Back to my roots

16 Dec, 2016 - 00:12 0 Views
Back to my roots

The ManicaPost

. . .  continued from last week

What happened to your On Top label?

WELL, through the business making some drastic turns I couldn’t be financially big to continue producing, so I just left it like that. It takes money to do what you want to do and do it right so it didn’t make sense.

You also carried on recording singles for Bunny Lee. You did a nice cover of Burning Spear’s Tradition Song.

Oh yeah, Tradition.?

And you did “Jah Jehovah”. Was Bunny Lee the producer of that? Because the record says the producer is Lloydie Slim.?

Well you know how those guys stay. Bunny Lee was a man who would try to help producers. They are around him all the while so he just give them songs and they could say they produce them.?

Yes, because it’s played by the Aggravators and it’s on the same rhythm as Cassius Clay by Dennis Alcapone. But it came out on Micron music.?

Yes, that was distributed down here. Pete Weston.

How did Rasta come into your life?

(Laughs) Well, you know I grew up around some Rastaman in Westmoreland. So I always had that inclination to be Rastaman. I grew up are amongst the Rastaman who did not eat meat and stuff. I still eat meat and things but those men they didn’t eat a whole heap of things. They would cook up the pepper! Pepper food. In the old days those old Rastaman were just Ital.

You did an album in 1977 with Bunny Lee called Hard Times.?

Yes, Hard Times. And we did Presenting The Music Of Studio 1 as well. Because it was mostly Studio 1 recordings, which we did over. We covered a lot of Studio 1 hits.?

How did you decide which songs to cover?

Most of those songs were Bunny Lee’s choice. He wanted me to do them. I did a lot of John Holt songs. I Am Your Man and all those songs. He picked the songs that are on the album.

You also recorded a couple of songs at Lee Perry’s Black Ark.

I recorded two rhythms in Scratch’s studio. “You are the Fool” and “Laugh It Off.” He was the engineer. He had a studio and we rented it out. He mixed the songs and took the recordings and stuff but he wasn’t really the producer. I was the producer.

Can you tell me about the song “Run Around Girl” that you did for the one-off label Ultrasonic? For a man called Garfield Potter? Cornell Campbell did a song on the rhythm and he told me Garfield Potter won some money in a legal case and he started a label.

“Run Around Girl”.

Yeah, that was a brother named Dizzy. I remember that song too. He came and told me he liked me to record it and I voiced it for him so.

How well did you know Gregory Isaacs? You did some recording for his label African Museum. You also recorded a combination album “Ronnie Davis Meets Gregory Isaacs” for Ossie Hibbert in 1979.

Oh, he was my good friend. Very good man. We were very close. We did a few songs with him and me, the Diamonds, and Viceroys. We did two songs on the album. I can’t remember the name of the album. But he was the producer.

You also entered the Festival contest with the Itals in the early 80s.

Yes, with “In A Jamaican Style”. Tinga Stewart won with “No Way No Better Than Yard” in 1981. And then we did “Wondering “and the Astronauts won with Mek Wi Jam.

In the early 80s you did some recordings of cover versions for Phil Pratt. You did a cover of “Strange Things” by John Holt.?

Phil Pratt was my good friend. I did Strange Things”, Black Cinderella and another couple of songs.

You sang a lot of cover songs over the years. People like to hear your voice on famous songs.

I did a lot of cover songs.

But you said you been writing songs that you are very young. Which hit songs have you written?

Well I wrote a lot of songs in the early days but not so much at this time. I wrote “Won’t You Come Home”, I wrote “No One Can Take Your Place”, “No Weak Heart”, “False Leaders”, “Got To Go Home”, “Beware Of Evil Men” and a couple more. A lot more.

In 1985 you recorded your album The Incredible Ronnie Davis Sings For You And I.?

Yes, that was my production.

What do you think about what happened to the music in the 80s? There wasn’t so much singing, there weren’t so many harmony groups, and there weren’t so many musicians.?

Yes that was, I think, because the producers had enough rhythms. When they went to the studio they always had a lot of rhythms. So at the same time they didn’t have to call back any musicians and they started to do pure version. You had lots of rhythms of versions by artists and that’s how the business got to open. Because when we first started to do it we had to create the rhythms so the musicians played. I think it’s helped the business anyway. You get more competition, more singers and people can just get rhythms out and do it.

So what did you do in that time? Did you tour with the Itals?

Yes. I toured Europe and the United States. I enjoyed it. I spent a few months out there in Europe and in the United States same way. It was really something else. I wish I could be doing it still. That was all I did and that is what I love. To sing. It’s a good while I haven’t been out there so I’m hoping that something will be going on.

Why did you leave the Itals in 1995??

Let me tell you something. Some people are just all for themselves. For instance, the brother named Keith, he just pleases himself and runs around saying he should do this and that. And I can’t stand to have him dictating to me, telling me he runs this and he runs that. So I said “Boy, let him go do it” and I just left. And every time somebody made me try and do it again he had a problem with it because he is all for himself. He is a selfish brother. Every night on stage he would want to be the lead singer all night. He didn’t like singing harmony. I couldn’t afford to let him dominate the thing. So that’s why had to leave.

So you formed your own group Ronnie Davis and Idren with Roy Smith from Westmorlites.

I just tried to create something. It wasn’t even a group. It was just a band who we called Idrens. But it was never successful because of certain little things that didn’t work out. 

To be continued next week
For contributions on reggae/dancehall music and latest news contact Ras Libz Kartel on 0773 219 891 or mutsawashe90@gmail.com

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