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Alton Ellis: A Great Career!

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Alton Ellis, who is also known as the Godfather, Soul of Jamaica or Mr. Soul, was born in 1944 in Trenchtown, Kingston, Jamaica, which is an extremely poor area.  This very famed musician is considered to be a leading light of rocksteady music.  Nonetheless, he used to play ska music at the beginning of his artistic career and recorded for Studio One.  Nevertheless, the period in which he was successful the most corresponds to the late 60’s.  Hence, when he was a very young boy, he learned to play the piano in a fantastic way, and in conjunction with Eddie Perkins, created what they called Aton & Eddie.  Thus, with “Muriel”, they got to be very successful.  In 1965, however, Perkins decided to move to the United States.

For this reason, Alton Ellis went solo and left to Treasure in order to record with The Flames, which was a well-known back-up trio.  At this point, “Dance Crasher” and its follow-up called “Get Ready – Rock Steady” were Alton Ellis’ first hits.  Perhaps, the latter constitutes the very first rocksteady recording he made.  Nonetheless, due to some changes made because of several setbacks with some other members, Ellis could expand his vocal range.  Some time later, he started recording for other Jamaican producers, but in 1971, Alton Ellis decided to move to England since he was a bit upset with the fact that his project was not very successful.  There, he could form his label called Alton Records, to which he was devoted to during the 70’s and 80’s.

In the early 90’s, “Soul Groover”, which is a great collection of what he did in Treasure Isle, was released by Heartbeat Records.  During the whole decade, Alton continued performing and having great success. Alton Ellis relies on a 12-album discography, in which Reggae Max and My Time Is The Right Time are the last ones.  Thus, Alton Ellis is a really famed reggae figure that has been providing his fans with more and more success!




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