Jackie Edwards (musician)

Edwards was born in Jamaica in 1938 where he was raised with fourteen siblings. Strongly influenced by Nat King Cole, he began performing at the age of 14.[3] He came to the attention of Chris Blackwell in 1959. Edwards had four number one singles in Jamaica between 1960 and 1961, all self-written ballads with Latin-influenced music.[3]

When Blackwell set up Island Records in London in 1962, Edwards travelled with him.[1] Edwards worked as a singer and songwriter for Island, recording as a solo artist and also duets with Millie Small, as well as performing duties such as delivering records.[2][3] He wrote both "Keep On Running" and "Somebody Help Me", that became number one singles in the United Kingdom for The Spencer Davis Group.[1][2] He continued to work as a recording artist himself, with regular album releases through to the mid-1980s. Much of his later work was produced by Bunny Lee. Edwards also worked with The Aggrovators : one of his most renowned songs he produced with that band was the roots sound systems favourite, a recut of Burning Spear's Invasion (Wadada).[1] Dionne Bromfield covered his song "Oh Henry" on her album Introducing Dionne Bromfield in 2009.

Edwards worked as a producer, co-producing the 1977 album Move Up Starsky by The Mexicano.[4] The majority of Edwards' catalogue is published through Fairwood Music (UK) Ltd.

He died in August 1992 from a heart attack.[1]

• List of reggae musicians

• Jackie Edwards discography at Discogs
• Fairwood Music (UK) Ltd. Website
• Jackie Edwards at Roots Archives