Ansel Collins
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Ansel Collins is a
Jamaica Jamaica is an island country in the Caribbean Sea and the West Indies. At , it is the third-largest island—after Cuba and Hispaniola—of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean. Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, west of Hispaniola (the is ...
n
musician A musician is someone who Composer, composes, Conducting, conducts, or Performing arts#Performers, performs music. According to the United States Employment Service, "musician" is a general Terminology, term used to designate a person who fol ...
,
composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and def ...
,
singer Singing is the art of creating music with the voice. It is the oldest form of musical expression, and the human voice can be considered the first musical instrument. The definition of singing varies across sources. Some sources define singi ...
,
songwriter A songwriter is a person who creates musical compositions or writes lyrics for songs, or both. The writer of the music for a song can be called a composer, although this term tends to be used mainly in the classical music genre and film scoring. ...
and producer, best known for his work with Dave Barker as Dave and Ansel Collins.


Biography

Born 1949 in Kingston, Jamaica,Dave & Ansel Collins
profile at
bbc.co.uk BBC Online, formerly known as BBCi, is the BBC's online service. It is a large network of websites including such high-profile sites as BBC News and BBC Sport, Sport, the on-demand video and radio services branded BBC iPlayer and BBC Sounds, t ...
Collins began his career as a drummer, moving to keyboards in the mid-1960s.Campbell, Howard (2018)
Ansell Collins: Man behind the beats
", ''
Jamaica Observer The ''Jamaica Observer'' is a daily newspaper published in Kingston, Jamaica Kingston is the Capital (political), capital and largest city of Jamaica, located on the southeastern coast of the island. It faces a natural harbour protected by ...
'', 14 February 2018. Retrieved 17 February 2018
In the late 1960s, he performed with the Invincibles band (whose members also included
Lloyd Parks Lloyd Parks (born 26 May 1949) is a Jamaican reggae vocalist and bass player who has recorded and performed as a solo artist as well as part of Skin, Flesh & Bones, The Revolutionaries, The Professionals, and We the People Band.Larkin, Colin: ...
,
Sly Dunbar Lowell Fillmore "Sly" Dunbar (born 10 May 1952, Kingston, Jamaica) is a Jamaican drummer, best known as one half of the prolific Jamaican rhythm section and reggae production duo Sly and Robbie. Biography Dunbar began playing at 15 in a ba ...
and Ranchie McLean. He played on The Maytals' "
Pressure Drop Pressure drop (often abbreviated as "dP" or "ΔP") is defined as the difference in total pressure between two points of a fluid carrying network. A pressure drop occurs when frictional forces, caused by the resistance to flow, act on a fluid as i ...
" and "Sweet and Dandy". After working with
Lee "Scratch" Perry Lee "Scratch" Perry (born Rainford Hugh Perry; 20 March 1936 – 29 August 2021) was a Jamaican record producer, songwriter and singer noted for his innovative studio techniques and production style. Perry was a pioneer in the 1970s development ...
, Collins was part of the duo Dave and Ansel Collins along with Dave Barker, with whom he had a number one hit in the
United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...
in 1971 with " Double Barrel". His keyboard playing exemplified the Skinhead reggae style. Collins is also a producer and has released solo records, including single sides "Cock Robin", "Atlantic One", "
Stalag In Germany, stalag (; ) was a term used for prisoner-of-war camps. Stalag is a contraction of "Stammlager", itself short for ''Kriegsgefangenen-Mannschaftsstammlager'', literally "main camp for enlisted prisoners of war" (officers were kept i ...
" and "Nuclear Weapon" between 1969 and 1971, as well as a handful of later albums. He was a member of 1970s Channel One studio band
The Revolutionaries The Revolutionaries (sometimes known as "Revolutionaires") was a Jamaican reggae band. Career Set up in 1975 as the house band of the Channel One Studios owned by Joseph Hoo Kim, The Revolutionaries with Sly Dunbar on drums and Bertram "Ranchi ...
, as well as the Impact All Stars and Sugar Minott's Black Roots Players, performing on many of the classic songs of the
roots reggae Roots reggae is a subgenre of reggae that deals with the everyday lives and aspirations of Ethnic groups of Africa, Africans and those in the African Diaspora, including the spiritual side of Rastafari, black liberation, revolution and the ho ...
era (album 1979 Black Roots). He was also part of
Jimmy Cliff James Chambers, Jamaican Order of Merit, OM (born 30 July 1944), known professionally as Jimmy Cliff, is a Jamaican ska, rocksteady, reggae and soul musician, multi-instrumentalist, singer, and actor. He is the only living reggae musician to hol ...
's backing band, Oneness, in the 1970s. He continued to record during the 1980s, mainly as a
session musician A session musician (also known as studio musician or backing musician) is a musician hired to perform in a recording session or a live performance. The term sideman is also used in the case of live performances, such as accompanying a reco ...
, and released a solo album in 1986. He also worked with
backing band A backup band or backing band is a Band (music), musical ensemble that typically Accompaniment, accompanies a single artist who is the featured performer. The situation may be a live performance or in a Studio recording, recording session, and the ...
s such as Lynn Taitt and the Jets (including the reggae producer
Joe Gibbs Joseph Jackson Gibbs (born November 25, 1940) is an American auto racing team owner and former American football, football coach. He served as the head coach of the Washington Redskins of the National Football League (NFL) from 1981 Washingto ...
). In the 1970s, he was the regular member of the backing band
The Aggrovators The Aggrovators were a dub/reggae backing band in the 1970s and 1980s, and one of the main session bands of producer Bunny Lee. The line-up varied, with Lee using the name for whichever set of musicians he was using at any time.Larkin, Col ...
and the band Soul Syndicate. In 1978 he was the member of the band The Gladiators (1978 album ''
Proverbial Reggae ''Proverbial Reggae'' was the second album by Jamaican Roots Reggae band The Gladiators, recorded and released in 1978 on Virgin Records' Front Line imprint British dub poet Linton Kwesi Johnson has said the songs on ''Proverbial Reggae'' "com ...
''). He played keyboards on the several albums of the various musicians: albums of the dub musician
Scientist A scientist is a person who Scientific method, researches to advance knowledge in an Branches of science, area of the natural sciences. In classical antiquity, there was no real ancient analog of a modern scientist. Instead, philosophers engag ...
''
Scientist Rids the World of the Evil Curse of the Vampires ''Scientist Rids the World of the Evil Curse of the Vampires'' is an album by the dub musician Scientist. It was originally released in 1981. A digitally remastered version was released by Greensleeves Records as the 25th of their Reggae Classic ...
'' and ''
Scientist in the Kingdom of Dub Hopeton Overton Brown (born 18 April 1960 in Kingston, Jamaica) is a recording engineer and producer who rose to fame in the 1980s mixing dub music as "Scientist". A protégé of King Tubby (Osbourne Ruddock), Scientist's contemporaries include ...
'' (1981), album of Rico Rodriguez '' Man from Wareika'' (1977), album of
Lincoln Thompson Prince Lincoln Thompson, known as Sax (10 July 1949
''
...
'' Natural Wild'' (1980), album of
Augustus Pablo Horace Michael Swaby (21 June 1953 – 18 May 1999), Thompson, Dave (2002). ''Reggae & Caribbean Music''. Backbeat Books. , pp. 200–202. also known as Augustus Pablo, was a Jamaican roots reggae and dub composer, performer, record produc ...
''
This Is Augustus Pablo ''This Is...Augustus Pablo'' is a studio album by Augustus Pablo originally released in 1974 and co-written and produced by Pablo's childhood friend and critically acclaimed reggae producer Clive Chin. The album boasts an impressive list of sessi ...
'' (1974), albums of
Black Uhuru Black Uhuru is a Jamaican reggae group formed in 1972, initially as Uhuru ( Swahili for 'freedom'). The group has undergone several line-up changes over the years, with Derrick "Duckie" Simpson as the mainstay. They had their most successful pe ...
''
Sinsemilla Cannabis sinsemilla () also known as sensimilla, sinse or sensi (can be translated into English as seedless cannabis) is the female ''Cannabis'' plant that has not been pollinated and therefore does not develop seeds, increasing the concentratio ...
'' (1980) and ''
Chill Out Chill-out (shortened as chill; also typeset as chillout or chill out) is a loosely defined form of popular music characterized by slow tempos and relaxed moods. The definition of "chill-out music" has evolved throughout the decades, and generally ...
'' (1982), albums of
Jimmy Cliff James Chambers, Jamaican Order of Merit, OM (born 30 July 1944), known professionally as Jimmy Cliff, is a Jamaican ska, rocksteady, reggae and soul musician, multi-instrumentalist, singer, and actor. He is the only living reggae musician to hol ...
''
Give Thankx ''Give Thankx'' is an album by the Jamaican musician Jimmy Cliff, released in 1978. Many of its songs were influenced by Cliff's travels in Africa. The album was produced by Bob Johnston. Critical reception The ''Calgary Herald'' opined that th ...
'' (1978), album of
King Tubby Osbourne Ruddock (28 January 1941 – 6 February 1989), better known as King Tubby, was a Jamaican sound engineer who influenced the development of dub music in the 1960s and 1970s. Tubby's studio work, in which as a mixing engineer he achiev ...
and
Prince Jammy Lloyd Woodrowe James (born 26 October 1947),Barrow, Steve & Dalton, Peter: "Reggae: The Rough Guide", 1997, Rough Guides, better known as Prince Jammy or King Jammy, is a Jamaican dub mixer, sound system owner and record producer. He began hi ...
'' His Majesty's Dub'' (1976), '' Cliff Hanger'' (1985) and ''
Humanitarian Humanitarianism is an ideology centered on the value of human life, whereby humans practice benevolent treatment and provide assistance to other humans to reduce suffering and improve the conditions of humanity for moral, altruistic, and emotiona ...
'' (1999), album of The Royals '' Pick Up the Pieces'' (1977), album of
Mighty Diamonds The Mighty Diamonds were a Jamaican harmony trio, recording roots reggae with a strong Rastafarian influence. The group was formed in 1969 and were best known for their 1976 debut album, '' Right Time'', produced by Joseph Hoo Kim, and the 1979 ...
''
Right Time ''Right Time'' is the 1976 studio album debut of influential reggae band the Mighty Diamonds. The album, released by Virgin Records after they signed the Mighty Diamonds following a search for talent in Jamaica, is critically regarded as a reg ...
'' (1976), album of
Gregory Isaacs Gregory Anthony Isaacs OD (15 July 1951 – 25 October 2010)Thompson, p. 127. was a Jamaican reggae musician. Milo Miles, writing in ''The New York Times'', described Isaacs as "the most exquisite vocalist in reggae".Miles, Milo (1992),RECORDI ...
'' Cool Ruler'' (1978), album of
Prince Far I Prince Far I (23 March 1945 – 15 September 1983) was a Jamaican reggae deejay and producer, and a Rastafarian. He was known for his gruff voice and critical assessment of the Jamaican government. His track "Heavy Manners" used lyrics abou ...
'' Health and Strength'' (1998), but also on the albums of the musicians like
Serge Gainsbourg Serge Gainsbourg (; born Lucien Ginsburg; 2 April 1928 – 2 March 1991) was a French singer-songwriter, actor, composer, and director. Regarded as one of the most important figures in French pop, he was renowned for often provocative rel ...
('' Aux armes et cætera'', 1979). Mid-1970s, reggae
Culture Culture ( ) is a concept that encompasses the social behavior, institutions, and Social norm, norms found in human societies, as well as the knowledge, beliefs, arts, laws, Social norm, customs, capabilities, Attitude (psychology), attitudes ...
began working with some of the premier musicians of the day including Ansel Collins,
Robbie Shakespeare Robert Warren Dale Shakespeare (27 September 1953 – 8 December 2021) was a Jamaican bass guitarist and record producer, best known as half of the reggae rhythm section and production duo Sly and Robbie, with drummer Sly Dunbar. Regarded as on ...
,
Sly Dunbar Lowell Fillmore "Sly" Dunbar (born 10 May 1952, Kingston, Jamaica) is a Jamaican drummer, best known as one half of the prolific Jamaican rhythm section and reggae production duo Sly and Robbie. Biography Dunbar began playing at 15 in a ba ...
, Cedric Brooks and the ever-present percussionist Sticky. Collins worked with the guitarist
Earl "Chinna" Smith Earl "Chinna" Smith (born 6 August 1955), a.k.a. Earl Flute and Melchezidek the High Priest,Johnson, Richard (2013)The Melchizedek way, ''Jamaica Observer'', 6 October 2013. Retrieved 12 October 2013 is a Jamaican guitarist active since the late ...
and with the deejay Errol Scorcher on a series off recordings including "Mosquitoes", which was also a hit.Larkin, Colin (1998) "The Virgin Encyclopedia of Reggae", Virgin Books,
Roots reggae Roots reggae is a subgenre of reggae that deals with the everyday lives and aspirations of Ethnic groups of Africa, Africans and those in the African Diaspora, including the spiritual side of Rastafari, black liberation, revolution and the ho ...
singer
I Wayne I Wayne, Rastafarian stage name for Cliffroy Taylor (born August 6, 1980 in Portmore, Jamaica), is a roots reggae singer. He is known for his hit singles "Living In Love" and " Can't Satisfy Her" from his debut album, '' Lava Ground''. Biograp ...
was raised by his aunt and her husband Ansel Collins.


Albums

*''Double Barrel'' (1971)
Trojan Trojan or Trojans may refer to: * Of or from the ancient city of Troy * Trojan language, the language of the historical Trojans Arts and entertainment Music * '' Les Troyens'' ('The Trojans'), an opera by Berlioz, premiered part 1863, part 18 ...
(Dave and Ansel Collins) *''Riding High'' (1977) Shelly Power *''So Long'' (1978) *''Ansel Collins'' (1986) Heartbeat *''Jamaican Gold'' (2002) Moll Selekta (Ansel Collins/Sly & Robbie)


References


External links


Ansel Collins at discogs.comAnsel Collins at Roots Archives
{{DEFAULTSORT:Collins, Ansell 1949 births Musicians from Kingston, Jamaica Jamaican reggae musicians Living people The Aggrovators members The Revolutionaries members