Royals
Formed by Roy Cousins (b. c.1945, Jamaica, West Indies) in 1964, alongside Bertram Johnson, Keith Smith and Errol Wilson, though other than Cousins the line-up remained largely fluid. The Royals recorded for Duke Reid and Federal in the mid-60s, and for Coxsone Dodd in 1967, though no releases were forthcoming until 1968 when they cut Never See Come See for producer Joe Gibbs, a dig at the Pioneers. The following year the group recorded Never Gonna Give You Up for Byron Smith, Pick Out Me Eye, and, in 1969, 100 Pounds Of Clay for Lloyd Daley. Though they achieved a measure of popular, if not fiscal success with these records, Cousins disbanded the group and took a two year sabbatical. He eventually saved enough money from his job in the Jamaican Post Office to finance a self-produced single, Down Comes The Rain, issued in Jamaica on his own Tamoki label. In 1973 the Royals again recorded the classic Pick Up The Pieces, the success of which prompted Coxsone to release his original version of the song, which had been languishing ignored since the group's stint with him in the late '60s. This too became very popular, particularly the rhythm which has been versioned countless times since. 
More self-produced releases followed throughout the decade including Promised Land, When You Are Wrong, Ghetto Man, Blacker Black, Only For A Time and Sufferer Of The Ghetto, all collected on the essential PICK UP THE PIECES, which ranks alongside the finest works of contemporaries like the Abyssinians, the Wailing Souls and the Mighty Diamonds. Cousins also produced records by other artists, including Jah Jah Children by the Kingstonians, Genuine Way by Lloyd Ruddock ( King Tubby's brother), Heart In Pain by Vinni O'Brien, Monkey Fashion by I Roy and Way Of Life by Gregory Isaacs, many included on the various artists set, HERB DUST VOLUME 1 (1983). In 1975, the Royals split yet again, the rest of the group going on to record for Channel One as the Jayes. Roy enlisted two new members with whom he recorded the single, Make Believe, followed by two more albums, TEN YEARS AFTER and ISRAEL BE WISE, featuring Heptones Barry Llewelyn and Naggo Morris on harmonies. Cousins has been resident in the UK since the early '80s, concentrating mainly on producing other artists for his Wambesi and Dove labels, including the Gaylads, Derrick Pitter, Cornell Campbell, Earl Sixteen ( JULIA and CRAZY WOMAN), Prince Far I, Charlie Chaplin ( DIET ROCK) and Don Carlos ( PLANTATION).