The Heptones
“Quite frankly there is absolutely no necessity for an introduction of the HEPTONES to you as I presume you already know all about the boys and their musical activities.”
Jackie Estick
Anyone with more than a passing interest in reggae music knows and loves the Heptones for, as the foremost Jamaican vocal harmony trio ever, they unfailingly set the standards for everyone else to aspire to and to measure their own work by.
Throughout the sixties and the seventies, they notched up rock steady hit after reggae hit, with the extent of their Jamaican popularity such it seemed that it seemed inevitable that they would follow Bob Marley & the Wailers and Burning Spear into the realms of international stardom
But it was not to be. Amongst Jamaican music lovers their popularity is matched only by that of the Maytals, yet they still somehow remain relatively unknown and unappreciated by wider audiences and their near faultless body of work over the years gives no indication as to why crossover success managed to somehow elude them.
The most influential and imitated Jamaican vocal trio ever began their working lives with Leroy Sibbles welding, Barry Llewellyn as a mechanic and Earl Morgan selling newspapers. Originally formed in the Kingston ghetto of Trenchtown ‘around 1958’ by Earl and Barry, grouop became a trio in the early sixties a third member was enlisted to create the all conquering threesome.
Leroy had been the front man with a rival street corner group in Newland Town alongside two friends, Claire and Winston, and when the two groups clashed in a street corner singing contest, he was so impressed with Earl and Barry that he immediately asked them to join with him.
By this time he was already a proficient guitarist, through the tutoring of Brother Huntley and Brother Carrott, two Trenchtown Rastafarians, in whose yard the group would gather and write songs.
Leroy promptly became the group’s lead singer, but both Barry and Earl could also sing lead and this varied versatility was vital to their overall sound. The membership of the group was still fairly fluid at this stage and Glen Adams was one of the early hopefuls who passed through their ranks. Glen subsequently left to join the Pioneers and would go on to finally find fame as one of Lee Perry‘s Upsetters.
“We listened to the Drifters, the Platters, the Impressions and the Shirelles’ those American groups were a big inspiration in Jamaica. In England my inspiration was the Beatles. If there was anyone I wanted to meet it was the Beatles.”
Earl Morgan
In 1966, Sydney ‘Luddy’ Crooks of the Pioneers brought the group to the attention of Ken Lack the former road manager for the Skatalites, who also ran the Caltone label. The trio recorded four songs for Lack at Duke Reid‘s Treasure Isle studio and their first release, the rude boy themed ‘Gunmen Coming To Town’, which opened with a hook from Rossini‘s ‘William Tell Overture’ – a telling indication that this particular trio were not following anyone and certainly did not intend to do so either.
‘I Am Lonely’ was not a particularly big seller on its original release but would go on to become one of the most prized (and most expensive) records on the U.K. revival circuit in the late nineties.
One Sunday afternoon later that same year, the Heptones trod the familiar path down to Brentford Road to audition at Studio One in front of Bob Andy, Ken Boothe and B.B. Seaton. They passed this terrifying test and would remain with Coxson Dodd for the next five years. They never looked back despite their first hit record, the risqu?? ‘Fatty Fatty’, being deemed too lewd for radio play:
“They decided to ban it in Jamaica and, when they did that, everybody wanted to hear it so it made the record one of the best sellers in Jamaica.”
Earl Morgan
The trio left Studio One in 1971 after bitter and acrimonious disputes over financial matters. They had become an integral part of the Dodd‘s set up with Leroy employed as both talent scout and session bass player, Barry as a session musician and Earl working in the pressing plant and also singing harmonies. The Heptones‘ contribution to the sound of classic Studio One music was immense and can never be overstated:
“Leroy played bass and Barry was in the studio playing organ and percussion. Most of the time I was in the factory’ when I wasn’t in the factory he had me singing harmonies.”
Earl Morgan
Leroy, in particular, was vociferous in his condemnation of how he felt the Heptones had been treated during their time at Brentford Road, but Earl‘s attitude was more measured:
“I think if we had stayed with Coxson we may have eventually gone on to become internationally famous but’ it’s one of them things.”
Earl Morgan
Their next move was to Joe Gibbs and over the next two years, in a frenetic and prolific burst of creativity, they recorded for most of the producers of note in Kingston’s teeming musical industry. Apart from the occasional foray into working on the side, the Heptones had previously remained loyal to Coxson and Studio One:
“We started to harmonise for Duke Reid with John Holt on ‘Let’s Build Our Dreams’. Coxsone caught us recording and made us come down to his studio to do the same tune. And another time he caught us doing ‘Lord Deliver Us’ with Alton Ellis for Matador (Lloyd Daley) and made us do it for him.”
Earl Morgan
They were now free to record for whoever required their services and the lessons that they had learnt at Coxson’s musical college were handed on to a new generation of producers and artists:
“‘Then we went to Joe Gibbs’ we worked with him for a while but the vibes changed so we moved on to Gay Feet. At that time we were freelance. After Coxson we said anybody want us they can take us so we went from one producer to the next. We worked for so many producers'”
Earl Morgan
In 1973 Leroy relocated to Canada, a move that led to the Heptones‘ first ever period of inactivity, but on his return to Jamaica in 1976 they began work with Lee Perry. The first fruit of this new partnership was ‘Sufferer’s Time’, an aching lament that demanded equality for everyone in all things and their subsequent work for the Upsetter showcased their soaring harmonies against the perfect counterpoint of his dense, churning rhythms.
The Lee Perry-produced ‘Party Time’ album was released worldwide by Island Records alongside Harry Johnson’s long player ‘Night Food’ later that year and these both belatedly helped to introduce the marvels of the Heptones to an wider audience. However, later that year during a tour with Bob Marley & the Wailers and the Maytals organised by Island Records,Leroy left the group, weary of the strain of endless financial problems, and he returned to live in Canada and pursue a solo career.
“If Leroy had never left the Heptones we would have been even bigger worldwide'”
Earl Morgan
Dolphin ‘Naggo’ Morris later took over as lead singer but, with a few notable exceptions, their records failed to scale the same heights as their previous work. Reunited with Leroy in the early nineties the Heptones “keep playing and recording and spreading the message”.
Leroy‘s solo recordings, such as 1994’s Bobby Digital production, ‘Original Full Up’ with Beenie Man, where he teaches musical history lessons about originating the bass line for the Studio One instrumental are proof, as if further proof was actually needed, that he has lost none of his astonishing talent:
“I never made much money from this one
But I still feel good, good, good'”
Original Full Up
‘Full Up’ eventually transformed into a worldwide hit for Musical Youth as ‘Pass the Dutchie’. His sly misogyny, tongue always firmly in his cheek, was invariably delivered with a genuine underlying sensitivity. As rock steady merged into reggae, his lyrics became more and more preoccupied with black self-determination and his songs of truth and rights equalled his songs of love.
One of the most talented musicians of his generation his bass lines were sufficiently melodic and versatile to take any amount of different arrangements and they have gone on to become an integral part of Jamaica’s musical vocabulary.
“The Heptones is not a one-man thing. The Heptones is a three man thing.”
Earl Morgan
Earl‘s ‘Pretty Looks Isn’t All’ is one of a handful of classic reggae songs that will last for as long as the music is listened to, for Barry and Earl always bestowed far more than mere filling in the gaps behind Leroy‘s lead and they too have made notable contributions to the Heptones‘ canon.
Sadly, Barry Llewellyn passed away in Kingston Public Hospital on 23rd November 2011, aged 64, leaving Earl Morgan as the sole original Heptones‘ member in a line-up that today also includes Robert Dacres and Carlton Scarlett. A new album by the group, entitled ‘Rebel Love’, was announced in April 2016, but fans are still awaitiung its much anticipated release.
Over the years, the Heptones have created more rock steady and reggae classics than almost any other Jamaican artist and had fate not been kinder, they could well have been as familiar globally as their esteemed Island label-mates, ‘Bob Marley & the Wailers’.
“The Heptones don’t have a catalogue. The Heptones have a lionlogue'”
Earl Morgan
HARRY HAWKE
Sources:
On Top the Heptones Studio One LP 1968
Laurence Cane-Honeysett: Earl Morgan A Heptone For Life Full Watts Volume Three, Number Three
David Katz: People Funny Boy the Genius Of Lee Scratch Perry Payback Press /Canongate 2003
David Katz: An Oral History Of Reggae Bloomsbury 2003
Various: the Guinness Who’s Who Of Reggae Square One/Guinness Publishing 1994