STORY · REGGAE
When the beat slowed: rocksteady's singers take the stage
Well supported
The 1966 tempo drop turned a session-band music into an island of singers.
As ska's gallop cooled into rocksteady, the spotlight swung from horn sections to vocalists and harmony trios who could ride the slower groove.
The tempo drops
Around 1966 the frantic ska beat cooled into something slower and more sensual. The change is often traced to records like Roy Shirley's "Hold Them" and Hopeton Lewis's "Take It Easy", whose relaxed rhythm gave a singer room to breathe. Which record came 'first' is a debate best left open; what is clear is that the music now belonged to voices.
When the drummer eased off, the singer stepped forward.
Harmony becomes the signature
Rocksteady rewarded blend. Trios and duos such as Keith & Tex, The Tennors and the groups around The Uniques and The Techniques built their appeal on tight three-part harmony, while soloists like Cornell Campbell and Alton Ellis proved a single sweet voice could hold a dance.
The producer-singer Derrick Harriott sat at the centre of this shift, moving from his own group to the control room and shaping the vocal records that defined the sound. Rocksteady's few short years turned Jamaica, briefly, into an island of singers - a template the roots era would inherit.