Jamaican singer Hopeton Lewis died on Thursday 4 September at his home in Brooklyn, New York. He was 66.
« Take your time, take it easy, take your time, no need to worry »: everybody knows Hopeton Lewis's hit, Take It Easy. It was not his first recording, but nearly: at 19, he had barely found his feet at Studio One and in the group The Regals. What would remain his biggest hit was recorded at Federal studios in 1966 for Winston Blake's label, Merritone, with Lynn Taitt & The Jets. Regarded as the first rocksteady track in history, Take It Easy paved the way for the rhythm that was the precursor of reggae.
In 1967, the album of the same name gathered, among others, Rock Steady, Music Got Soul and Cool Collie. He also worked with producers Glen Browne, Bunny Lee, Winston Riley and Duke Reid, who produced the song Boom Shacka Lacka for him, with which he won the Festival Song Competition talent contest in 1970.
He then joined Byron Lee and his Dragonaires, with whom he recorded the album "Groovin’ Out Of Life" in 1973 and the follow-up "The Dynamic Hopeton Lewis". In 1996, he turned to gospel with the album "This Is Gospel", of which he became a tireless promoter, recording a dozen albums, creating the « Hopeton Lewis Caribbean Gospel Music Awards » and founding the Caribbean Gospel Jubilee.
He was also seen in the film "Rocksteady, the Roots of Reggae", directed by Stascha Bader in 2010, which staged the reunion of that generation 40 years later.
Take It Easy (Extract from the film "Rocksteady, the Roots of Reggae"):
Take It Easy (original):
This Music Got Soul:
