INTERVIEW : JOHNNY OSBOURNE
Interview by : Benoit Georges
Pictures by : Ben
on Monday, November 15th 2004 - 12 581 views
With a recording career going back to 1969, Johnny Osbourne has been a witness to the evolution of Jamaican music: he has known the birth of reggae, of dancehall, then of digital. After a ten-year stay in Canada, he returned to Jamaica in 1979 and began a second career punctuated by hits that won him international recognition. He made prestigious albums, first for Studio One, then for Volcano, before a long collaboration with King Jammy, marked by dancehall anthems that remain essential references today in every dance on the planet. As the Massive B label puts out a new version of the Truh & rights riddim with a combination between Johnny Osbourne and Burro Banton, Reggaefrance publishes this interview with " Mr buddy bye ", the godfather of dancehall, conducted in New York.
Reggaefrance / Hello Johnny Osbourne. First of all I'd like us to talk about your beginnings in music and in reggae…
Johnny Osbourne / Actually I didn't start singing by singing reggae. Because as you know, in the Caribbean people often start singing in church. That's where singing came to me from, because my grandmother was part of the parish and we had to go with her to church. The music is in the church, it's in us. That's how we started singing, and later I became really passionate about music and I started singing reggae for the people who went to the dances.
In a dancehall tune precisely called Sing along, you talk about your musical beginnings. You say that everybody was singing your song in 1969. Is that true?
Of course it's true, because my first album came out in 1969 for Winston Riley. I'd only done three or four songs before that. From the moment I put out that album “Come back darling” in 1969, everybody started singing my song. That's how I became known. I exploded in 1969.
And your first professional recording was for Winston Riley?
No, I didn’t record my first record with Winston Riley. I had a group called Wildcat. The group’s manager wanted to record me on my own. I had a song called All I have is love. So he hired Studio One just for that one song. We recorded All I have is love, which was an independent production. So the manager had the song, and he pressed about a thousand copies. But he wasn’t a real producer, he was just doing it on the side... After pressing a thousand, he didn’t take care of the marketing, so I realised nothing was moving. In the end, after a few years, when he saw it was a good song, he gave it back to Studio One to release. It came out on the Studio One label. And that’s when people were able to hear it.
What were your influences apart from church music?
Apart from church music, it was American R&B that I listened to. I loved Nat King Cole, Brook Benton, Sam Cooke, Johnny Mathis, to name just a few. I’ve always loved those singers and I wanted to be one of them. So I kept on singing, trying to do it well.
Is that why you formed the group The Sensations?
Actually, I didn’t form The Sensations. The group was formed before, but they were my friends. We used to hang out and sing together. When I recorded my first album, The Sensations came to sing the backing vocals and harmonies with me. But I wasn’t a member of the group.
After that, you left for Canada. When did you leave?
1969, the very same day I finished my album! I emigrated to Canada because my mother, my brother and my sister were already living there at the time. In Canada, I had a group called The I-cient group. We left a lovely album for a company over there, GRT, a record produced by David Clayton-Thomas of Blood Sweat and Tears. I devoted myself to that music until 1979, when I went back to Jamaica and recorded for Studio One, Volcano and Jammy’s.
Speaking of Studio One, why did you decide to start with Studio One when you returned?
That studio is the Motown of reggae. I lived right next door. I went there every Sunday for 5 years trying to get an audition. I wasn’t taken on at that time. So when I came back to Jamaica, I wanted to be sure to sing for the Motown of Jamaica. I wanted to be sure of having an album at Studio One one day. I made my first album for Winston Riley of Techniques and in 1969 I had no access to Studio One. In 1979, on my return, the goal was to get into Studio One. I got in and I made the album “Truth and rights”.
That album did well at the time and it’s still a great album today. Afterwards you had another hit with Folly ranking...
Folly Ranking was recorded for King Jammy’s because Jammy is my friend. We both lived in Canada at the same time. We came back to Jamaica almost at the same moment. Jammy was working for King Tubby. But I recorded the song Folly ranking for Jammy’s and we recorded the album “Folly ranking”, which is my first album for Jammy’s. Then he built his studio and I worked for him.
Are the lyrics of Folly ranking inspired by real events?
Yes, they’re real. A “ranking” is an important man, a man held in high regard. If you’re respected for good things you’re a good “ranking”, but if you’re looked upon for bad deeds then you’re a “folly ranking”. That’s the kind of people I’m talking about in this song.
At that time the music was changing with what became known as dancehall. You were rather a “cultural” singer and you adapted particularly well to the dancehall style. How did you experience that change?
What they call dancehall now, it’s as if people don’t know that people like me are the origins of dancehall. In my day, we didn’t have television in Jamaica yet, we only had the dances. We went to the dances all the time when we were young, because there was no TV to keep you at home. So we went out to the dances. I’ve known dancehall for so long that when they transformed the music into a dancehall style, I was already dancehall myself. It was easy, I didn’t have to adapt to dancehall because I knew dancehall long before it was given that name.
So you kept your influences and fairly conscious lyrics with a dancehall attitude. And you managed to blend those ingredients with Jammy’s, which remains an important moment in your career...
That period was a very particular decade: that’s when I made a name for myself again in Jamaica with my albums for Studio One, Junjo Lawes and King Jammy’s. I had left Jamaica for Canada and for 10 years I hadn’t recorded in Jamaica. So I had to restore my reputation and bring my name back to the market, because I’d been away for 10 years.
You recorded special versions for Jammy’s, for example No sound like we, which can be considered dubplates. Do you still make dubplates today?
It’s important to me, I’m a bit of a “dub doctor”. I built up the dubplate business so that today you’d be hard pressed to find a sound system that doesn’t play Johnny Osbourne. Most of the time in a sound clash, you’ll hear a Johnny Osbourne dubplate. It’s important to me and to the sound system people, because the crowd already knows that Johnny Osbourne is the godfather of dancehall and a “dub doctor”.
Will we get the chance to see Johnny Osbourne in Europe? That’s the big question!
Yes, I know I’m expected in Europe. Lots of people in Europe call me to get me over. Now 2004 is coming to an end, so I hope that in 2005 it will be the moment to come through Europe, like the hurricane that went through the United States and the Caribbean. So I say “One Love” to all the people in Europe who support reggae.
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