|
| Real Name: |
Patrick Lloyd Francis |
| Aug 29, 1947 - Jun 2, 1999 |
| Place of Birth: |
Point Hill
St. Catherine
Jamaica |
Related Artist(s):
Lee Perry
Mighty Diamonds
|
|
|
In 1959, like so many young hopefuls before and after him, Patrick Francis born 29th August 1947 at Point Hill, St. Catherine, headed for Kingston where he settled in the infamous Trench Town ghetto. Surrounded by musicians and artists, including 'Easy Snapping' Theophilus Beckford and Eric Monty Morris, Pat was inspired to become a singer and he formed a group named The Eagles who recorded 'What An Agony' for Studio One in 1966. He returned to Studio One in 1969 as one of The Mediators alongside Fitzroy 'Bunny' Simpson for 'Darling Here I Stand' and the group found success later that year with 'Look Who A Bust Style' for Rupie Edwards. He then became a salesman for Rupie's booming Success Records "where you'll always find the latest and the greatest" shop and label for two years.
Through his work as Rupie's salesman Pat got to know everybody who was anybody in Kingston's record business and he approached Lee 'Scratch' Perry(Lee Perry) with a view to recording but, inspired by the works of Big Youth, Pat Francis decided that he should now start deejaying instead of singing. As well as cutting a few sides with Scratch, including 'The Lama' credited to 'The Uppsetters', he also began to produce for his own Teem label, based at Lee Perry's former shop at 36 Charles Street where his deejay recordings were credited to Jah Lloyd. The biggest hits on Teem came with Pat Francis' outstanding additions to two of reggae music's most popular and most versioned rhythms ever: Horace Andy's interpretation of Bill Withers' 'Ain't No Sunshine' and Shenley Duffus' take on William Bell's Stax classic 'I Forgot To Be Your Lover' known as 'To Be A Lover' but better known as 'Have Some Mercy' after Delroy Wilson's defining cut of the rhythm for Ainsley Folder(A.Folder). Scratch had given Jah Lloyd use of the rhythm after he had voiced 'The Lama' and he would return to these two rhythms, together with the beautiful 'Shame And Pride' by The Mighty Diamonds released on the Teem label in 1975, time and time again. Later that year Jah Lloyd introduced The Diamonds to Jo Jo Hookim(Joseph Hookim) at Channel One and, as they say, "the rest is history".
Early in 1976 Lee Perry decided to put together a deejay album for release though his international distribution deal with Island Records in London. His first choice was Jah Whoosh, currently riding high on a wave of popularity through his recordings with Rupie Edwards, but Whoosh was not over keen and, in his stead, Scratch recruited Jah Lloyd but decided to rename him 'Jah Lion'. 'Colombia Collie', a thoughtful, measured long playing exercise, took "a couple of weeks to complete" and remained on the UK reggae album charts for months capturing the dread mood of the times. However, a picture of Lee Perry in the Black Ark on the back of the album cover led many to wrongly assume that Jah Lion was a deejay nom de mic. for Scratch. A golden opportunity for Jah Lloyd to consolidate his reputation as one of the period's most impressive deejays was therefore lost and his prowess and commanding presence on the microphone are, in consequence, nowhere near as well known or as highly regarded as they deserve to be.
His production skills are another matter and Jah Lloyd's work as a producer has always been both well respected and highly regarded. He continued to maintain his hard won independence through releases on the Teem label in Jamaica and internationally on Virgin's Front Line label. In 1979 he licensed a collection of dubs to a selection of his top Teem rhythms built by The Revolutionaries and mixed by Prince Jammy to Greensleeves Records in London. One of the earliest releases on Greensleeves 'Gold Mine Dub' not only helped towards building the label's reputation but also bolstered the standing of dub music which by now was erroneously regarded, in some quarters, as a spent force.
Patrick 'Jah Lloyd'/'Jah Lion' Francis was tragically shot dead in Kingston on 2nd June 1999. |
| Jan 20, 2012 (Jan 17, 2020 Update) Text by Harry Hawks
|
|
