
Freddie McGregor was born in Clarendon, Jamaica on June 27, 1956. At age seven, he started singing backup for a local ska harmony duo called the Clarendonians (naturally, with the nickname of Little Freddie McGregor). The Clarendonians recorded for producer Clement "Coxsone" Dodd's legendary Studio One label for a time. " McGregor stayed at Studio One for much of the '70s, working as a session drummer and backup singer while developing his own vocal style, which owed much to smooth, Philadelphia-style soul. Not just a singer, he wrote some of his own material, and grew into an accomplished producer as well. McGregor's heyday was the early '80s, when he released several high-quality albums and reached the peak of his popularity in Jamaica and England. In 1975, McGregor converted to Rastafarianism, which had a profound impact on his music. Still with Studio One and working with Earl "Chinna" Smith, he recorded the classics "Rastaman Camp" and "I Am a Rasta" right off the bat, and followed them with a string of singles that substantially raised his profile in Jamaica: "Jogging," "Natural Collie," "Africa Here I Come," and "Bobby Bobylon" among them. In 1981, McGregor scored a huge hit single with "Big Ship," which catapulted him to the front rank of reggae stars in the immediate post-Marley era, along with Dennis Brown and Gregory Isaacs. His next LP arrived in 1982, also titled Big Ship, and featured production by Linval Thompson and musical backing by the Roots Radics. It <b>...</b>
reggae
rasta
roots
dancehall
natural
collie
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