Daddy U Roy to perform at tonight’s Tastee Talent Contest semi-final
For the first time in its 26 years, the Tastee Talent contest stage will be graced by the original ‘Don of the Dancehall’, Daddy U-Roy. U Roy will headline the list of guest artistes who will perform at the first semi-final of the 2005 Tastee Talent contest series today, March 31st, at the Tastee Outdoor Theatre in Cross Roads. Other guest artistes include past Tastee winners.
Known as ‘The Originator’, U-Roy was not Jamaica’s first deejay, but he created a deejay style so distinct, it changed his homeland’s music scene. Born Ewart Beckford, U-Roy or ‘DJ Daddy’ as he is called in dancehall circles, started working with Doctor Dickie’s Dynamite sound system. He then moved on to the Sir Mike Musical and Sir George Atomic sound system. In 1968, he did a short stint at Studio 1, under the guidance of Sir Coxsone Dodd. There he met and teamed up with fellow veteran entertainer, King Stitt.
U-Roy later went back to Sir George, where he met up with another royal figure, King Tubby, who was then working as a disc cutter at Duke Reid’s Studio. In 1969, King Tubby launched his own Hi-Fi system and brought in U-Roy as his top DJ, who by then had established himself as one of the premier talents of the sound system.
Daddy Roy went on to team up with Lee Perry and Peter Tosh and recorded Selassie, a version of Ras Michael & the Sons of Negus’ Ethiopian National Anthem, which was later credited to the Reggae Boys. 1970 could be classified as the turning point in U-Roy’s life, when singer John Holt attended a sound system party and caught U-Roy deejaying his own hit Wear You To The Ball and took him the next day to see Duke Reid. Holt requested that he record him, and having been convinced, U Roy promptly recorded Wake the Town – which did exactly that – and the single went straight to the top of the charts. His other hits were Girl I’ve Got a Date, Rule the Nation and Love is not a Gamble. In 1981, U-Roy re-launched his sound system Stur-Gav, which saw the rise of new DJs such as Josey Wales and Charlie Chaplin. He continued to perform live and on-stage toasting, accompanied by a host of veteran vocalists in the likes of Dennis Brown, Gregory Issacs, Horace Andy and Jo-Ann Greene. Come this evening at 6:00 pm, Daddy U Roy will bring back some of those classic memories when he hits the Tastee stage.
Also performing as a guest artiste will be young and up-coming artiste Jamiel Foster, a student at the Spanish Town High School, whose single Tek A Message is recorded in the studios of Anchor Records and is being distributed on the Rootical Dubber Label.
Sponsored by Tastee Limited, the makers of Jamaica’s leading beef patties, the Tastee Talent contest will see 25 contestants vying for big cash and prizes, as well as a place in the grand final, which will be held in December. The contest is celebrating its 26th year, and as the patty company expands its operations across the island, it will stage some of the concerts outside Kingston, the usual venue for the shows. Judges for the March 31 semi-finals will be drawn from Kool Fm, Portmore Times, Jamaica Observer, JACS Cable, and the entertainment industry. All the sponsors request of those attending the contest is their usual good behaviour.