Caribbean Music in The United Kingdom - White Reggae

White Reggae

The influence of reggae was felt in rock almost immediately, but usually surfaced as a tangential reference in some stars' isolated songs. The Beatles song 1964 "I Call Your Name," for instance, has a ska break; a few years later, they would appropriate the reggae rhythm for 1968 "Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da".

Chris Andrews (born 1942) was a songwriter for Sandie Shaw. The song "Yesterday Man" was inappropriate for her, so he sang it himself and it went to #3 in the British singles charts in 1965. At the time, the musical style was called bluebeat, a music genre that is now recognized by most as ska or reggae. He followed this with "To Whom It Concerns" (#13 in 1965) and "Something On My Mind" (number 41 in 1966).

Paul McCartney bought Jamaican-imported singles, but this was not obvious in The Beatles' repertoire until "Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da" on the White Album. There was a gentle reggae beat in some of his later solo singles, such as "Another Day" and "Silly Love Songs". He also named one of his Christmas song covers "Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reggae". The first British top ten album to contain several reggae songs was Peter Frampton's "Frampton Comes Alive" in 1976. Other pop hits include "Sugar Sugar" by the Archies (number 1 in 1969) and "I Can See Clearly Now" by Johnny Nash (number 5 in 1972). Also in the mid-1970s, art-rockers 10cc released a few reggae-styled singles, including "Dreadlock Holiday".

Ska/reggae artist Judge Dread (named after a Prince Buster character) released his first single in 1972; the somewhat X-rated "Big Six", which went to #11. Judge Dread (born Alexander Hughes) continued his popularity with other rude songs, chiefly enjoyed by skinheads, who had always been avid fans of ska and reggae. Skinheads were preceded by the mods, who were the first real white supporters of ska/bluebeat in the 1960s. Georgie Fame, a mod R&B favourite, popularised a ska feel in his music at times.

The Police's first reggae single was "Roxanne", followed by "Don't Stand So Close to Me", "Walking on the Moon" and others. Sting's somewhat interesting Jamaican accent attracted criticism, but the band was commercially successful. Blondie's "The Tide is High" was perhaps the first big white reggae hit in Britain and also draws on the lovers-rock elements of reggae. Both Harry Belafonte and Nina and Frederick had hits with "Mary's Boy Child", but it was Boney M who gave this slow ballad a reggae rhythm in 1978 and took it to #1 in the British charts for four weeks.