Delroy Wilson

Like Dennis Brown and Freddie McGregor, Delroy Wilson (b. 1948, Kingston, Jamaica, West Indies) was barely out of short pants when he cut his debut single for Coxsone Dodd's Studio One label. His first hit, Joe Liges (1963), was written by Lee Perry, then working as a talent spotter/songwriter/singer for Dodd, and was a lyrical attack on former Coxsone employee and now rival, Prince Buster. (‘One hand wash the other, but you don't remember your brother, Joe Liges, Joe Liges, stop criticise’) set to a rollicking early ska rhythm. The record was so popular that his follow-up, Spirit In The Sky, another Perry penned barb aimed at the Prince, was actually credited to Joe Liges when it was released in the UK on the Bluebeat and Black Swan labels. Delroy went on to cut numerous records in the same vein for Dodd, including One Two Three, I Shall Not Remove, a duet with Slim Smith entitled Look Who Is Back Again, and the anti-Buster Prince Pharoah, notable for being the only occasion in which Coxsone himself is heard on record, admonishing Buster in a coded, spoken outburst.
Delroy's voice broke just in time for the emergence of rocksteady in 1966, and his version of the Tams’ ’Dancing Mood’ of that year, one of the first rocksteady records, became a monstrous hit, alerting music fans to a new soul-styled crooner to match Alton Ellis. Throughout the rest of the decade Delroy, still recording mainly for Studio One, increased his popularity with titles like Riding For A Fall, another Tams cover, Once Upon A Time, Run Run, Won't You Come Home, Never Conquer, True Believer, One One, I'm Not A King, Rain From The Skies and Feel Good All Over, as well as covering the Temptations’ Get Ready. Leaving Studio One in 1969, Delroy sojourned briefly at Bunny Lee's camp, which resulted in a popular reading of the Isley Brothers’ This Old Heart Of Mine (1969), before he drew his brakes at Sonia Pottinger's Tip Top Records, where he cut the excellent It Hurts and a version of the Elgins’ Put Yourself In My Place (both 1969).
He teamed up once more with Bunny Lee to score a huge Jamaican hit with the anthemic Better Must Come (1971), which was so popular it was adopted as a theme song by Michael Manley's PNP to increase their vote amongst ‘sufferers’, during that year's election campaign. In 1972 his success continued with Cool Operator, again for Lee, and throughout the next few years he maintained his position as one of reggae's best loved singers, with songs such as Mash Up Illiteracy and Pretty Girl for Joe Gibbs, Love for Gussie Clarke, Rascal Man for Winston Niney Holness, a cover of the Four Tops’ Ask The Lonely for Harry J Johnson, It's A Shame (a version of the Detroit Spinners’ song for Joe Joe Hookim), Have Some Mercy for A. Folder, Keep On Running for Prince Tony. In 1976 his career took a further step forward when he recorded a hugely popular version of Bob Marley's I'm Still Waiting for Lloyd Charmers LTD label, later followed by the well-received SARGE, still regarded by most aficionados as his best set. The misnomered Greatest Hits was also issued by Prince Tony during this period.
Further recordings towards the end of the decade, including All In This Thing Together, Halfway Up The Stairs and Come In Heaven for Gussie Clarke, did well, but Delroy's career floundered somewhat during the early part of the '80s, apart from a few sporadic sides, including the popular Let's Get Married, for London's Fashion Records. The digital age, however, saw him back in the running with the massive Don't Put The Blame On Me/’Stop Acting Strange’ for King Jammy in 1987, and Ease Up, a cut of the famous Rumours rhythm for Bunny Lee, as well as albums like LOOKING FOR LOVE for Phil Pratt and WHICH WAY IS UP, produced by Flabba Holt (see Roots Radics) for Blue Mountain, since when he has once again drifted into semi-retirement. Despite being one of the best singers Jamaica has ever produced, Delroy has rarely been able to meaningfully consolidate the success that has come his way, but he remains a much-loved and respected, but sorely under-used and, outside reggae circles, underrated performer.