Interview & pictures : Benoît Georges
on Wednesday, February 06th 2013 - 19 458 views
The name of Red Rose has gone down for ever in the great history of reggae thanks to the tune Tempo, an essential track produced by King Tubby and released in 1984. Ironic for someone who says he does not like his nickname, a moniker picked up at school. Anthony "Red Rose" Cameron knew how to seize his chance and this Tempo was to change his life. He even claims it was the first digital reggae tune, as it was officially released before the Sleng Teng.
But Anthony Red Rose is far from being a "one hit man", of which there are so many in Jamaica. Capitalising on the success of Tempo, he remains a safe bet of the digital era. In the 90s, he went into production with his two labels, Raggedy Joe and How yu fi sey dat?, and worked behind the scenes in the music industry. Anthony Red Rose explains to us why his red rose is not about to fade.
Reggaefrance / You came to France for the first time very recently, in 2011.
Anthony Red Rose / Yes, I was very happy to be in France. I don't know what happened, but it's the first time I've come here and I'm glad, because like wine, music gets better with age, and young people in France today are looking for good music that has aged well.
You were born in St Mary, but you grew up in Spanish Town.
I was born there in 1964, but it's by chance. This is what happened: my mother went to visit a friend in St Mary, that's where labour started and where she gave birth. Right after I was born, we went back to Spanish Town, where she already lived.
Where did you start singing?
On a sound system called Sir Duncan, on Wax Road in Spanish Town. It was a small neighbourhood sound. They played every Friday, and every Friday I was around. I must have been about 12 at the time and I watched how it all worked. Until the day the boss of the sound asked me: "How come you like the sound so much? What can you do for the sound?" I told him: "I can sing, deejay, do everything…" He said: "Ok, let me hear you." I sang him a song, he liked it, and from that day on, he took me to all his dances.
 Sly Dunbar est vraiment mon mentor, c’est comme un battement de mon cœur, je l’aime ! 
Were there other artists on that sound?
Being in Spanish Town, that sound never really had deejays. People would drop by to take the mic. There was Papa San, Dirtsman... When I started to have success, I hung out a lot with those Spanish Town artists, and that's why they sometimes came on the sound. But I was the only official deejay of the sound. When I became popular, it rubbed off on the sound and we had artists like Stichie, and we attracted plenty of others.
Where does your stage name, Red Rose, come from?
It comes from school. It was a nickname they gave me and that I didn't like. The thing is, I liked to be neat: trousers, shirt, shoes, all spotless. My schoolmates teased me, saying I turned up all dressed up like a red rose. I didn't like the nickname because to me, it was really a little girl's thing. They made so much fun of me that I gave up! When people called out to me in the street shouting "hey Red Rose", I ended up answering, and from there it was settled: it became my name.
What was your first professional recording?
It was for the producer Dennis Star, the song Sandy. The first time I went into a studio, it was to sing that song, my first record! That was in 1980.
You spent a lot of time on the sound system before going into the studio.
Years! For years, I was everywhere, singing, carrying the boxes, doing the routine. I'm one of those artists who started at the bottom and rose little by little.
The connection with Dennis Star, was that thanks to Bunny Lee?
No, I didn't know Bunny Lee yet. It was Tubby who introduced me to Bunny Lee. Dennis Star's wife, Junie Star, worked at Tuff Gong, and he produced artists from Spanish Town: he recorded me, and he also recorded an album that Papa San and I shared on his label. And then I met this singer, Bunny Lie Lie, who sings a bit like Linval Thompson. One day, he asked me to follow him to Waterhouse, to King Tubby's. That's how I met him that day. And something clicked. Tubby asked me to come back to the studio because he liked my voice. The first track I recorded for him was Under me fat thing.
Wait, your first track for Tubby was Under me fat thing before Tempo?
Yes, I recorded Under me fat thing first, but Tempo was the one that came out first.
There's something I have trouble understanding: Under me fat thing was already on the Sleng Teng…
I'll explain. I sang Under me fat thing first, they recorded it, but they did it only for the dances, to play it as a dubplate, they didn't release it. Afterwards, they came with a new riddim, the Tempo, which they had called the Crank Angle. I thought that riddim wasn't great: there was no melody, just bass and drums. But I still recorded the song Tempo on it. Asher added keyboards and they decided to release it first.
But you claim that the Tempo was the first fully digital riddim, even before the Sleng Teng…
In the digital revolution, Tempo was the first track to come out. Lots of people voiced the Sleng Teng: Tubby had his Sleng Teng, on which I recorded Under me fat thing, and Jammy had his own version on which he had lots of people voice. Tempo was just one song. Afterwards, King Everald recorded on it, but there were never as many people on it as on the Sleng Teng. It's simple, Tempo entered the charts in December 1984 and the Sleng Teng entered them in 1985.
They say there wasn't enough room on the four tracks to record you. So you had to record live.
(Laughs) Yes, you've understood everything! You're well informed! Yes, we had four tracks and it was really tight, there was no track left for the voice. So I recorded at the same time as they were mixing the riddim. You hear sound effects on the song: it was King Everald doing those effects, in the background, directly on the tape, while I sang and Professor mixed it all. Everything was done at the same time.
One particular feature of this song was that there was also digital processing of the voice. For me, that's what makes Tempo so original for the period.
Yes, and it was Tubby who came up with that sound. It's a reverb effect, but Tubby had his own reverb.
He called it the "big knob"…
And he built it into the song. Every time I said "tempo", he hit his reverb. And today, everybody does that (laughs)!
Was it spending all that time at Tubby's that you developed the Waterhouse style in your singing?
Tubby took me under his wing. He talked to me a lot, he asked me to write songs, he sent me to record other artists, like Sugar Minott, Gregory Isaacs… I have to mention those artists that King Tubby sent me to record. He sent me to Channel One, because he had no room to record instruments. He was still building his studio at the time. So when he wanted instrument sounds, he recorded them at Channel One. He would call the musicians and send me to Channel One for the session. That way, I could learn how to record songs, "the real way". To keep this sound as it is, adapt that one and get a good result.
Basically, he taught you how to produce music.
Yes, and Tubby brought me into a circle of artists.
You say the Tempo was composed by the same person as the Sleng Teng, Noel Bailey. I have a doubt about that person's name: in a book, it's Bailey, but all over the internet you see Davey. Tonto Irie, who witnessed that event, told me his name was indeed Bailey.
Yes, it is Bailey. In fact, he's the brother of the deejay Powerman, whose own first name is Mickael Bailey.
Was there competition between Jammy and Tubby at the time?
There wasn't really any competition because the two weren't rivals. Jammy was like a son to Tubby. Tubby taught him everything he knows, he was his apprentice. Everything he did back then, Tubby had done before. It's a bit like the protégé who rises and takes flight when his time comes. For me, it wasn't a competition: Jammy was just like me in relation to Tubby.
At the time, Jammy had scored many hits and you do sense that Tubby, the master, was trying to catch up with the pupil. He was on the way to doing so and I think that if he hadn't died prematurely, he would have gone very far in that musical direction.
Tubby was the master and even though his school still reigned at the time, he didn't really know what to do to stay in the race.
After Tempo, you became very much in demand for dubplates.
I can't even tell you how many I did…
What was the first dub of Tempo with a sound's name mentioned in the track?
It was for King Stur Gav. Let me tell you: Daddy U-Roy was one of Tubby's best friends. When I recorded the song Tempo, he called U-Roy: "I have a new song with a youth called Red Rose, come and listen." He came and said: "Jah know, this song is deadly, I need it as a special for the sound." So I sang it as a special for him. And he took off, for about two weeks. When he came back, he told Tubby: "You have to release this song immediately, I played it at a dance, it was burning! I went to another dance and played it, the people wanted to hear this Tempo again and again. Tubby, put it out now!"
In the 80s, you recorded many songs about dances, sound systems and sound clashes. "Regular" tracks, not dubplates. Was that really your thing?
Yes, because after a song like Tempo, I couldn't afford to let another guy start exploiting the vein, singing sound clash lyrics like me. In Jamaica, everybody is looking for something to copy. When you start doing something original, there's always someone who will copy you and then lay claim to what you did.
The famous "bandwagons"…
Yes, that's exactly the term. And there's always a pile of "bandwagons". It's like a tree I had planted that ended up bearing fruit. I always harvested that fruit myself, for fear that someone else would do it in my place.
You went independent quite early, as a producer. For what reasons?
After Tubby died, in 1989, I had already done quite a lot of shows here and there. I saved money with the intention of producing myself. Why? Because everywhere I went, I saw producers producing artists, and I didn't like it. I wanted to do my own things. I had ideas and knowledge in my head and I wanted to bring them to my music. With the money I'd saved, I bought a 24-track console and worked on riddims, with the cream of the crop: Sly & Robbie, Steely & Clevie, Lenky, a bunch of musicians worked on riddims for me. And then, I was on the move a lot, I made songs for myself, songs for others and duets between an artist and me, and it worked. The first song I released was a duet between Bounty Killer and me, Intimate on the Earthquake riddim in 1993. There was a whole series with Anthony Malvo, Wicker Man…
Why set up two labels?
For a long time, I only had How yu fi sey dat?, which I had set up with Anthony Malvo. But then I decided to set up another label, Raggedy Joe.
If we say Raggedy Joe was a reggae-oriented label and How yu fi sey dat ? more dancehall, does that seem right to you?
Yes, that's true. On Raggedy Joe, I released Beres Hammond, Terry Linen, Mikey Spice, Luciano, lots of reggae artists.
Indeed, you've worked with many artists and on many songs. I'm going to give you a few names and a few songs, can you tell me what they evoke for you? To start with, Sly & Robbie, two important people in your career, I suppose.
In my life itself! Sly is like a mentor. After Tubby, I turned to Sly & Robbie and leaned on them. Sly gave me a lot of information and advice. He's a reggae dictionary. What I like about him is that every time you ask him for information, he'll give it to you. Above all, he likes people to take charge of themselves and work for themselves. He motivates you. It's the same with Robbie, the difference is that he lives in Miami, we see him from time to time. But Sly, he's always there. When he's not on tour, he's there, somewhere, working. He's truly my mentor, he's like a beat of my heart, I love him!
Bounty Killer?
His mother is a friend. She told me her son had become a deejay and asked me to listen to him. I did, and he amazed me, he really sounded good. I had this duet, Intimate. The deejay part was originally planned for Fragga Ranks. When I brought him into the studio, we had a problem with the key. In fact, he couldn't identify the key of the riddim to fit his voice to it. Some deejays have that flaw: they have a good voice, a good flow, but they practise without a riddim and sometimes they can't fit their song to the key of the riddim. When I listened to Bounty Killer, I was so astonished that I offered him the song. I met him at Jammy's, but he wasn't yet an artist of the Jammy stable. He was working with his brother, Labba. I told him: "I hear you're working with a serious deejay." He wasn't even called Bounty Killer at that point, but Bounty Hunter. I brought him into the studio for Intimate. From there, we sailed along smoothly together, the song went to number 1, everywhere people loved it. Bounty Killer is a good person.
Beenie Man?
Beenie Man, I knew him when he was very young. We would take him to the dances and have him stand on beer crates to sing. He was like a little grandson to me, he grew up in my hand. I felt obliged to do everything for him and I would do anything to help him. If you saw us today, you'd see we've kept that relationship. He too is a good person.
Terry Linen?
He's like a son too! He lived at my place for days, I looked after him for years before he had his first hit, teaching him how to record on the riddim and plenty of other little things.
Gentleman?
The singer Jack Radicks, with whom I recorded several songs, calls me one day from Germany and says: "I've met a singer, Gentleman, we want to send him to you in Jamaica, because you'll know exactly what to do with him." So they brought him to me. He stayed with me, listening to riddims, practising voicing on riddims… I mixed songs for his first album. When he got signed, he came back to record more songs: we did a duet with Terry Linen and him. I produced a remix of the Tempo riddim for his album ''Diversity''. I produced two songs for that album: Tempolution and Bridge over wall. Gentleman is a nice guy, very likeable. One thing I can say: I thank God, because he has always sent me the right people.
Lord Kossity?
The producer Clive Hunt called me one day to tell me he had an artist in France and that he'd like to record a duet with me. That's what we did. He got signed, he had hits and he came back to me for new productions. I saw that he signed a contract with Sony, so if he wants to work with me again, I'm ready. Kossity is very nice.
The song Heathen for the Star Trail label?
Before Star Trail had released its version of the Tempo riddim, I found myself at Scorpio's one day. Bello (Richard Bell, boss of Star Trail, editor's note) was working in the studio and he said to me: "that's your riddim, it's practically yours, you should record on it." I did it straight away and recorded yet another Tempo. People liked it and we went to get Pam Hall and Derrick Lara for the backing vocals. They also found the song powerful. In fact, it's just a coincidence. I don't even remember why I came to Scorpio's in the first place, I run into Bello and end up recording on the Tempo. That song and that riddim are known all over the world and it strengthened their popularity even more. It was good. Afterwards, Bello created a remix of the song with Norris Man and that worked well too.
The song Two big bull in a one pen with King Kong?
That was Tubby's idea, to have King Kong and me together on an album. He sent me to Tuff Gong to record the riddim and I believe we recorded the vocals there too.
The song Cocaine, which covers the song Dances are changing on the General riddim?
I covered that song to talk about that change in habits in Jamaica. It's based on an experience. At the time, in Jamaica, people didn't talk about it much. I'd see youngsters, and hear that they were sniffing coke, buying coke and crack. So I sang on that theme because it was something I had witnessed and it was really new at the time.
And Give me the weed on the Taxi riddim?
Yeah, back then, I burned a lot of it (laughs). I was living that life: every day, all the time I had my little bag of weed on me. And I sang about it.
The series on the Drum song riddim that you produced?
I tried to use the best ingredients for this riddim: Sly handled the percussion, Danny Bassie, from Firehouse, the bass, Dean Fraser was on horns, Dalton Brownie played guitars, and the "kette drum" was Sticky (Uziah Thompson, editor's note), and since then I always call him Kette. And the final result was really good. It gave that riddim a second youth, the younger ones rushed to it. Everybody loved it and even today, artists ask me to record on it.
Another hit, Love is coming at you?
It's a song I recorded with Capleton, Terry Linen and Anthony Malvo. One day I go to Gussie's studio (Clarke, editor's note) to see the producer Bulpus (Norman Bryan of the Kickin label, editor's note), who was about to record Capleton. He had rented a small studio, so small it couldn't hold everyone inside. And since Capleton has a large entourage that travels with him, the studio was packed and I ended up outside, behind the door. Hearing the riddim playing from inside, the idea came to me (he sings the chorus). Once Capleton had recorded, Bulpus came out and said to me: "that thing you're singing, you're going to record it on the riddim." Capleton listened to the song too and said: "there's a lot of love in this song, you have to record it." So we ended up recording it, but it was truly an inspiration of the moment. It happened and today it's a very good song in my catalogue.
As you've got older, your repertoire has in fact become more lovers and more conscious than before. How do you explain that?
It's maturity, becoming a man. When you're young, you think young. When you have children and responsibilities, you think about looking after the next generation, teaching good in your songs: how to live, how to survive, how to be a man, teaching women how to love men, how to treat men, because as a man you're the perfect person to tell your woman how to treat you (laughs).
You're a regular in the business, with new tracks on riddims all the time. What is your recipe for musical longevity?
To stay active in music, you have to learn to adapt to the times. Music changes all the time, everything changes, nature too. If you want to stay present in the business, you need new songs every year. You can't always sing the same repertoire and be content with that. You need to add new tracks to your repertoire, update your repertoire so that it's always current. Adding new songs every year is, for me, the best method for surviving in music. And what's more, I don't specialise: I like all types of riddim, roots, dancehall, hip-hop…
In that repertoire, there are lots of duets. Is it an exercise you particularly enjoy?
To tell the truth, most artists always ask me for combinations. When I meet an artist and we become friends, we always end up talking about our tracks, and I have this musical and lyrical madness that means I always find an idea or a lyric. So I'd say it's something natural for me. And often, the artist suggests recording the song with him, since I've helped him. Generally, it always ends up like that!
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