The Harry J. All Stars

From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist

The Harry J. All Stars were the session band of the Jamaican reggae producer Harry J. His real name was Harry Zephaniah Johnson; he was born in Westmoreland Parish in 1945 and first played bass in the group The Virtues. He then worked as an insurance salesman, until in 1968 he produced No More Heartaches by The Beltones, one of the first reggae songs ever recorded. Thanks to an arrangement with Coxsone Dodd he was allowed to use the Studio One studio.

Music and breakthrough

In October 1969 he had success in England with The Liquidator, recorded with his session band, the Harry J All Stars. The instrumental reached number nine on the British chart and returned to it in 1980. It became one of the anthems of the emerging skinhead culture, along with other instrumental hits released through his own series on Trojan Records. In the early 1970s another big success followed with the vocal duo Bob and Marcia and the song Young, Gifted and Black.

Influence

In 1972 Johnson sold his record shop and started his own recording studio on Roosevelt Avenue in Kingston. Bob Marley & the Wailers recorded several albums there between 1973 and 1976, including Catch a Fire and Rastaman Vibration. Burning Spear, the Heptones, Augustus Pablo and Johnny Nash also worked there. The name Harry J thus stands for two things: an instrumental reggae hit that won over audiences in England, and a studio where the sound of 1970s reggae was captured. Johnson died in 2013.

Listening