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ACCESS ALL AREAS by Larrick Ebanks: Music & Events Editor @larrickebanksofficial
ERROL ROSS MAN AT THE CONTROLS When you find out that your “badass singer friend” Carlene Graham is the daughter of Errol Ross, the music producer responsible for the production of an album that helped shape a generation, and, incidentally, was a soundtrack to my teens, you have to ask just the question, can I interview your dad?
The iconic black and white two-tone album label with a cool white guy, suited and booted, was a great way to defuse racial tensions in Thatcher-era Britain; by marrying the origins of ska music, a music style originally born in Jamaica, with British culture. Although ska, rocksteady and reggae had hit the British charts in the mid-’60’s and early ’70s with the likes of Millie Small’s “My Boy Lollipop”, Desmond Decker’s “Israelites”, Bob Marley and Jimmy Cliff, this resurgence of ska music at the end of the ’70s and early’s ’80s was just as dynamic, if not more powerful than the first time around. I would highly recommend you check out; “The Story Of Two-Tone” The album in question is “Too Much and other similar videos on YouTube. Pressure” by The Selector, an album that fuses traditional ska with elements of punk Other than producing music, Errol is a and new wave music and was first released singer and bass player and released his in 1980. The album reached number five in first soulful, funky album ‘Take It Easy the British charts on the back of their top On Yourself ’ on Ariola Records in 1979. ten hit single, “On My Radio” which was Constantly performing live with various released in 1979, followed by two top 20 band projects around Europe, I wanted hits: “Three Minute Hero” and “Missing to know more about the man behind the Words”. I remember when I first purchased controls so I asked him to be my Q&A guest this album, I quite literally wore the vinyl for this edition. out, and I’m still the proud owner of that original copy.
8 | CELEBRITY MALLORCA
