The joy being experienced currently by pioneering Jamaican singer, Owen Gray, is pretty much indescribable. Following the announcement of the list of recipients of national awards for 2023, it was revealed that Gray has been conferred the prestigious Order of Distinction, an honour that has been his dream for many moons.
Quizzed about how he felt, his six-word response had the word “happy” at least four times.
“I am happy, happy, happy, happy,” an ecstatic Gray said during an interview from his home in the United Kingdom. “I have been waiting on this gift for a very long time. It feels like when an airplane has landed. It is good that the people in Jamaica … the prime minister, the minister of culture … are thinking about me. If I had the time and the health, I would come to Jamaica and receive it myself.”
A foundation singer, Gray, who used to win many of the Vere Johns Opportunity Hour contests back in the day, and wrote songs for Wilfred ‘Jackie’ Edwards and Laurel Aitken, was awarded a JaRIA Lifetime Achievement Award in 2021. At that time, he thanked the organisers, but also told The Gleaner that he “should be getting something like an OD, and an Icon Award”.
He shared that he was unable to collect the JaRIA award in person, but he sent money to a friend in Jamaica and they mailed it to him.
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“But unfortunately it came to me broken. The top came completely off the base,” Gray shared. “But luckily, that won’t happen to the OD. Chips Richards has arranged for one of my daughters to collect my OD from the Jamaican ambassador in London.”
Gray shared that he has been getting congratulatory calls and even joked that his OD has already been named “the Natty OD”.
Natty Bongo is the name of Gray’s 1970 Bunny ‘Striker’ Lee-produced single. “ Natty Bongo was a giant, international hit for me and the producer,” shared an animated Owen Gray, who celebrated his 84th birthday on July 5.
Owen Gray, who was among the first handful of artistes to capture international attention when he migrated to England in 1962, is credited with grooming Jamaica’s first international female superstar, Millie Small. Studio One producer Sir Coxsone Dodd took Small under his wings and asked Gray, who had a number of hits to his name, to tutor her. Her first song, Sugar Plum, was a duet with Gray.
“Unfortunately, Millie isn’t around any more. I know all of them. When I tell people that I am the one who introduced Bob Marley to Chris Blackwell they don’t believe me. I know Sonny ‘Orbitone’ Roberts too,” he said.
According to his bio, Gray won his first talent contest at the age of nine, and three years later he was performing in public, playing drums, guitar, and keyboards. An Alpha Boys School alum, he is described as “a dynamic performer on stage, who could be gritty or suave as the song dictated”.
He was the first singer (of many) to praise a sound system on record, with his On the Beach celebrating Clement Dodd’s Sir Coxsone Downbeat system in 1959, one of the first releases on Dodd’s Studio One label. He was one of the first artistes to be produced by Chris Blackwell, in 1960, and his Patricia single was the first record ever released by Island Records. His first single, Please Let Me Go, reached the top of the charts in Jamaica, and also sold well in the United Kingdom, as did subsequent releases, prompting Gray to emigrate there in 1962.
Gray toured Europe in 1964, and by 1966 he was well known as a soul singer, as well as for his ska songs. In the rocksteady era, he recorded for producer Sir Clancy Collins and his popularity continued throughout the 1960s, working with producers such as Clement Dodd, Prince Buster, Arthur ‘Duke’ Reid, Leslie Kong, and Clancy Eccles. He continued to record regularly, having a big hit in 1968 with Cupid. His 1970 track Apollo 12 found favour with the early skinheads.
He had great success in Jamaica with Hail the Man, a tribute to Emperor Haile Selassie, which was popular with the increasing Rastafari following. Gray spent a short time living in New Orleans before returning to Jamaica where he turned his hand to roots reggae, working with producer Bunny Lee, and achieving considerable success.
yasmine.peru@gleanerjm.com
