Delroy Easton "Bitty" McLean (born 8 August 1972) is a British

reggae Reggae () is a music genre that originated in Jamaica during the late 1960s. The term also denotes the modern popular music of Jamaica and its Jamaican diaspora, diaspora. A 1968 single by Toots and the Maytals, "Do the Reggay", was the first ...

, lovers' rock and

ragga Raggamuffin music (or simply ragga) is a subgenre of dancehall and reggae music. The instrumentals primarily consist of electronic music with heavy use of sampling. Wayne Smith's " Under Mi Sleng Teng", produced by King Jammy in 1985 on a ...

singer. He is best known for his three UK Top 10

hits Hits or H.I.T.S. may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music * '' H.I.T.S.'', 1991 album by New Kids on the Block * ''...Hits'' (Phil Collins album), 1998 * ''Hits'' (compilation series), 1984–2006; 2014, a British compilation album s ...

in 1993 and 1994, including his debut offering " It Keeps Rainin' (Tears from My Eyes)".

Career

The youngest of six children to Easton and Leonie (née Reynolds), Delroy McLean was nicknamed "Bitty" due to his small stature.France.unitedreggae.com
As a teenager he performed with local

sound systems Sound system may refer to: Technology media * Sound reinforcement system, a system for amplifying audio for an audience * High fidelity, a sound system intended for accurate reproduction of music in the home * Public address system, an institution ...

, and after studying sound engineering at college, he was employed by

UB40 UB40 are an English reggae band, formed in December 1978 in Birmingham, England. The band has had more than 50 singles in the UK Singles Chart and has also achieved considerable international success. They have been nominated for the Grammy ...

as an engineer and producer, and occasionally also sang with the band. He was most popular around the mid-1990s with

cover version In popular music, a cover version, cover song, remake, revival, or simply cover is a new performance or recording by a musician other than the original performer or composer of the song. Originally, it referred to a version of a song release ...

s of songs including

The Shirelles The Shirelles were an American girl group formed in Passaic, New Jersey, in 1957. They consisted of schoolmates Shirley Owens (later Shirley Alston Reeves), Doris Coley (later Doris Kenner-Jackson), Addie "Micki" Harris (later Addie Harris McF ...

' " Dedicated to the One I Love" ( UK No. 6) and

Fats Domino Antoine Caliste Domino Jr. (February 26, 1928 – October 24, 2017), known as Fats Domino, was an American singer-songwriter and pianist. One of the pioneers of rock and roll music, Domino sold more than 65 million records. Born in New Orl ...

's " It Keeps Rainin' (Tears from My Eyes)" (1993), which was his biggest UK hit, peaking at No. 2. McLean's song "It Keeps Rainin' (Tears from My Eyes)" topped the

charts A chart (sometimes known as a graph) is a graphical representation for data visualization, in which "the data is represented by symbols, such as bars in a bar chart, lines in a line chart, or slices in a pie chart". A chart can represent t ...

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

and the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

in 1993. McLean also played on three UK arena

tours Tours ( ; ) is the largest city in the region of Centre-Val de Loire, France. It is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Departments of France, department of Indre-et-Loire. The Communes of France, commune of Tours had 136,463 inhabita ...

supporting UB40,

Wet Wet Wet Wet Wet Wet are a Scottish soft rock band formed in 1982. They scored a number of hits on the UK charts and around the world in the 1980s and 1990s. They are best known for their 1994 cover of the Troggs' 1960s hit " Love Is All Around", which ...

and

Simply Red Simply Red are an English soul music, soul and pop band formed in Manchester in 1985. Band leader, singer and songwriter Mick Hucknall was the only original member left by the time Simply Red initially disbanded in 2010. They have released thir ...

respectively. In 2004, he released the album ''On Bond Street KGN. JA.'', which featured his vocals recorded over vintage

Tommy McCook Tommy McCook (4 March 1927 – 5 May 1998) was a Jamaican saxophonist. A founding member of The Skatalites, he also directed The Supersonics for Duke Reid, and backed many sessions for Bunny Lee or with The Revolutionaries at Channel ...

and

Duke Reid Arthur "Duke" Reid CD (21 July 1915 – 1 January 1975) was a Jamaican record producer, DJ and record label owner. He ran one of the most popular sound systems of the 1950s called Reid's Sound System, whilst Duke himself was known as The Tr ...

-produced,

Treasure Isle Arthur "Duke" Reid CD (21 July 1915 – 1 January 1975) was a Jamaican record producer, DJ and record label owner. He ran one of the most popular sound systems of the 1950s called Reid's Sound System, whilst Duke himself was known as The Tr ...

rhythms from the

rocksteady Rocksteady is a music genre that originated in Jamaica around 1966. A successor of ska and a precursor to reggae, rocksteady was the dominant style of music in Jamaica for nearly two years, performed by many of the artists who helped establish ...

era, most with new lyrics of his own, but also using

David Ruffin David Eli Ruffin (born Davis Eli Ruffin;Ribowsky, p. 88 January 18, 1941 – June 1, 1991) was an American soul singer most famous for his work as one of the lead singers of the Temptations (1964–1968) during the group's "Classic Five" p ...

's "Walk Away from Love" and

David Gates David Ashworth Gates (born December 11, 1940) is a retired American singer-songwriter, guitarist, musician and producer, frontman and co-lead singer (with Jimmy Griffin) of the group Bread (band), Bread, which reached the top of the musical ch ...

' " Make It with You". He recorded a studio album in 2007, entitled ''Movin' On'', with

Sly and Robbie Sly and Robbie were a prolific Jamaican rhythm section and production duo, associated primarily with the reggae and dub genres. Drummer Sly Dunbar and bassist Robbie Shakespeare teamed up in the mid-1970s after establishing themselves separat ...

at their One Pop studios in

Kingston Kingston may refer to: Places * List of places called Kingston, including the six most populated: ** Kingston, Jamaica ** Kingston upon Hull, England ** City of Kingston, Victoria, Australia ** Kingston, Ontario, Canada ** Kingston upon Thames, ...

, Jamaica. ''Movin' On'' was released on the Taxi / Silent River / TABOU1 label in Europe and the US, while JVC released it in Japan. McLean and Sly & Robbie toured Japan, Europe and Morocco in 2008 and 2009. In 2013, McLean released a new album, ''The Taxi Sessions'', with Sly & Robbie, and a live DVD recorded with Sly & Robbie and the Taxi Gang, during their concert in Paris in May 2009. Also in 2013, McLean joined The Lee Thompson Ska Orchestra on vocals, for a cover of

Desmond Dekker Desmond Dekker (born Desmond Adolphus Dacres; 16 July 1941 – 25 May 2006) was a Jamaican ska, rocksteady and reggae singer-songwriter and musician. Together with his backing group the Aces (consisting of Wilson James and Easton Barrington Ho ...

's "Fu Man Chu" (a single release for the band). He also joined them on stage for several shows, appeared in the official video that accompanied the single and, in May 2013, joined them on '' Later... with Jools Holland'' to perform the track. In 2017, he and producer Guillaume Bougard traveled to Philadelphia to deliver lectures at the Westphal School of Music at Drexel University, consistently ranked as one of the top music programs in the US, to present Jamaican music production techniques, as well as to start working on a new soul music project in collaboration with New York based publishing powerhouse Reservoir. In 2018, he released the album ''Love Restart''. The LP features 6 extended mixes of previously unreleased tracks, while the CD edition features the same 6 tracks in their regular length plus 5 extra songs. The digital edition features the 6 extended mixes from the LP and the 5 other tracks from the CD. Produced with Sly & Robbie and Guillaume Bougard, and mastered at Abbey Road, ''Love Restart'' came out August 21, 2018 on TABOU1's bandcamp store and was distributed worldwide from September 2018. McLean toured Europe with Sly & Robbie in August 2018 to promote the new album. Following Robbie Shakespeare's passing in December 2021, Bitty McLean put the soul project on the back burner and recorded an album over riddims produced by Sly Dunbar and Robbie Shakespeare as a tribute to Robbie. This 11 track album is to be released in the second half of 2022.

Personal life

He is uncle to footballer

Aaron McLean Aaron McLean (born 25 May 1983) is an English retired professional footballer who played as a striker. At international level he gained five caps for the England C team during his time in non-league. McLean began his senior career with Leyt ...

and singer Anthony, under the artist name of " McLean".

Discography

Albums

*'' Just to Let You Know...'' (1994) – UK No. 19 *''Natural High'' (1995) – UK No. 81 *''Soul to Soul'' (2003) *''On Bond Street KGN. JA.'' (2005) *''Made in Jamaica'' (2007) *''Movin On'' (2009) *''The Taxi Sessions'' (2013) *''Love Restart'' (2018)

Singles

*" It Keeps Rainin' (Tears from My Eyes)" (1993) – UK No. 2, AUS No. 83 *"Pass It On" (1993) – UK No. 35 *"Here I Stand" (1994) – UK No. 10 *" Dedicated to the One I Love" (1994) – UK No. 6 *"What Goes Around" (1994) – UK No. 36 *"Over the River" (1995) – UK No. 27 *"

We've Only Just Begun "We've Only Just Begun" is a single by the Carpenters, written by Roger Nichols (music) and Paul Williams (lyrics). It was ranked at No. 414 on ''Rolling Stone'' magazine's list of "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time." It also became Carpenter ...

" (1995) – UK No. 23 *"Nothing Can Change This Love" (1995) – UK No. 55 *"Natural High" (1996) – UK No. 63 *"She's Alright" (1996) – UK No. 53 *" Walk Away from Love" (2004) *"The Real Thing" (2005) *"Let Them Talk" (2006) *"Got to Let Go" (2008)

References