Ken Boothe was born in the Denham Town area of Kingston in March1948; He was the youngest of seven children. It was noted he had a talent for singing when at only 8yrs old he won his first singing contest while at school. His musical interests and abilities he attributes to his mother and older sister. They inspired him to use his blessing and he acknowledges being influenced by the musical greats, Mahalia Jackson, Wilson Pickett, Otis Redding, The Temptations, and The Drifters.
His recording career began in the late 1950s when he formed a duo with his neighbour Stranger Cole as 'Stranger & Ken', the first tracks released by them being "Hush Baby", on the B-side of Cole's Island Records single "Last Love", and the "Thick in Love" single on R&B Records, both in 1963. They released several more popular singles between 1963 and 1965, including "World's Fair", "Hush", and "Artibella". Boothe also recorded as a duo with Roy Shirley (as Roy & Ken), releasing the "Paradise" single in 1966.
His first solo tracks were recorded in 1966 after Clement "Coxsone" Dodd had signed him to the Studio One Label. He also recorded material for Phil Pratt and Sonia Pottinger in this year. He had almost immediate success with songs like "The Train Is Coming" (on which he was backed by The Wailers) and "Lonely Teardrops" and the following year, Boothe and Alton Ellis successfully toured UK tour with the Studio One session group, The Soul Vendors.
Boothe was promoted as "Mr. Rock Steady" by Dodd during this period and in 1968 at the age of 17, they released Ken’s first album which bore this title and included numerous hits such as “The Girl I Left Behind”, “When I Fall In Love”, “I Don’t Want to See You Cry”, “Home, Home, Home”, and the song many regard as one of Boothe's best exponents, ‘Puppet On A String’. Journalist Alphea Saunders, in writing about Boothe and this song said, "He is one of the best of the very best".
Boothe continued to record for Dodd until 1970, when he switched to Leslie Kong's Beverley's Records, where his success continued with hits such as "Freedom Street" and "Why baby Why".
Following Kong's death, Boothe recorded for many of Jamaica's top producers during the early 1970s, including Keith Hudson, Herman Chin Loy, Vincent "Randy" Chin, and Phil Pratt. He then formed the group Conscious Minds with B.B. Seaton.
Then under a new direction from record producer Lloyd Charmers, Boothe released "Everything I Own" on Trojan Records, which reached Number One in the UK Singles charts in 1974. The song, written by David Gates, was given a sympathetic light reggae feel and it received airplay and an appreciative audience in the West Indies and was regularly played on the radio stations of the UK due to its "crossover" appeal. David Gates' own group, Bread, had had a minor UK hit with the song in the Spring of 1972, but it had only reached Number 32.
Boothe only managed one more hit in the UK Chart during the 1970s, "Crying Over You", which made Number 11, but with Trojan Records' collapse and a split with Charmers he lost much of the momentum built up by his two hits.
Boothe and Charmers reunited in the late 1970s when a revived Trojan Records released the albums Blood Brothers (first issued on LTD in 1976) and Who Get's Your Love, but the reunion proved to be short-lived. He continued to record during the 1980s and had a few hits during 1986 and 1987.
In 1987, Boy George released a version of "Everything I Own" which charted or reached Number One in many countries. His rendition owed far more in styling to Boothe's version than the original by Bread. This sparked renewed interest in Boothe's version, which was reissued the same year, but only reaching number 88 in the UK.
In more recent times, Boothe has recorded for Bunny Lee, Phil Pratt, King Jammy, Pete Weston, Jack Ruby, Hugh "Red Man" James, Castro Brown and Tappa Zukie. Plus in 1995, he teamed up with Shaggy, for a new styled version of his old self penned track, "The Train Is Coming", which appeared on the soundtrack of the film, Money Train.
A 23 track retrospective of Ken Boothe's career from 1963~74 titled “Crying Over You” was released by Trojan in 2001.
Boothe’s greatest accolade came in 2003 when he was awarded the Order of Distinction for his contribution to Jamaican music by the Jamaican government.
Throughout his career he has always been recognized as the “Voice of Choice” in the history of Jamaican popular music and during the 60’s was even known as the Jamaican Wilson Pickett, but however he is referred to he will always be regarded as one of, if not the greatest of Jamaica’s singers whether its the power he unleashes with his soul on an up-tempo song or the passion that soothes you on a ballad, his voice is always captivating
| ~ Biography obtained from: http://springlinejamaica.blogspot.com/2010/03/ken-boothe-mr-rocksteady-more.html |
