One of Jamaica’s legendary entertainers Alton Nehemiah Ellis was born on September 1, 1938. His illustrious career began from a tender age where he learned to sing and play musical instruments. Being a pioneer in Jamaican music, Alton Ellis helped to shape the Jamaican music known as Rocksteady with some of the most exciting and popular lyrics of the era. Often regarded as the King of Rocksteady, Ellis thrilled the soul of Jamaicans and the world with his seductive smooth vocals.
Alton Ellis grew up in one of Kingston’s inner-city communities, Trench Town. And, from there he eagerly went unto becoming the 2006 inductee into the International Reggae and World Music Awards Hall Of Fame. As a youth Ellis was determined to make it on the musical scene. Growing up he would often practice his songs during the night while playing the piano. When he had perfected his craft, Alton recorded his first single called “Muriel”.
Alton quickly grasped the fame of his first single and went on to produce other singles, including “My Heaven” and “I Know It All”. These singles were done with Eddie Perkins, who later left Jamaica for a solo career in America. After Perkins’ departure, Alton joined the Sir Coxsone Dodd’s musical group of entertainers. This venture did not yield the recognition he wanted, so he left and went to work with the Reid’s Treasure Isle in 1965.
Soon after, Ellis formed a group called The Flames. His first hit single with this group titled “Dance Crasher’. This pushed him to release the first ever Rocksteady tune “Get Ready Let’s do the Rock Steady”. Other musical hits soon followed including, “Cry Tough” and the ever popular “Girl I’ve Got a Date”. The latter song brought Alton Ellis to stardom as the song quickly became one of his biggest hits of the Rocksteady era.
After this musical explosion, Alton did a couple of songs with his sister Hortense Ellis and Phyllis Dillon. However, in 1968, Alton went back to Sir Coxsone Dodd studios. This switch caused a bit of stir between the two rivals, but Ellis was in for who could bring his musical career to the level he wanted it.
Things settled for a while, and in 1969 Alton recorded a few more singles. These included “Willow Tree”, “Sitting in the Park” and “I’m Just a Guy” (all were American cover songs). By this time, Alton’s name had reached the shores of the world stage. Keeping up his quest to make it big time, Alton continued to produce more songs. In 1970 his first album was released when Alton produced the powerful Sunday Coming collection.
After gaining international recognition, Alton went to Canada and America on tours. These tours did not give him the appreciation he was looking for. So, Ellis went to London in 1973. While there he created his own recording label called Alltone. In between setting up shop and recording songs, Ellis traveled to Jamaica to entertain his Jamaican fans at various events, such as Reggae Sunsplash.
Showing his spectacular solidarity towards Jamaican music; Alton continued to create musical hits such as “Man from Studio One” in 1991. Though Ellis wasn’t duly compensated for his contribution to Jamaican music, he received the award of Order of Distinction from the Jamaican government in 2004. In receiving this acknowledgment for his musical achievements, Ellis relentlessly continued to produce creative tunes. Releasing a live collection of songs on the Working on a Groovy Thing album was to be the last for Alton Ellis.
Ellis’s health started to deteriorate in 2007 as he battled with cancer. Alton later returned to his musical career for a brief period after receiving treatment. However, this did not last long as the celebrated entertainer died at a London hospital on October 10, 2008, at the age of 70.
Although Alton’s legacy is one that is often overlooked, Alton made one of the greatest contributions to the Jamaican music and culture. After all he was the man who basically single handedly gave way to the Rocksteady era.
