Boris Gardiner
b. 1954, Kingston, Jamaica, West Indies. Boris Gardiner, bass player, vocalist and musical director, has never been one of reggae's most celebrated names, but he has remained a permanent fixture in the music, and has three huge UK chart hits to his credit. His bass playing skills first emerged in the late '60s, and the bands he graced included Byron Lee's Dragonaires, the Aggrovators, Crystalites and many more. His first brush with chart success was Elizabethan Reggae, cut for Byron Lee, which hit number 14 in January 1970. Gardiner toured the UK in support of his hit, which, at first, was incorrectly credited to its producer. His debut album, again produced by Byron Lee, was released the same year. In its wake Gardiner immersed himself in session work, regularly playing as part of the Now Generation band, and was later to be found as one of Lee Perry's Upsetters, following the Barrett brothers’ defection to the Wailers. His solid, to-the-point basslines were seldom noticed, yet always effective. In the '80s, as reggae was on the cusp of the digital era, an age likely to put paid to the careers of bass players, Gardiner's mellow, soulful voice came to the fore on a MOR reggae ballad, I Want To Wake Up With You, which hit number 1 in the UK charts. Gardiner, who had been dogged by illness on and off throughout the '80s, was finally getting paid. His follow-up, You're Everything To Me, went to number 11, and a seasonal The Meaning Of Christmas also scraped the charts.