Marcia Griffiths
b. 1954, Kingston, Jamaica, West Indies. Griffiths is arguably the most consistently successful female vocalist ever in reggae music, having recorded in every one of the myriad of styles in Jamaican music from ska through to an '80s rap crossover record. Her precocious talent were recognised very early on by producers Coxsone Dodd and Byron Lee who were competing for her father's signature on a recording contract before Marcia's 10th birthday. Coxsone was the winner because she ‘like his vibes’ and Coxsone's Studio One set up was like a ‘musical college’. It was there that Griffiths scored her first Jamaican number 1 in 1968 with the rocksteady hit Feel Like Jumping, a record that can still fill dance floors. She had worked very closely with Bob Andy during this period and he had written many of her biggest hits for her. In 1969, they recorded, as Bob And Marcia, an interpretation of Nina Simone's Young, Gifted And Black for producer Harry ‘J’ Johnson and their bright, lilting reading of the song touched a nerve with UK buyers, particularly among the reggae-obsessed skinhead audience. The popularity of the record ensured crossover success and it rode high in the UK charts in 1970 and became a hit all over Europe. Their follow-up, Pied Piper, in 1971 was equally pop-oriented and another big hit in the UK. The duo toured extensively but both felt that there was very little financial reward during this period and they returned to Jamaica to reassess their respective careers. Marcia made some beautiful records for Sonia Pottinger's High Note label and in 1975, she became one of Bob Marley's I-Threes backing vocalists, along with Rita Marleyand Judy Mowatt— recruited to fill the musical gap left by the departure of Bunny Wailer and Peter Tosh from the Wailers. For the remainder of the decade and on into the '80s she recorded and toured with Marley, still continuing with her solo career, but after Marley's death in 1981, she again recorded extensively as a solo artist. Her Electric Boogie with Bunny Wailer was a hit in the USA in 1989—seven years after it was recorded—and even inspired its own dance—The Electric Slide. She continues to record and, furthermore, make records that matter.