If ever there was an artiste who led a fulfilling life with an inspirational musical legacy, U-Roy, born Ewart Beckford, is one of them.
U-Roy began his career in music at just 20 years old and many of his peers at the time recognized his unique gift. His first exposure to music came from his religious Seventh-day Adventist family. His mother was an organist on the choir at the local church in the parish of St. Andrew. Interestingly, his stage name came from a family member who had difficulty pronouncing his name right.
In the early 1960s, U-Roy began his DJ career, playing records at parties. A style began to develop in Jamaica: DJs would extend their between-records patter, talking over instrumental breaks during songs. Boasting and joking in a rhythmic chant, the DJs added to the songs they played.
In 1961, U-Roy began working with a sound system called Dickie Wong’s sound system. His career would see him move through several different systems as he tried to find his own sound. His first single, Dynamic Fashion Way, would come in 1969 and was produced by Keith Hudson production. Following that, he released another successful single called Earth’s Rightful Ruler, which was produced by the legendary Lee “Scratch” Perry. That track also included late reggae superstar Peter Tosh.
It would be his toasting skills that ultimately helped him jump into the Jamaican limelight. While U-Roy wasn’t the first DJ to toast, he was the first to record it, after catching the ear of record producer, John Holt who invited U-Roy to make records of his toasting. Toasting was an early influence on the development of rap music, and U-Roy was known as an influence on that emerging genre.
His true recognition as a master toaster came after his first two singles on Duke Reid’s Treasure Isle label, Wake the Town, and Wear You to the Ball, both in 1970.
His career took off after those hits, and he would eventually tour the UK in 1972 with artistes Roy Shirley and Max Romeo flying the Jamaican flag proudly. His 1975 album, Dread in a Babylon, was very well received in the UK. The success of the project led him to work with Tony Robinson and released a series of albums, including Natty Rebel, Rasta Ambassador, and Jah Son of Africa.
U-Roy used his success to inspire others to take up the microphone, and in 1978, he began his own sound system, named Stur Gav, after his sons. Many young artistes at the time, like Charlie Chaplin and Josey Wales, benefitted from the label and his mentorship.
Daddy U-Roy’s music was also featured on the album True Love by Toots and the Maytals, which won a Grammy Award in 2004 for Best Reggae Album. His herculean effort in promoting Jamaican music was recognized by the government in 2007 when he was awarded Jamaica’s Order of Distinction.
His style of music is also credited as one of the heavy influences in the birth of hip-hop when Jamaica-born disc jockey Kool Herc infamously brought the same “toasting” sound to the Bronx in the early 1970s.
Herc, whose given name is Clive Campbell, is widely regarded as the founding father of hip hop. It was at a birthday party for his sister in the Bronx on August 11, 1973, when DJ Kool Herc gave birth to what would become hip hop music. Had it not been for U-Roy’s invention of toasting, Herc, who was born in Kingston before immigrating to the United States at the age of ten, might not have introduced the sound to the masses at his sister’s birthday party five decades ago.
U-Roy is also considered one of the Rastafarians who pushed the Rastafarian faith to the world. All his 24 albums focused on some aspects of Rastafarianism.
Without a doubt, many dancehall artistes owe their careers to U-Roy. Widely regarded as The Originator, U-Roy has a permanent place in reggae/dancehall and hip-hop music history. Many internationally known dancehall deejays have acknowledged U-Roy as an influence on their careers, including Sean Paul and Shabba Ranks.
His death was announced on February 17, 2021. He was 78-years-old.
