Lloyd Charmers
b. Lloyd Tyrell, 1938, Kingston, Jamaica. In 1962 Lloyd entered the Vere Johns Talent Hour with Roy Willis as one half of a duo, the Charmers. With encouragement from Alton Ellis, who taught them harmonies, they soon began recording. Their first sessions were at Studio One where Clement ‘Coxsone’ Dodd produced Splish Splash, Crying Over You and Jeanie Girl. A film documentary, This Is Ska, recorded in the early '60s, includes footage of the duo performing in such circumstances. With Prince Buster producing the duo enjoyed their biggest hit with Time After Time, but by the late '60s the partnership dissolved. Lloyd had already recorded a solo outing in 1964, Loneliest Boy In Town, which was a minor hit in Jamaica. After the duo collapsed he joined forces with Slim Smith and Jimmy Riley, who became collectively known as the Uniques. They scored an instant hit with Watch This Sound and in 1969 they released ABSOLUTELY THE UNIQUES, including the classic My Conversation and a cover of Curtis Mayfield's Gypsy Woman. The group stayed together for a year before disbanding to concentrate on solo careers. In 1970 the release of REGGAE CHARM and REGGAE IS TIGHT included tracks recorded during Lloyd 's time with the Uniques. During this prolific period he also released work using his real name, notably the risque Bang Bang Lulu and Birth Control. The latter tune inspired the Coventry based ska revival group the Specials to record Too Much Too Young, which reached number 1 in the UK charts in 1980. In 1972 Charmers released CENSORED, credited to Lloydie and the Lowbites, which saw him continuing in the style of Bang Bang Lulu and Birth Control, both of which were re-recorded for this release. He once claimed that Trojan Records declined the offer of further volumes in this vein, considering them to be too crude. After the limited pressing release of TOO HOT TO HANDLE in Jamaica his next venture was as part of the Messengers, whose line-up included Ken Boothe, B.B. Seaton and Busty Brown. They are best remembered for Crowded City. This song, a reggae chart hit, was an early plea for the environment, although with lyrics asking ‘What are we gonna do about pollution?’ replied to by ‘I think we should move the factories to the countryside’, no genuine solutions seemed to be on offer. It was as a producer in 1974 that Lloyd enjoyed his biggest commercial success with Ken Boothe's number 1 hit, a cover of David Gates' Everything I Own. He also produced three albums with Boothe, BLACK, GOLD AND GREEN (1973), LET'S GET IT ON (1974) and EVERYTHING I OWN (1975). In Jamaica his productions surfaced through the Wildflower label including Bob Andy's classic hit, Fire Burning, while his own performances included Run Joe and Judgement. In the early '80s a cover version of Phil Collins' plea, If Leaving Me Is Easy, almost made it into the pop charts.