Ellis, Alton Nehemiah

▪ 2009

      Jamaican singer

born Sept. 1, 1938, Kingston, Jam.

died Oct. 11, 2008, London, Eng.

was called the “godfather of rocksteady,” the Jamaican pop music style that followed ska and preceded reggae. One of the most soulful vocalists in the history of Jamaican music, Ellis began his career in 1959 as part of the duo Alton and Eddie (Perkins). As a solo performer, he recorded for the two giants of the Jamaican recording industry, Coxsone Dodd and Duke Reid. Ellis's “Girl I've Got a Date” (1966) was widely regarded as the first hit in the style for which he provided a name with “Get Ready Rock Steady” (also 1966), but throughout his life Ellis was critical of the rebellious violent “rude boy” subculture that emerged in conjunction with rocksteady. Although neither of these songs nor the hit “Cry Tough” appeared on Mr. Soul of Jamaica (1967), the album was widely considered both Ellis's defining work and the high point of rocksteady. In the early 1970s, as rocksteady waned and reggae waxed, hits came slower for Ellis, and he relocated to Canada and then Britain. In 1994 he received the Order of Distinction medal from Jamaica.

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