Without ever losing hold of their roots, The Viceroys rose from the slums of Trenchtown, Jamaica, to the absolute top of the world of reggae. With a long and legendary career in reggae behind them, they now release a ganja anthem to rival their massive classic reggae hits like “Ya Ho” and “Heart of stone”. The new single “Why” is available via all digital outlets.
The Viceroys, also known as The Voiceroys, The Interns, The Inturns, The Brothers, and The Hot Tops, are a reggae vocal group who first recorded in 1967. The group was formed in Kingston, Jamaica by Wesley Tinglin, along with Daniel Bernard and Bunny Gayle, and after auditioning unsuccessfully for Duke Reid, the trio made their debut recording for producer Clement “Coxsone” Dodd in the middle of the rocksteady era in 1967.
The group recorded several singles for Dodd’s Studio One label, including “Ya Ho”, “Fat Fish”, and “Love & Unity”, and these tracks were collected together by Heartbeat Records for a 1995 compilation album. They went on to record for several other producers in the late 1960s and 1970s, including Derrick Morgan, Winston Riley (who produced their hit “Mission Impossible”), Lee “Scratch” Perry (including “Babylon Deh Pon Fire”, which was credited to Truth Fact & Correct), Lloyd Daley, and Pete Weston. They also returned to record at Studio One in the late 1970s. Gayle left, with Neville Ingram taking his place.
In 1980 Bernard also left, with Norris Reid joining (Reid also recorded as a solo artist, releasing Give Jah the Praises in 1979 and Roots & Vine in 1988). The band’s first album release was the Phil Pratt- produced Consider Yourself (1978), originally credited to their alias The Interns and later released as Ya Ho, credited to The Viceroys. They had a big hit in Jamaica in 1980 with the Sly & Robbie-produced “Heart Made of Stone”. Their first album released as the Viceroys was the Linval Thompson production We Must Unite, released in 1982 by Trojan Records, and featuring the Roots Radics. Thompson also produced their 1983 album Brethren and Sistren, and in 1984 they moved on to work.
gain with Winston Riley on the Chancery Lane album, by which time Reid had left to concentrate on his solo career, Chris Wayne taking his place. A further album was started but was not released, the group splitting up before it was finished. It was eventually released in 2004 as Love Is All, with a few new tracks added. Wayne subsequently recorded as a solo artist, releasing three albums in the late 1980s and early 1990s.
2000 saw the original trio get back together to rerecord some of their classics and release the cd The Original Voiceroys Revisited. In 2005 the Viceroys recorded their classics in the yard of Earl Chinna Smiths for his “Inna De Yard” series. This resulted in the highly acclaimed album The Viceroys – Inna De Yard released in 2007. Their last album to date is Memories from 2016 that also got excellent reviews all over the world.
Discography: https://www.discogs.com/artist/166888-The-Viceroys
“Why” is sung on top of the riddim (instrumental) called Low Density. It is produced by Norwegian producer Pop-I for Luckee Riddims and 7 Worlds. The two labels are collaborating on this release and two other releases on the same riddim. The other artists releasing tracks on the riddim is Colah Colah from Jamaica, and Lamek & Obijan from Norway. The idea for the Low Density riddim came from Lamek who contacted Pop-I to make a riddim for a new song he had written with fellow Norwegian artist Obijan.
To get more information you can contact Luckee Riddims at: pop-i@luckeeriddims.com | www.luckeeriddims.com | http://7worlds.no/
