As the much repeated sleeve notes to his 'Fabulous Greatest Hits' album said, 'There's hardly a man woman or child in Jamaica who dosen't know the voice of Prince Buster'.

Now his voice is familiar with a much wider audience. Some know it through his lewd 'Big 5' record from the early '70's, some know it through his association with the 2-Tone movement of 1979, and even more know it from his reworking of 'Whine And Grine' for a Levis' jeans ad.

Buster is a real character. A highly motivated individual who was responsible for some of the best ska sides produced in the early '60's. He was the first independant artist to challenge the dominance of Clement Dodd and Duke Reid, with his sound system and with his record productions. He was the only, truly successful artist come producer of the early ska years, long before self productions became as common as they did in the early '70's.

Buster was born in Kingston in May 1938, and christened Cecil Bustamente Campbell. He was a successful amateur boxer before music took a hold on his life. By his late teens he was singing professionally at the Glass Bucket Club, as well as acting as a security man for Clement Dodds' Downbeat sound system.

Buster also opened his own Record Shack at 36 Charles Street, and by 1960 was running his own Wild Bells' label. His first recording was 'Busters' Shack', which he followed with the now legendary 'Oh Carolina', his production of a song by the Folkes Brothers, on which he employed Count Ossie and his nyahbinghi drummers.

Also recorded at this first recording session was Eric 'Monty' Morris' 'Humpty Dumpty', which was also a huge Jamaican hit. Buster also produced hit singles for singer Derrick Morgan, and many of these productions were issued in England by Melodisc's Blue Beat subsidary.

The owner of Melodisc was Emile Shallit, and he gave Buster a 50-50 share in Blue Beat records. Over the ensuing years, Buster issued hundreds of his productions on the label in the UK, with the Jamaican issues coming out on his own Wild Bells, First Voice Of The People and Record Shack labels.

The first record on which Buster sang himself was 'Little Honey', and this was followed by an unbelievable number of quality tracks that pushed Buster to the top of the tree. The hits that followed included 'Madness' (one of the greatest ska tracks ever recorded), 'They Got To Come', 'Time Longer Than Rope' and 'I Feel The Spirit' to name just a few.

The records sold well to the Jamaican community in England, as well as crossing over to the young mods, who took the Prince to their hearts.In 1963, Buster, along with Derrick Morgan stayed in England for 6 months. During this stay, Buster recorded the phenomenal 'Wash Wash', a ska take on 'That Lucky Old Sun' that become another huge hit, earning him the nick-name Mister Wash-Wash.

In 1964 Buster appeared on British televisions premier music show 'Ready Steady Go', and in the same year recorded the classic 'Al Capone'. The record was belatedly a UK chart hit, climbing to number 18 in February 1967. '67 was also the year that Jamaicans were first introduced to Busters on record alter-ego Judge Dread.

The violence on the streets of Kingston was getting out of hand, and, never one afraid to voice his opinion, Buster called for those responsible to answer for their crimes. The single caused a major controversy in the Kinston recording industry, and several 'answer' version were quickly issued to compete with the Princes' original. Buster too released a couple of follow ups, with his vocal being recorded over the original backing track, an early use of the 'versioning' technique that later became par for the course.

1968 saw the release of the 'Rough Rider' and 'Wreck A Pum Pum albums, both which featured some tracks of a sexual nature. It was in this style that Buster gained further notoriety when, in 1972, he released the 'Big 5' single and album. These recordings are the only blot on Busters' copy book, being nothing more than suggestive reworkings of better know songs, such as 'First Time I Saw Your Face' and 'Holly Holy'.Shortly after this, Buster took early retirement from the music scene, concentrating on his juke boxes and other business interests.

1979 saw the 2-Tone ska revival explode in the UK. The band Madness, who took their name from Busters' ska hit, released their debut single 'The Prince', as a tribute to their hero and followed it up with a reworking of 'One Step Beyond'. The Specials debut single, 'Gangsters', borrowed the riff from 'Al Capone', and The Beat covered 'Rough Rider' and 'Whine & Grine' on their debut album.

In 1980, Buster moved to Miami, where he has resided ever since. A record deal was signed with Arista records on the back of the 2-Tone boom, but passed by without much attention. In 1984 Buster took to the stage with the re-formed Skatalites at the Sunsplash UK concert, where he performed 'They Got To Come', 'Madness' and 'Al Capone'. This was followed by regular live shows, and the odd production work, but it wasn't until 1998 that Buster released any new recordings.

A new version of 'Whine & Grine' was recorded for Island Records 40th Anniversary celebrations, which was picked up by Levis' for use on one of their jeans commercials. The track was issued on single and became Busters' second chart hit, 31 years after his first, and he appeared on the TV program Top Of The Pops to promote it. Buster appeared again on Top Of The Pops in 2003, when he appeared via a sample on the Mint Royale hit "Sexiest Man In Jamaica".

It's hard to understand why Busters' huge back catalogue has, for the most part, been ignored by the re-issue specialists. The 'Fabulous' album has been issued many times since it's original release, and there have been a few re-presses of the 'Rough Rider', 'Judge Dread' and 'Big 5' albums over the past decade or so. But much of his best work has not been made available to the public since it's original release, leaving fans to track down rare and expensive original pressings.

Andy Clayden

Album Discography
I Feel The Spirit
Fly, Flying Ska
Pain In My Belly
Ska-Lip-Soul
It's Burkes Law
What A Hard Man Fe Dead
On Tour
Judge Dread (AKA Rocksteady, Hush Up)
She Was A Rough Rider
Wreck A Pum Pum
The Outlaw
Fabulous Greatest Hits
I Feel The Spirit (different tracks/pressing)
Dance Cleopatra Dance (Blue Elephant Records)
15 Oldies But Goodies
Tutti Frutti
The Message Dubwise
Chi Chi Run
Sister Big Stuff
Big 5
Jamaica's Greatest
Original Golden Oldies Vols. 1&2
The Ten Commandments (US only)

Re-Issue Compilations
The Prophet
Fabulous Greatest Hits (Sequel Records version)
King Of Ska (Japan only)