead.”
What were some of the hit songs of Burning Spear?
Below are some of the reggae band’s hit songs:
- Slavery
- Identity
- Columbus
- Old Marcus Garvey
- The Invasion
- African Postman
- African Teacher
- Tradition
- Door Peep Shall Not Enter
Source: thpttranhungdao.edu.vn/en/
Categories: News
Source: thpttranhungdao.edu.vn/en/
