Sydney Crooks (born Sydney Roy Crooks, 24 February 1945, Westmoreland,

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 ...

), also known as Sidney Crooks, Sidney Roy, Luddy Pioneer, Luddy Crooks, Brother Coleand now Norris Cole,Katz, David (2003) ''Solid Foundation: an Oral History of Reggae'', Bloomsbury, , p. 94, 101 is a

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 ...

and

record producer A record producer or music producer is a music creating project's overall supervisor whose responsibilities can involve a range of creative and technical leadership roles. Typically the job involves hands-on oversight of recording sessions; ensu ...

, and founder and original member of the classic Jamaican vocal trio The Pioneers since 1962.

Biography

Crooks was born in WestmorelandThompson, Dave (2002) ''Reggae & Caribbean Music'', Backbeat Books, , p. 309 and after moving to

Trench Town Trench Town (also Trenchtown) is a neighbourhood located in the parish of St. Andrew, part of which is in Kingston, the capital and largest city of Jamaica. Today Trench Town is the location of the Trench Town Culture Yard Museum, a National Her ...

aged 17, entered the music business in 1962 first as a member of The Spectaculars, and The Counts, and finally as founder member and lead of the vocal trio The Pioneers, along with his brother Derrick and Winston Hewitt.Moskowitz, David V. (2006) ''Caribbean Popular Music: an Encyclopedia of Reggae, Mento, Ska, Rock Steady, and Dancehall'', Greenwood Press, , p. 73-74 Crooks began working for

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 ...

at his record shop, which helped get his group The Pioneers studio time. The Pioneers had a series of hit singles between 1968 and 1971, and continued to release albums until the mid-1970s. Crooks, who had been based in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

since 1970, moved into

production Production may refer to: Economics and business * Production (economics) * Production, the act of manufacturing goods * Production, in the outline of industrial organization, the act of making products (goods and services) * Production as a stat ...

, and worked with some 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 ...

's biggest names in the 1970s, including

Dennis Brown Dennis Emmanuel Brown CD (1 February 1957 – 1 July 1999) was a Jamaican reggae singer. During his prolific career, which began in the late 1960s when he was aged eleven, he recorded more than 75 albums and was one of the major stars of l ...

(''Superstar''),

Dennis Alcapone Dennis Alcapone, born Dennis Smith, is a Jamaican reggae Deejay (Jamaican), DJ and Record producer, producer. In 2018, he received the Prime Minister's Medal of Appreciation from Andrew Holness.Johnson, Richard (2018)'Clean up your act!'", ''Ja ...

(''Belch It Off''), and

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 ...

(''All I Have is Love''). He also produced skinhead reggae tracks with a

science fiction Science fiction (often shortened to sci-fi or abbreviated SF) is a genre of speculative fiction that deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts. These concepts may include information technology and robotics, biological manipulations, space ...

comic book A comic book, comic-magazine, or simply comic is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panel (comics), panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are often accompanied by descriptive prose and wri ...

theme, such as "Outer Space" and "Return of Batman", these credited to the Sidney All Stars, and early records by

Junior English Lindel Beresford English (1951 – 10 March 2023), better known as Junior English, was a Jamaican reggae singer who began his career in the early 1960s before relocating to England. Biography English was born in Kingston, Jamaica in 1951.Larki ...

.Barrow, Steve & Dalton, Peter (2004) ''The Rough Guide to Reggae, 3rd edn.'', Rough Guides, , p. 386 In the 1980s, he went on to produce work by

Justin Hinds Justin Hinds (7 May 1942 – 16 March 2005) was a Jamaican ska and conscious roots reggae vocalist with his backing singers the Dominoes. He is best known for his work with Duke Reid's Treasure Isle Records, where his most notable song, "Car ...

Owen Gray Owen Gray, also known as Owen Grey (born 5 July 1939),Larkin, Colin (1998) "The Virgin Encyclopedia of Reggae", Virgin Books, is a Jamaican musician. His work spans the R&B, ska, rocksteady, and reggae eras of Jamaican music, and he has been c ...

, and

Marcia Griffiths Marcia Llyneth Griffiths (born 23 November 1949) is a Jamaican singer best known for the 1989 remix of her single " Electric Boogie", which serves as the music for the four-wall " Electric Slide" line dance. It is the best-selling single of ...

(''Rock My Soul''). Crooks returned 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 ...

in 1996 to become the in-house arranger and engineer and producer at Joe Gibbs'

recording studio A recording studio is a specialized facility for Sound recording and reproduction, recording and Audio mixing, mixing of instrumental or vocal musical performances, spoken words, and other sounds. They range in size from a small in-home proje ...

. Crooks continued performing and recording with The Pioneers until 1989, when they split up to concentrate on separate careers.

References

External links

Sidney Crooks
at Roots Archives * {{DEFAULTSORT:Crooks, Sydney 1945 births Living people People from Westmoreland Parish Jamaican reggae singers Jamaican male singers Jamaican male songwriters Jamaican record producers Jamaican expatriates in England