ENTITY · PERSON
Delroy Wilson
Probable
Delroy Wilson (5 October 1948 - 6 March 1995) was a Jamaican ska, rocksteady and reggae singer often described as Jamaica's first child star, having begun recording for Coxsone Dodd's Studio One at around age 13 in the early 1960s. Among his best-known records is the Lee "Scratch" Perry-associated "Better Must Come" (1971), later adopted as a campaign theme by the People's National Party. He recorded prolifically across three decades before his death in Kingston at 46.
At a glance
- Type
- person
- Confidence
- Probable
- Era
- Open era →
Connections
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Debate & reception
How people argued about the music — praise, criticism and public debate. See all debate & reception →
commentary
Manley's 1972 bandwagon: reggae as the sufferers' voice or a politician's prop?
Michael Manley's PNP built its 1972 campaign around reggae, adopting Delroy Wilson's 'Better Must Come' as its theme, touring a 'bandwagon' of artists including Max Romeo and the Wailers, and pairing the music with the 'Rod of Correction' Manley said he received from Haile Selassie. Observers have argued this fused reggae's voice-of-the-sufferer authenticity with a genuine political movement for the poor; others read it as co-optation — parties harvesting Rasta symbols and roots songs (Romeo's 'Let the Power Fall', Byles's 'Beat Down Babylon') for electoral advantage while leaving the ghettos' conditions unchanged. Grounded in the Zapruder World essay on reggae and the 1972 election and Jamaica Observer's 'That Manley bandwagon.'
Stance: reggae as authentic mobilizing voice of the poor vs. political co-optation of Rasta and roots symbolism
debate
'Better Must Come' as party anthem: people's song or appropriation?
Two documented readings of Delroy Wilson's hit becoming a PNP campaign anthem in 1972: some hear a hopeful people's song that naturally spoke to the moment, others a partisan appropriation of a record meant for everyone. Neutral framing; no verdict. Sources: Reggae Routes; Jamaica Gleaner archive.
Stance: a hopeful people's song vs partisan appropriation of a shared record