Winston Boyd McAnuff, also known under the stage name Electric Dread (born 1957) is a Jamaican singer and composer 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 ...

and

dub music Dub is a musical style that grew out of reggae in the late 1960s and early 1970s. It is commonly considered a subgenre of reggae, though it has developed to extend beyond that style.Dub: soundscapes and shattered songs in Jamaican reggae, p.&nb ...

Life and career

McAnuff was born in

Manchester Parish The Parish of Manchester () is a Parishes of Jamaica, parish located in west-central Jamaica, in the county of Middlesex. Its Capital (political), capital, Mandeville, Jamaica, Mandeville, is a major business centre. Its St. Paul of the Cross ...

, JamaicaCampbell-Livingston, Cecelia (2013)
A New Day for McAnuff
, ''

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 ...

'', 27 October 2013. Retrieved 27 October 2013 into a family of preachers. One of his great-grandfathers was Scottish.Brown, Annie (2014)
Video: Jamaican reggae star Winston McAnuff arrives in Scotland on a mission to set his great grandfather's spirit free
, '' Daily Record'', 1 February 2014. Retrieved 7 February 2014 He started his musical career singing

gospel Gospel originally meant the Christianity, Christian message ("the gospel"), but in the second century Anno domino, AD the term (, from which the English word originated as a calque) came to be used also for the books in which the message w ...

in the

church choir A choir ( ), also known as a chorale or chorus (from Latin ''chorus'', meaning 'a dance in a circle') is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform or in other words ...

. He recorded his first album ''Pick Hits to Click'' in 1978. Two years later his second album ''What the man "a" deal wid'' was released. His best known song from this time is the single "Malcolm X" (about

Malcolm X Malcolm X (born Malcolm Little, later el-Hajj Malik el-Shabazz; May 19, 1925 – February 21, 1965) was an African American revolutionary, Islam in the United States, Muslim minister and human rights activist who was a prominent figur ...

), which was also recorded by

Earl Sixteen Earl Sixteen (born Earl John Daley, 9 May 1958)Gregory, Andy (2002) ''International Who's Who in Popular Music 2002'', Europa, , p. 152 is a Jamaican reggae singer whose career began in the mid-1970s. Biography Daley grew up in Waltham Park R ...

, and most successfully by

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 ...

. It was originally recorded by McAnuff 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 ...

but the producer decided not to release it, and he got Earl Sixteen to record it before the song was given to Dennis Brown who recorded it for his '' Visions of Dennis Brown'' album. The song was the subject of a legal dispute in 2013 between McAnuff and

Greensleeves Records Greensleeves Records is a record label specializing in dancehall and reggae music. The company was founded by Chris Cracknell and Chris Sedgwick. Based in Britain, Greensleeves Records started as a small record store in West Ealing, London, i ...

after the record label allegedly registered the song as co-written by Brown.Gilchrist, Carl (2013)
Greensleeves, McAnuff Battle Over Song
, ''

Jamaica Gleaner ''The Gleaner'' is an English-language, morning daily newspaper founded by two brothers, Jacob and Joshua de Cordova on 13 September 1834 in Kingston, Jamaica. It is the oldest continuously published newspaper in the Western Hemisphere. Original ...

'', 3 November 2013. Retrieved 3 November 2013 A third studio album, ''Electric Dread'', was released in 1986. Although McAnuff had reasonable fame in Jamaica, none of his work was released elsewhere. It wasn't until 2002 that his work was released in Europe. In 2002 the French record label Makasound released the first two albums and a

compilation album A compilation album comprises Album#Tracks, tracks, which may be previously released or unreleased, usually from several separate recordings by either one Performing arts#Performers, performer or by several performers. If the recordings are from ...

''Diary of the Silent Years''. The release of the albums revived McAnuff's career, notably in France. In 2005 McAnuff released the album ''A Drop'', which he recorded with the French keyboard player Camille Bazbaz. This record displays a mix of rock,

funk Funk is a music genre that originated in African-American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various music genres that were popular among African-Americans in the ...

, dub and

punk rock Punk rock (also known as simply punk) is a rock music genre that emerged in the mid-1970s. Rooted in 1950s rock and roll and 1960s garage rock, punk bands rejected the corporate nature of mainstream 1970s rock music. They typically produced sh ...

. A year later, in 2006, a new album ''Paris Rockin, which he recorded with

Java Java is one of the Greater Sunda Islands in Indonesia. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the south and the Java Sea (a part of Pacific Ocean) to the north. With a population of 156.9 million people (including Madura) in mid 2024, proje ...

and other French

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 ...

s, was released. His last album, ''Nostradamus'', was released in 2008. The album was a

concept album A concept album is an album whose tracks hold a larger purpose or meaning collectively than they do individually. This is typically achieved through a single central narrative or theme, which can be instrumental, compositional, or lyrical. Som ...

about the predictions of

Nostradamus Michel de Nostredame (December 1503 – July 1566), usually Latinisation of names, Latinised as Nostradamus, was a French Astrology, astrologer, apothecary, physician, and reputed Oracle, seer, who is best known for his book ''Les Prophéti ...

. In 2011, he took part in ''Les Échos Du Temps'' the latest album of Danakil, a French roots reggae band, on the track "Media" where both he and his son Matthew were featured. This is the last apparition of his son, murdered 22 August 2012 in a street fight. In 2013 he released the album ''A New Day'', a collaboration with French musician Fixi. In 2014 he sings on two songs of the first album of The Celtic Social Club, a collective of Scottish, Breton, French and New Yorker musicians. In 2017, he releases the album ''Rabbi Son'' with French producers Bost & Bim on their own label The Bombist. McAnuff's nephew is professional footballer Jobi McAnuff.

Discography

Studio albums

*''Pick Hits to Click'' (1978) *''What the Man "a" Deal Wid'' (1980) *''Electric Dread'' (1986) *''One Love'' (1995) – a rerelease of ''What the Man "a" Deal Wid'' *''Paris Rockin (2006) *''Nostradamus'' (2008) *''Rabbi Son'' (2017)

Compilation albums

*''Diary of the Silent Years'' (2002) – compilation

Joint albums

*''A Drop'' (2005) – with Camille Bazbaz *''A Bang'' (2011) with The Bazbaz Orchestra *''Garden of Love'' EP (2013) – with Fixi *''A New Day'' (2013) with Fixi *''Big Brothers'' (2018) with Fixi

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:McAnuff, Winston Jamaican male singers Jamaican people of Scottish descent Jamaican reggae singers Jamaican Rastafarians Jamaican male songwriters Jamaican dub musicians Performers of Rastafarian music Jamaican former Christians Converts to the Rastafari movement Musicians from Manchester Parish 1957 births Living people