Justin Hinds (7 May 1942 – 16 March 2005) was a Jamaican ska and conscious

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 ...

vocalist with his backing singers the Dominoes. He is best known for his work with

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 ...

's Treasure Isle Records, where his most notable song, "Carry Go Bring Come" recorded in late 1963, went to number one in Jamaica. He recorded seventy singles between 1964 and 1966, and was the most popular artist on the record label.

Biography

Hinds was born in Steertown, Saint Ann Parish, Jamaica. He started his musical career singing in bars and on the beach in

Ocho Rios Ocho Rios (Spanish for "Eight Rivers") () is a town in the parish of Saint Ann on the north coast of Jamaica, and is more widely referred to as ''Ochi'' by locals. Beginning as a sleepy fishing village, Ocho Rios has seen explosive growth ...

. Hinds moved to

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 the Palisadoes, a long spit (landform), sand spit which connects the town of Por ...

where he became influenced by

Rastafari Rastafari is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic religion that developed in Jamaica during the 1930s. It is classified as both a new religious movement and a social movement by Religious studies, scholars of religion. There is no central authori ...

. He was turned down by

Coxsone Dodd Clement Seymour "Coxsone" Dodd (26 January 1932 – 4 May 2004) was a Jamaican record producer who was influential in the development of ska and reggae in the 1950s, 1960s and beyond. He was nicknamed "Coxsone" at school due to his talent ...

's label, but signed with

's Treasure Isle Records. By this stage, the

Dominoes Dominoes is a family of tile-based games played with gaming pieces. Each domino is a rectangular tile, usually with a line dividing its face into two square ''ends''. Each end is marked with a number of spots (also called ''Pip (counting), pips ...

consisting of Dennis Sinclair and Junior Dixon had become his

backing vocalist A backing vocalist is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists. A backing vocalist may also sing alone as a lead-in to the main vocalist's entry or to sing a counter-melody. Backing vocalists are u ...

Work with Duke Reid

His first recording with

was "Carry Go Bring Come", made in late 1963 in one take. It became a big hit topping the Jamaican

chart A chart (sometimes known as a graph) is a graphics, 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 repres ...

for two months, just before the Wailers got their big hit with "Simmer Down". "Carry Go Bring Come" was

covered Cover or covers may refer to: Packaging * Another name for a lid * Cover (philately), generic term for envelope or package * Album cover, the front of the packaging * Book cover or magazine cover ** Book design ** Back cover copy, part of ...

by the British ska band The Selecter on their 1980 album '' Too Much Pressure,'' and by Desmond Dekker and

The Specials The Specials, also known as the Special AKA, were an English 2 tone and ska revival band formed in 1977 in Coventry. After some early changes, the first stable lineup of the group consisted of Terry Hall and Neville Staple on vocals, J ...

on ''King of Kings''. Hinds was one of the biggest acts in Jamaican music during the 1960s. Over the next couple of years, he released singles including "King Samuel", "Jump Out of the Frying Pan", "The Ark" and "Rub Up Push Up". He also worked with

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 The Supersonics. In 1966, he became active in

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 ...

, a predecessor of

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 ...

. He had several more hits in Jamaica including "The Higher the Monkey Climbs", "No Good Rudie", "On a Saturday Night", "Here I Stand" and "Save a Bread". Hinds parted company with Reid in 1972 as an artist, but was present when he died a few years later. Justin Hinds was an example for his younger cousin,

Horace Andy Horace Andy (born Horace Keith Hinds, 19 February 1951) is a Jamaican roots reggae songwriter and singer, known for his distinctive vocals and hit songs such as " Skylarking", as well as "Government Land", "Angel", "Spying Glass", and "Five Ma ...

, who became a

and trip-hop musician.

Subsequent work

Hinds then worked with Jack Ruby which resulted in the 1976 album ''Jezebel''.Moskowitz, David V. (2006) ''Caribbean Popular Music: an Encyclopedia of Reggae, Mento, Ska, Rock Steady, and Dancehall'', Greenwood Press, , p. 139 Reviewing it in '' Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies'' (1981),

Robert Christgau Robert Thomas Christgau ( ; born April 18, 1942) is an American music journalist and essayist. Among the most influential music critics, he began his career in the late 1960s as one of the earliest professional rock critics and later became a ...

wrote: "Homey lyrics (' Jah-jah will spank you') and artful instrumental touches—I like the gentle calypso-styled horns and decorative guitar licks—may mean this is a great reggae album. But they may mean it's only a subtle one, and in such an understated genre subtlety risks extinction." Hinds' work with

Sonia Pottinger Sonia Eloise Pottinger OD ( Durrant; 21 June 1931 – 3 November 2010)Thompson, Dave (2002) ''Reggae & Caribbean Music'', Backbeat Books, , p. 316 Book of Proverbs The Book of Proverbs (, ; , ; , "Proverbs (of Solomon)") is a book in the third section (called Ketuvim) of the Hebrew Bible (Tanakh)/the Christian Old Testament. It is traditionally ascribed to King Solomon and his students. When translated into ...

and Psalm 121-inspired "Wipe Your Weeping Eyes", which he recorded with The Revolutionaries for

Sonia Pottinger Sonia Eloise Pottinger OD ( Durrant; 21 June 1931 – 3 November 2010)Thompson, Dave (2002) ''Reggae & Caribbean Music'', Backbeat Books, , p. 316 After the release of ''Travel with Love'' recorded at Tuff Gong Studios in 1984, Hinds became less active. His final studio album ''Know Jah Better'' was released in 1992, but he worked on '' Wingless Angels'' with other Jamaican musicians, which was produced by

Keith Richards Keith Richards (born 18 December 1943) is an English musician, songwriter, singer and record producer who is an original member, guitarist, secondary vocalist, and co-principal songwriter of the Rolling Stones. His songwriting partnership wi ...

in the early 1990s. In 1997, he toured the US for the first time and he released a couple of live albums in the early 2000s, including one recorded at the Finger Lakes GrassRoots Festival of Music and Dance in Trumansburg, New York backed by John Brown's Body. On 23 September 2010, a new posthumous album, ''Wingless Angels II'', was released with "Oh What a Joy, What a Comfort", featuring guitar work by

plus the Jamaican Nyabinghi rhythm Drummers.

Death

Hinds died of lung cancer in March 2005, at the age of 62.

References

External links

''Jamaica Observer'' "Ska pioneer Justin Hinds passes on" 18 March 200545cat discography
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hinds, Justin 1942 births 2005 deaths Deaths from lung cancer Jamaican reggae musicians Island Records artists Musicians from Saint Ann Parish 20th-century Jamaican people